Volunteer World - A place for volunteers and voluteer organizations to make contact and share stories. This is for YOU! I hope to see a wide range of contributions made here to make it a viable part of the Peyton,CO Ourtown eNewspaper. This is YOUR space! It is open to national, regional, and local events and articles about volunteering. You can also make event entries on the calendar provided. This is your social sandbox.

Posted by Scott Stadum. ::image::IdealistNews is a project of Idealist.org and Reddit where users like you can submit nonprofit news stories from around the web and vote on your favorites. Here's a roundup of some recent hot stories (titled the way users submitted them). From this week:Obit for an inspiring guy. He wrote a book called "Just and Lasting Change." Using real examples he showed how we can actually deliver proven treatments to the poorest communities that need them most around the globe...Africas Gift to Silicon Valley: How to Track a CrisisRetired Queens businessman looks to make Forrest Gump-like run across U.S. for charity5 Charities I think are worth Supporting, please share yours in the Comments area on the linkFacebook Co-Founder Launches Non-Profit Platform Called JumoHave you posted a link to IdealistNews yet? It's easier than ever with the "bookmarklets" tool. You can drag it to your toolbar or to your bookmarks and submit a link with the click of a mouse. Find out more.

By Hannah Kane. ::image::A recent article on The Guardian website highlights a study showing that there may be a link between political activism and happiness. Researchers Malte Klar of the University of Gottingen and Tim Kasser of Knox College compared a sample of college students and activists with a control group and found that "several indicators of activism were positively associated with measures of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well-being." In other words, activism may not always be fun, but it might make you happier. In part of the study, college students were divided into two groups. The first wrote letters to the college cafeteria management asking for better food. The second group were told to take a more activist approach and requested that local or fairly traded products be offered. The activist group reported stronger feelings of vitality after the activity. Many Idealist users have probably already intuited the connection between civic engagement and feelings of happiness. This study provides some data to back up our claims, and to encourage others to get involved. To find opportunities for activism on Idealist, try searching for a volunteer opportunity using a keyword of your choice. Or select from the list of "Areas of Focus," many of which can be politically oriented (some examples include: Disability Issues, Energy Conservation and Green Living, Government Oversight and Reform, Human Rights and Civil Liberties, Politics, and Prison Reform).