How do you contribute to society besides having a job?

1. I volunteer to clean up a local river
   — specfreader


2. I am a hospital magician for sick kids.
   — aer7


3. I volunteer as a telephone counsellor for people who are suicidal or going through crisis. It's very rewarding and I highly recommend it for anyone interested.
   — rocketshipblue






4. I am a Hobby beekeeper so I do my part for nature. Plus I teach Kids about it several times a year. Not much but at least it is something
   — mawo333


5. I document anything that can be useful to others: how to solve technical problems, how to go through the local bureaucracy, where to find English-speaking professionals (I'm an expat) and so on. It doesn't bring me any money, but it's immensely rewarding to get messages from people whose problem I solved. EDIT: Link removed after hug of death. [Here's a screenshot.](https://imgur.com/q3TVQKu.png) [Here's another.](https://imgur.com/CNKthpf.png) EDIT 2: I'm happy this post received so much attention. I hope it inspired people to do their part to make the world easier to understand for everyone else. Write some reviews, document your solutions, and thank those who help you along the way.
   — n1c0_ds


6. I approach every single person working in any sort of customer service position with a smile and a pleasant attitude. I like to make them feel like the stuff they're doing for me (packing the cheese from the deli or checking if this shirt comes in my size or whatever) actually means something to me and that I understand that they are making things easier for me. Usually makes them smile, which also makes me smile.
   — BigDogAlex






7. I pick up litter
   — PittsburghJon


8. I take a garbage bag to the beach and pick up trash as I'm searching for shells. I also take in sad stray cats and have them fixed and love them forever. And I'm always really nice to cashiers.
   — werethehatstoscale


9. I've been slowly transforming my backyard into an edible perennial food forest to reclaim the land that had been sterile homogenous grass for so long, bombarded with weed killer and pesticides. The soil used to be almost straight sand and had NO organic matter, couldn't hold water for shit. I went to my local compost facility, began hauling in compost and mulch (which is free), I stopped cleaning up in the fall and instead used the lawnmower to mow over the leaves so they decompose in the yard, planted lots of perennial edible fruits and veggies but layered them in a way where it looked like a garden. This was started 3 years ago... these days when I'm working in the yard, I come upon more worms than I can count, the soil is dark and rich, and I have hummingbirds, honeybees, and butterflies visiting. I also have not bought eggs or vegetables since early April (I keep ducks) so I also go to the grocery less and use less gas. I don't think it's much, but I'm hoping I'm doing a little part in helping the environment heal. Edited to add: Thank you for the gold, kind stranger! A lot of people are asking for pictures so here's about 1/4 of my garden http://supermarketindependence.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html and a list of what I grow. I'm using it to document what works and what doesn't work in my climate here in Zone 7B. Some of the plants that I've finished documenting are clickable if you want to see their fruits and their growth habits. If you're interested in the ducks, poke around the labels on them and there's a couple posts. I hatch them as well. No issue with HOA's. I don't think we even have them here except in gated communities. Only under town and in my case, village law. They even allow front yard vegetable gardens so some people have been making businesses out of borrowing front lawns to grow produce to sell at farmer's markets.
   — lunchesandbentos






10. I help high schoolers with their math problems once a week and occasionally volunteer at a student run pub, got to make sure students can handle their studies.
    — mogeni


11. I give blood. Although they give me tea and biscuits afterwards, I still feel that I am giving more than I am receiving.
    — Time_for_a_cuppa