What is HelpingOthers.org?
Basically, HelpingOthers.org is a website that is designed to inspire people to do good deeds by showing the good deeds that other people have done. Of course there are various other things that HelpingOthers.org aims to be, but I would say that our main focus is on inspiring others.

Why was HelpingOthers.org created?
The main reason - A student at Stanford University was suffering from depression for a long time (about 10 years). When his depression started becoming more severe because of several family problems, he decided to take time off from school. During his time off, he met with a few therapists for his depression. They mentioned that helping other people will help lift up his mood. So instead of spending most of his time in his room depressed, he decided to go out and volunteer. Being active outdoors, and interacting with other people helped with his depression so he wanted a way to inspire other people who were suffering from depression to try the same.

Here are some other reasons:
1) We feel that there are a lot of good acts and deeds that are being overlooked. In the media, there is a myriad of news on greed, crime, bad economy, and other things, but not too much on charitable activities. And most of the charity activities that are publicized are the ones that are extremely big. We believe that the small good deeds do make a lot of difference and we want people to see that there are many good deeds being done in the world just as there are many bad things going on.

2) Feel good factor. You feel good when you help other people. Why not help someone and make them happy and make yourself feel better as well? I know that there are some people who believe that helping others to make oneself feel better is selfish, but take a look at these two scenarios-

You tell the starving children in Africa that even though you, sitting in your warm house with a full stomach, have more than enough money to provide basic necessities for them, you won't because doing so will make you feel better and therefore is selfish.

You donate money to the starving children in Africa so that they can have food, clothes, and shelter. You feel good knowing that you helped other people, contributed to the world, and made a difference in other people's lives. The children are happy now that their basic necessities are met.

3) Building friendship / networking. Charity work is great for meeting new friends and building a network. Ever heard of Rotary International? Wikipedia states that Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

High schools may have a club called Interact, which is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 12 to 18. Colleges have Rotaract.

4) Being able to appreciate what you already have. It's easy to lose sight of all the things that we're blessed with. Once we lose the sight of the things that we're blessed with, we start to complain about the things that we don't have, become jealous of the people who have more than us, and get greedy. However, seeing those who are less fortunate helps us realize that we have a lot of things to be grateful for. Family, friends, food, shelter, Internet, computer, etc.

5) Inspiring you to be active. Reading about good deeds that people are doing can inspire you to go out and DO things. And when I say 'do things,' I don't just mean helping other people, I mean other things as well: sports, club activities, cooking, studying, exercising, hanging out with friends, etc. The list goes on!

6) It's fun! Who says that volunteering isn't fun? Helping other people can be just as fun as hiking, biking, or going on a road trip!

How can I help HelpingOthers.org?
There are tons of ways to help us out! A few simple things include doing something kind for others, telling your family and friends about helpingothers.org, sharing helpingothers.org via your facebook or twitter, or submitting stories of your good deeds on helpingothers.org.

We will list more things on here when we need them!