b'Giving Back to The Community Communities are an incredibly important aspect of life. Thereally wonderful thing about them is that they can be anythingyou want them to be. From the larger area where you live, tosmaller, tight-knit groups, to the worldwide group that lives withMS, a community is what you make it.We constantly receive calls and messages from people all over the country asking for adviceon how to give back to their communities, so we decided to share a few tips on the what andhow of giving back to your communities. After all, the combined eorts of a group can makethe process much easier than if a single person attempted to accomplish a goal. First, and most important, you must have an end goal or a purpose. This can be raisingmoney to donate, spreading awareness, or simply putting smiles on faces. Starting with theend result you want to achieve can help dictate the rest of your plan, and it provides an easyway to both measure success and gauge interest for future eorts. Once you have a purposein place, there are a few dierent ways to get there: If your goal is to raise money and donate it, organize a fundraiser. These events are entirelywhat you make them, either small and simple, or quite extravagant. If you havent workedon a fundraiser before, we recommend starting with something easy, such as holding a loosechange collection, or doing a bake sale. Another popular starting point is teaming up with arestaurant. Many places now have programs in place that make it easy to host a fundraiserfor a night. We highlight fundraisers in the MS Focus Magazine, and have had people put ondozens of successful events at all levels, from concerts to car shows to themed 5Ks and wheel-walk-run events. The sky is the limit when it comes to fundraising.Volunteer your time if you are looking for a way to help othersin your community. Your options might depend on where youlive and what your physical activity level is, but there are plentyof ways to give back through volunteering. Helping out at a shelteror a soup kitchen and assisting the less fortunate is alwaysappreciated. Clean up eorts, and working together to beautify anarea, can really bring people together and help provide ownershipover a space. Organizing a charity drive is also an excellent choice to help and spread awareness.You can drive to collect almost anythingclothes, toys, household goodsand donate everythingto community members who need them the most. Dont limit yourself to just these ideas. Sometimes, an outside the box idea is the bestone and can really connect with a community. A few other random ideas include: Support a local businessSponsor a youth sports team Adopt a highway/road However you choose to give back to your community, the important thing is that you enjoywhat youre doing and know that you are making a dierence for someone.5'