Take a look at this inspiring story about Shire Sharing. This is a group of Free Staters in New Hampshire who decided to get together to try to help some of their disadvantaged neighbors. Theirs is a great example of the voluntarist philosophy in action.
What I find so inspiring about Shire Sharing is that the founder of the group, Amanda Bouldin, understands that inspiration and encouragement are even more important than the goods and services provided to our neighbors in need. She is not a professional provider, but merely a concerned neighbor trying to offer hope and help. We need more people like Amanda Bouldin in this troubled world.
Shire Sharing is doing what many voluntary organizations do every day all over the country. Prior to the 1960's when we shifted to a government-centric and professionally-driven model, this is how most charity was done.
This is a snippet from my chapter on Freedom in Discovering Possibility:
In a command system, even if the command elements are virtuous, free will is subservient to collective authority, which is authoritarian in nature. Man is not free to give. He is compelled to give in a manner that is reminiscent of how his mommy expected him to share his toys with his four-year old playmate. He does it but has no choice in the matter and derives pleasure only from the knowledge that he has pleased his mommy and thus will not be punished or abandoned. He enjoys no existential freedom or intrinsic satisfaction until he can decide for himself from his own volition whether he wants to share or not. Voluntary charity, thus, in contrast with coerced redistribution of one’s resources, reflects an advanced psychological and moral stage of development.
Free people make the best neighbors
