3 . Jeff Jensen was troubled by painful nerve damage in his leg and foot. He needed surgery, but he doubted whether he could afford it, even with insurance. “There’s nothing more depressing than seeing a bill for 18, 000, 20, 000, 24, 000 dollars and going, ‘How much of this will my insurance cover and how much is mine to cover?’” Jensen told WWAY-TV.

Luckily for Jensen, his doctor is Demetrio Aguila. The nerve specialist gives patients the option to pay for surgery through volunteer work. He calls it his M25 Program, inspired by the Bible verse at Matthew 25: 40: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

“We can’t ignore the people in our own backyard,” Aguila told CBS. “We want to be able to offer hope to patients who have lost hope medically.”

Using an algorithm, the clinic calculates community service hours based on the price of the surgery. In Jensen’s case, the $ 12, 000 operation equaled 560 hours of helping out at one of the local charitable organizations registered with the M25 Program.

Like 10 percent of Aguila’s patients, Jensen opted for the community service. And because hundreds of hours of community service can seem difficult, Aguila not only lets others help, but encourages it. “I had this hope that we would reawaken in our neighbors and in ourselves a sense of volunteerism,” he told CNN.

Jensen, whose surgery was completed in February 2020, was helped by more than 100 friends and strangers who volunteered at Orphan Grain Train, which donates food clothing, and medicine nationally and globally.

Count Dave Harvey, founder of the homeless aid organization Least of My Brethren, is one who is admired by Aguila. “He’s helping us by sending volunteers our way!” he told KMTV in Omaha. “What a cool thing.”

4 . Get involved with our research

Some of our research projects depend on how generous people like you are. Whether it's using your home PC, taking part in a medical experiment or simply volunteering your time for a study, you may be able to help some of the creative projects which make the University of Oxford a world leader in research. Watch this space for ways in which you could get involved.

Seeking poor sleepers for sleeplessness research

Trouble sleeping? We are looking for poor sleepers between the ages of 18 and 65. The activity will involve spending overnights in the sleep laboratory at Oxford, testing your sleep/wake cycle, and completing the tasks on the computer. If you are interested, please contact the research team at sleeplessness@ndcn.ox.ac.uk

Volunteers with lazy eye wanted

We are looking for volunteers aged 18-45 with a history of lazy eye to take part in our brain scanning study. You will also be asked questions about your medical history to check if you are suitable for ail MRI scan. Call 01865 223622 for more information.

Oxford Vaccine (疫苗) Group

The Oxford Vaccine Group is an independent medical experiment group. OVG works towards the goal of developing new and improved vaccines for the prevention of infection in adults and children. To get more information, please see the OVG website.

Oxford Experimental lab for the Social Sciences

The Oxford Internet Institute, together with the Business School, is needing some people to participate in computer-based experiments involving online surfing behavior as well as something about economy and politics. We play our subjects well, there are no special skills required and you don't have to come to the lab in person. Contact us at social science. study @ox.ac,nk for more information.

5 . Next week, Pushpa Nagaraj will appear for her 720th exam. But she won’t be taking the exam for herself. Since 2007, she has helped hundreds of visually challenged students take exams by acting as their scribe (抄写员), reading them the questions and then writing down the answers they give.

When Ms. Nagaraj was growing up in Bangalore, the IT capital of India, her father lost his job after a back injury. The family suddenly found itself struggling. She thought she’d have to drop out of school. Luckily, her mother managed to raise enough money to educate her through high school. Today, she’s a project coordinator for an IT firm.

One day, as she was helping a few visually damaged children cross the road, it struck her how difficult even everyday tasks could be for them, let alone finishing their education. Ms. Nagaraj wanted to help those children.

In India, most children with sight challenges do not have access to specialized schooling. Even for those who attend mainstream classes, timed exams — key for Indian educational institutions, where scores are especially important — present additional difficulties. “Many of them balk at the thought of writing exams and drop out,” says Ms. Sundararaman, a local education expert. “And so, their education comes to a sudden stop, midway.” Having a scribe can be the difference between passing and failing.

Over the past 12 years, word about Ms. Nagaraj’s work has spread — so much that she now gets requests from people from all over India. She has also set up a network of volunteers that posts requests through a WhatsApp group.

Ms. Nagaraj is keenly aware of ongoing challenges, chief of which is that, every once in a while, she has to refuse requests from students to give them the answers during exams. Another challenge is to expand the circle of scribes. Despite these, she is very grateful for having the opportunity to help others. “I have no complaints. Actually, I feel very blessed,” she says.