Charity, volunteerism, the "poor"

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Has anyone been wondering about AS and charity? I've never been a very charitable person I don't think. I remember in school they asked for people to go door to door collecting, and I used to think, gosh, imagine feeling able to do that. I did do it a few years ago, in middle age, a few years in a row, and enjoyed it, so I know I made progress in that area. But it was a scripted transaction - I knew what to do and what to say, and I didn't care if I "failed". I stopped when the charities began to feel it was too dangerous and switched to collecting in town, which I knew I couldn't do.

I have tried volunteering for things, for example helping out at a regular church thing for mums and babies, but I found that the other volunteers just hated having me around. This is what I am getting at. You are supposed to helping people, but the people you do it with can't stand it. Are you supposed to find some kind of charity where you just "mail it in" and have no contact with anyone? Is that what it's all about? Because I can't see that giving me any kind of human, warm feelings, which is surely part of the motivation.

Maybe it's just a passing mood, but I really feel that I am "the poor". Which people now living in poverty would trade all their relationships, past and future, for a lifetime of average food and clothing, with no backsies? If it was me, I think I'd rather take my chances with the poverty.

What is your experience of this?

Cannot speak for anyone else, but personally I am a HUGELY charitable person. With any sort of wealth comes great responsibility to giving IMHO. I do a variety of "giving" but rarely do any sort of volunteer work in a traditional sense. (like in organizations designed to throw you in a group to work or door-to-door stuff)

Here are the ways I try to contribute.... And btw, I find that having an "expanded" social conscious is actually very helpful to me personally in the respect that it keeps me from being depressed for feeling worthless (in other words it is a WIN/WIN)

1. I am a mentor in a Big Brothers/Big Sisters type program to a kid (an aspie kid actually)
2. I am moderating our Autism Self Advocacy group and leading our current product
3. Founded and chair the ASD part of Intel's Diverse Abilities Group
4. Provide interviews/presentations as requested by groups in need of mentorship, etc
5. I attempt to give 10% of so fiscally every year split between official causes (IE tax write offs) and non-official (such as funding a local artist to create a CD)

There really is a nearly unlimited request for volunteers out there.