It might be a bit out of place for a 'reef forum', but I have seen lately and in the past a lot of people forced out of the hobby and generally struggling because of the economy or health reasons. For folks having 'real problems', their tanks tend to be a luxury they can't really keep, and the tank can be the first and most meaningless thing in a series of losses when people hit rough times.
I was wondering if the community here might be able to do a little more to help these folks.. While it might be ripe for scammers and hard to police, I wonder if there could be some 'space' made available here for those falling on tough times. I'm not talking about handouts, and folks hitting tough times generally aren't looking for that, nor would they likely willingly accept it. But something where they could note skills they have or things they are able to do (in spite of health issues) that others could make use of while they are working through problems.
I've been really lucky through the recent economic turns in that the company I work for was able to handle it by only implementing wage freezes, rather than having to downsize or go to other more drastic measures. Some folks have had things hit them much, much harder. And pretty much all of us are one downward health turn away from losing quite a bit as far as standard of living.
In my lifetime I've also generally been really lucky when it comes to that kind of thing, but I've also hit some times that were pretty rough. In the past I've been able to fill the gap a bit, and in some cases keep food on the table, when things have gone poorly by picking up some odd jobs here and there. Little things that made it so I was able to make it through until things picked back up. I've cut lawns and done house cleaning, done some babysitting and washed and walked dogs. Even some it, and web site maintenance and consulting once I built my skill set up. A lot of these things came my way by means of community involvement. And while I didn't know some of the folks well that I did work for, I do know that a lot of them really didn't NEED someone to do the things they were paying me to do. They saw an opportunity to help someone out, in turn for something they needed done, even though they normally would have just done so themselves. If it weren't for the community in those cases I wouldn't have found the folks who needed the help, and I likely wouldn't have been able to work through the issues... and in the times I was in a better place, wouldn't have found some folks who really needed my 'help'
I'm not in some super successful state where I can hire someone to take care of all of kinds of things for me all the time, and I doubt that even if I were, I would really want anyone to do so anyway, but on occasion, I might be able to afford too, and might need or want too, especially knowing it would help someone out.
I'm just wondering if there might be a way to have a place here where folks who are trying to work through hard times could somewhat 'advertise' their talents to those who might be looking for a bit of help in those areas.
Again, I realize completely that its going to be tough to figure out how this could be done so that it wouldn't be just a place for scammers, or those who would choose to be competitors with sponsors to self promote... so I can understand that the idea could be easily shot down just for that. I was just hoping if a bunch of folks, who judging by what I see on this forum would be vastly smarter than I am, put their minds together, they might be able to come up with some rules and ideas as to how this could be done 'here' without it being detrimental to members and sponsors.
I was wondering if the community here might be able to do a little more to help these folks.. While it might be ripe for scammers and hard to police, I wonder if there could be some 'space' made available here for those falling on tough times. I'm not talking about handouts, and folks hitting tough times generally aren't looking for that, nor would they likely willingly accept it. But something where they could note skills they have or things they are able to do (in spite of health issues) that others could make use of while they are working through problems.
I've been really lucky through the recent economic turns in that the company I work for was able to handle it by only implementing wage freezes, rather than having to downsize or go to other more drastic measures. Some folks have had things hit them much, much harder. And pretty much all of us are one downward health turn away from losing quite a bit as far as standard of living.
In my lifetime I've also generally been really lucky when it comes to that kind of thing, but I've also hit some times that were pretty rough. In the past I've been able to fill the gap a bit, and in some cases keep food on the table, when things have gone poorly by picking up some odd jobs here and there. Little things that made it so I was able to make it through until things picked back up. I've cut lawns and done house cleaning, done some babysitting and washed and walked dogs. Even some it, and web site maintenance and consulting once I built my skill set up. A lot of these things came my way by means of community involvement. And while I didn't know some of the folks well that I did work for, I do know that a lot of them really didn't NEED someone to do the things they were paying me to do. They saw an opportunity to help someone out, in turn for something they needed done, even though they normally would have just done so themselves. If it weren't for the community in those cases I wouldn't have found the folks who needed the help, and I likely wouldn't have been able to work through the issues... and in the times I was in a better place, wouldn't have found some folks who really needed my 'help'
I'm not in some super successful state where I can hire someone to take care of all of kinds of things for me all the time, and I doubt that even if I were, I would really want anyone to do so anyway, but on occasion, I might be able to afford too, and might need or want too, especially knowing it would help someone out.
I'm just wondering if there might be a way to have a place here where folks who are trying to work through hard times could somewhat 'advertise' their talents to those who might be looking for a bit of help in those areas.
Again, I realize completely that its going to be tough to figure out how this could be done so that it wouldn't be just a place for scammers, or those who would choose to be competitors with sponsors to self promote... so I can understand that the idea could be easily shot down just for that. I was just hoping if a bunch of folks, who judging by what I see on this forum would be vastly smarter than I am, put their minds together, they might be able to come up with some rules and ideas as to how this could be done 'here' without it being detrimental to members and sponsors.
