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" One afternoon in 2005, Barbara Van Dahlen was driving through her hometown of Bethesda, MD, when her 9-year-old daughter spotted a disheveled man on the side of the road. His sign read: &amp;quot;Homeless Vet. Please Help.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Gracie erupted with outrage,&amp;quot; says Barbara, 53. &amp;quot;She said, &amp;#039;Mom, this isn&amp;#039;t right! How can we let this happen?&amp;#039; That was the spark. It pushed me to think, Well, what can I do?&amp;quot; Barbara, a licensed clinical psychologist with a busy practice, knew that service members were coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and she was haunted by memories of her own father, a World War II vet who never talked about his war experience. She wondered: What if she and her professional peers donated just one counseling session a week to returning veterans? Today, about 6,500 licensed mental health providers have donated time to her organization, Give an Hour (giveanhour.org). That&amp;#039;s nearly 70,000 hours of free counseling--a whopping $7 million in value. One recipient is Jennifer Crane, 29, who suffered from PTSD after a 2003 tour of duty and eventually became homeless. Jennifer credits her weekly therapy appointments with helping to pull her life back together. &amp;quot;Now I&amp;#039;m studying nursing. I have a home, a beautiful daughter, and an amazing husband--things I never thought I could have,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I believe we have a hunger to give,&amp;quot; says Barbara. &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t worry if you don&amp;#039;t have tons of hours. Find something you care about, and you&amp;#039;ll find a way to make a difference.&amp;quot; 4 Totall Free Ways You Can Give Back 1. Find a cause. Enter your zip code and interests at volunteermatch.org and up will pop listings for organizations seeking things like piano teachers for kids in a homeless shelter or running coaches for senior citizens. 2. Share your professional skills through catchafire.org, which lists tons of nonprofits looking for specific, work-oriented talents, such as accounting, web design, and Excel. Most projects can be performed remotely (read: from your couch on nights and weekends). 3. Urge your workplace to join A Billion + Change (abillionpluschange.org), a campaign that helps align a company&amp;#039;s resources with the needs of its community. Companies such as Target, Gap, Starbucks, and Toyota have already pledged more than 11.5 million hours. 4. Support your local military families. Enlist with the White House&amp;#039;s Joining Forces initiative (whitehouse.gov/joiningforces) to mentor a child, bring books to bases, or even send a simple &amp;quot;thank you&amp;quot; message. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/charity/tips/a14749/be-a-volunteer/>