Get
Involved 
Menstuff® has many ways you may actively participate in men's
work and help end men's isolation. Find out more. See also Merchandise.
Take Action 8 Ways
Be the First in Your Neighborhood
Become an Intern from Your Own
Home
Other Volunteer Opportunities Around the
U.S.
Beliefs
History
Accomplishments
Needs
Dreams
Hopes
Take Action 8 Ways
Your action makes a difference and helps ensure that positive change.
Why not do something this weekend?
Write: Send a hand-written letter to your Senator and
Representative. Many Congressional offices pay the most attention to
hand-written letters. Where
to write
E-Mail: While most senators and representatives have
e-mail, it doesn't command the attention that writing and calling
does. Where to
e-mail
Call: A phone call is an excellent way to show your support
for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. You can
find the number for your Representative or Senator on the NPCC web
site or by dialing the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Visit your Senator and Representative while they are home
during the month of August. Many Representatives have a local office
and most Senators have multiple offices around the state. Make an
appointment to visit your Member of Congress in his/her local office.
Expressing your opinion this way is very powerful
Letter to the Editor: Write a letter to the editor of your
local newspaper. Let the general public, as well as the media know
what you think. Members of Congress watch the papers very carefully.
Your letter will have an impact.
Ask Others: Enlist your neighbors and friends to write a
hand-written letter or send an email letter. A Senator or
Representative will pay attention to a large number of letters on the
same subject.
Post It with sample letter in the newsletter of your
support group/civic association/church. Particularly if you have your
own web site.
Tell Others: Tell your friends and family about the letter
you wrote. Most people take action on an issue because it is
important to them or someone they admire or care about. When you tell
about your activities, it inspires other to take action as well.
Be the First in Your Neighborhood
We can't keep people informed on what's available locally if we don't
know what's available. And, who knows better than people in local
communities? In that regard, we're looking for regional contacts.
Would you be willing to do one or more of the following to help get
the word out to men in your community that reach out for help.
- Send Events & Services: Gather and send us
information on future events in your area that we will list in
Menstuff, free of charge. This could include keeping us up to date
on men's services, publications, and bookstores in your area that
have a separate men's section, and anything else you think we
should know.
- Be Our Local Contact: To act as a liaison - we'll list
your name and number when someone asks us who they can contact in
your area. It may be someone who already lives there but doesn't
know about any men's work or someone moving there or a
visitor.
- Be A Promoter: Act as a forward for the Browsers'
Bookmobile. We'll let you know when we're coming your way and you
let your community know.
- Be an Organizer: You might even want to take advantage
of our visit to organize an event we call Everyman. It gives you
an opportunity to bring men in your community together for a day
of information and process with the goal of building a stronger
local men's community. Ask about the posibility of throwing a
community dance as a fund-raier - we'll bring the equipment and do
the music.
Become an Intern from Your Own
Home
Available Areas
Here are some of the tasks our interns have participated in:
- Study in The
Men's Study during a vacation or summer break. Located on the
Oregon coast, just North of the California border, free
accomodations can be had in the RV that once served as the
Browsers'
Bookmobile.
- Proof reading out site. (Did you catch the typo?)
- Checking our hyperlinks for accuracy.
- Work to make all information and the way it is presented
easily accessible to all people, especially those who have any
visual impairments.
- Determine what books on our site remain in "Books in Print"
and which ones are Out-Of-Print.
- Researching new information/resource outlets
- Updating the resource database. This may include checking an
organization's web site to update status and information.
- If an organization doesn't have a web site or email address,
those who have access to a phone could call the organization to
update their status.
- Read submitted information and edit or condense it as needed
for use on the web site.
- Writing mini book reviews (100 words or less) on old or new
books on any of our men's issues. May require a trip to your local
city or college library to access books.
- Become an "expert" in any one of our 300+ men's issues. Men's
health is a big one. And,
- Author a piece of your own for submission to the web site.
Or,
- Become a detective and search out possible men's issue that we
don't already have and
- If you're already an expert, apply to become an
"Advisor".
Time Commitment
The amount of time you spend daily, weekly, monthly or annually
is totally up to you. These are unpaid positions but will give you a
unique exposure into the world of men and men's studies.
If you plan to submit a request to your college or university to
have your internship as part of your course of study, then the
university may set a certain number of hours to fulfill course
requirements.
Qualifications
Almost anyone could qualify:
- A willingness to help.
- A desire to explore waters you haven't been in before, or
- Dive deeply to waters that are more familiar to you.
- Computer and typing skills are desirable and helpful.
- Access to the Internet is a benefit.
- Having access to email is a major benefit.
- Prior knowledge of men's issues is not important.
Application
Application for a position is easy:
- For College Credit: Contact your department head to see
what the college requires. We may need to fill out forms about our
organization, the tasks, etc. If this can be done via email, send
the information to E-Mail.
If it requires snail mail, send the forms to Gordon Clay,
PO Box 12, Brookings, OR 97415-0001 Then, see additional
instructions below.
- For Personal Involvement. Click on Feedback
and tell us in 50 words or less what you would like to do and the
number of hours over what period of time you're willing to commit.
Include your name and email address. It's that simple!
Other Volunteer Opportunities Around the
U.S.
Not only the Federal Government, but many corporations have reduced
their charitable contributions in recent years. This means reduced
services and in many cases, the elimination of some services. Many
men's services, like this one, are run out of our homes. We foot the
bill because of our commitment to men, communities, families,
relationships, etc. To keep going, and in many cases just to survive,
volunteers are needed. If you have a few minutes, hours, days,
one-time or over a longer period of time, there is a place that can
use you. Start by checking out our "Resource" index, looking under
the category that looks most aligned with where you have been helped
in the past, or where you would like to help now. Especially if you
want to do direct men's work or father's work. VolumteerMatch doesn't
have those categories yet. Second, is VolunteerMatch, a national
non-profit system that has listings for volunteers all over the
country. You pick what suits you best. Below, you can search for
opportunities that you can do from home, on the computer, etc., like
the opportunities we have. Or, if you can travel, it will give you
opportunities within a mile of your zip code, 6 miles, 20 miles, etc.
What have you done lately? It's never to late to
start!
|
Beliefs
We believe that positive change in roles and relationships is
possible. We believe that women and men are each other's natural
allies and are inherently eager to work together. Men are not women's
enemy, nor vice versa. We believe that ending sexism is in the
interest of both groups and equality will be achieved most quickly
and effectively in the spirit of cooperation. We believe "Men make
the best fathers" and that it is of utmost importance we find ways to
insure that a father remains a parent to his child. (For our complete
statement, see Position
Statement.)
History
Since starting in1982, our volunteer organization has operated on the
contributions. Most referral work is provided free as a public
service. As men's issues have gained more national attention, the
demand for services have brought costs up significantly. A month's
out-lay of over $3,000, not including expenses for office space or
staff time, typically includes $339 for phone, $482 for printing,
$295 for mailing. With volunteering and contributions getting less
and less each year, and personal contributions exceeding over $20,000
a year, our board, at our January, 2001 meeting, decided to eliminate
phone, mail and e-mail responses and put the Browsers'
Bookmobile in moth balls (we went over 30,000 miles through 26
states in the last 4 1/2 years). We love to do the grassroots work.
We're just tired of working another 30-40 hours a week to pay for it.
We will concentrate our time and effort on building the website and
resource lists and hope that the concentration in this area will
serve those men in need.
Accomplishments
The organization is unique in that it is the only central source in
the U.S. that provides such a wide variety of information on the full
spectrum of over 100 men's issues involving all of the various
men's movements.
We have literally reached millions of people with our services,
through mailings, articles, and radio and television appearances and
this web site. We went on line in August of 1996 when there were
fewer than 30,000 web sites world wide. At last count (October 1,
2014) we ranked in the top 20% of the top million web sitee in the
world and ranked We have received hundreds of letters from men and
their families telling us of the positive impact we have had on their
lives.
Needs
We receive more information requests
than we can handle. We also need help. Like someone to gather
information, books and resources on fathering a disabled or
challenged child, review our book list to determine which books are
out of print, and more. Let us know how you can help.We can always
use volunteer help and are open to your suggestions. Are there any
services you can offer? Let us know. Click Feedback.
We would like to have a full-time paid staff to respond to the
many inquiries so we can continue to be a positive influence on the
national media to get more male-positive stories about what men are
doing. The media call daily for references. As a volunteer
organization, it has been difficult to provide all they need within
the short deadlines news people require.
We need additional people for our "Volunteer Speakers' Bureau" and
our "Advisory Panel" who have expertise in one or more men's issues
and are willing to talk and/or write about them.
We would like to develop a system, similar to Planned Parenthood's
"Facts of Life Line," that provides important information quickly
without involving individual staff time and the cost of out-going
phone calls. As you can see, we've developed quite an extensive web
site, but would also like to have this information available to those
who don't have access to a computer or the knowledge to access the
information. Establishing a computer bulletin board and acquiring a
national 800 or 900 number would also give anyone in the country
access to the information they need.
Dreams
Power Point system and presentations/videos on Prostate and
Testicular Cancer $3,000; IBM Voice Recognition system ($800);
Digicam - ($500). Unit that projects computer screen onto a larger
presentation screen ($700); Food Certificates - Dennys, any
regional/national chain (up to $5,000/year); GAS - National brand -
NOT Exxon (up to $5,000/year); Communications: Satalite phone,
fax, modem, phone card ($120-$500/mo); 888 or 900 number - to access
info on various men's issues ($ ?). Requires a programmed computer
with voice messages for each of the 350 men's issues ($10,000+ one
time); AOL - e.mail ($25/mo); Web Site - Menstuff on web at
http://www.menstuff.org (over $100/mo); FYI - info brochures
on various men's issues: fathering, circumcision, health, etc. ($200
each); Staff I: One person committed to present speeches, do
health fair booths, etc. Basically a year-around position from 8 to
18 hours/day including weekends. ($50,000/year); Payment of health
($4,000), vehicle insurance ($1,000); maintenance: $2,000.
Staff II: One person to receive, sort and re-send
correspondance weekly ($50/wk); Out-of-pocket: Printing: replacement
and new informational brochures, bumper stickers, buttons, supplies,
etc. ($2,000) Testicular Self-Exam Shower Cards - We would
like to have every male in the U.S. from puberty to 18 to have one of
these cards. $1.00 each. Postage - ($2,000). Develop a
Film: On Testicular Cancer and have one donated to every
junior high school and high school in the US. ($ ???)
Hopes
These are big dreams but we also believe that our work will be a
major factor in making this world safe for children. We need you to
not only dream along with us, but help us out. Your contribution will
make a difference.
Yours in growth, Gordon Clay, Web Master, Speaker & Curator of
the Browsers' Bookmobile
BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!
Yes! I want to support this work. Here's my contribution. For
this, I will receive a big Thank You! Make your check payable to:
Gordon Clay
Member - $35___; Special friend - $50___; Organization -
$100___: Benifactor - $1,000___:
Life support - $5,000___: All contributions help!___
Name____________________________ Address
______________________________ City____________________________
State__ Zip________ Phone ( )_______________
Email: ______________@_________________
Web Site: http://___________________
PS:
I am knowledgeable on the following issues and would like to be on
your Volunteer Speakers'
Bureau: _______________________________________________
How can we schedule someone to speak to our organization, club,
group: ______
We'd like to have more information about the following:
___ Everyman - A day for men that helps you bring men in your
community together for a day of information and process with the goal
of building a local men's community.
___ Healing the Father Wound® For Men
Only ___, For Women Only___. Since 1986, we have presented programs
from 35 minutes to 3 days utilizing experiential exercises to work
through many of the hidden feelings and pain around our fathers &
relationships with others to begin the healing process. www.fatherwound.com
___ Healing the Mother Wound® For
Men Only ___, For Women Only ___. Since 1995, we have presented a 3
day retreat utilizing experiential exercises to work through many of
the hidden feelings and pain around our mothers & relationships
with others to begin the healing process.www.motherwound.com
Thanks!
Send to: Gordon Clay, PO Box 1080, Brookings, OR
97415-0024
* * *
Walk the street with us into history. Get off the sidewalk. - Dolores
Huerta
To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge
both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if
saying no means death. - Jean Anouilh
Contact
Us | Disclaimer
| Privacy
Statement
Menstuff®
Directory
Menstuff® is a registered trademark of Gordon Clay
©1996-2023, Gordon Clay
