Maybe you want to give back to your community, but you don't know where to begin. It was something Rebecca Reeder used to hear from friends whenever they learned she volunteered around the Los Angeles area.
The idea finally took shape during her 30th birthday celebration. Reeder and her brother put together a surprise party for her guests. They rented a party bus in secret and invited everyone she knew to a mystery event. The surprise bus ride was not only a hit but also an effective ice breaker. Many guests had never met before that night but they were all fast friends by the end of the trip.
Reeder and a friend realized this might be the answer for friends seeking fun ways to do good.
Then they began Do Good Bus and hosted their first community ride in 2010. Everyone assumed it would be a one-off(一次的) event, but participants had such fun and felt so good about giving back that they demanded another. And then another. "This kind of things just snowballed from there," says Reeder, who is now a full-time director of the growing nonprofit(非盈利的) organization.
Over the past seven years. Do Good Bus has offered once-a-month public rides in Los Angeles. Volunteers board the bus and ride to a mystery community service project. Reeder likes to keep the locations and causes a secret to add an element of fun and mystery, and to prevent people from arriving with too much expectation.
Participants pay $45, with 10 percent going to the day's cause and the rest going to Do Good Bus to help cover costs and run the program.
Rides usually last four to five hours and include everything from working in homeless shelters to beach cleanups to planting community gardens.
The aim, says Reeder, is to raise awareness about causes, and encourage continued support in the community while having a good time.
