The idea of helping people comes naturally to most of us. If we see a blind person getting off a bus, we watch to make sure that he is in no danger of falling. Members of a family help one another, with particular care for the very young and the elderly. There are many people who have nobody near to see their need for help and often nobody to give it even when the need is known. The old, the handicapped, the homeless and friendless -- these are the people for whom help may not come, because nobody sees. It may not have occurred to you that you are in a position to help. Community service means helping the people around you. Organizations exist which try to make sure that someone sees when help is needed and does something about it. These organizations depend on voluntary help to carry out a wide variety of tasks, volunteers giving up a little of their spare time to lend a hand. If you wish to take part in this worthwhile activity, what sort of things would you do? Think of the people most in need of help and the ways in which help can be given. Much of the work of community service is concerned with the cam of the elderly and the handicapped. Old people cannot always redecorate their homes. Household repairs, cleaning, preparing food or taking care of the garden may all prove difficult. Elderly people with failing eyesight are delighted ii a friend comes in to read or to write letters for them A helping hand and a friendly face can mean a great deal to a lonely elderly person. Handicapped people may be young or old. People confined to wheelchairs cannot go out unless somebody takes them. Blind children may love swimming but they need a sighted swimmer to go with them. Some handicapped people may be unable to go out at all and a visitor is then more than welcome. Voluntary help is needed in hospitals. There are library and shop trolleys to be taken round the wards and at Christmas time decorations to be put up and parties and concerts to be organized. Some volunteers help to run playgrounds for young children during school holidays and also look after children in preschool play groups. What do you do if you want to help? Your school may have contact with an outside organization or, indeed, run a community service scheme itself. In many towns there is a committee called the Council of Social Service or the Guild of Social Welfare and they will be able to tell you about voluntary activities in the area. The Citizens' Advice Bureau and the Women's Royal Voluntary Service are other sources of information, as is the public library. Churches, the Scouts arid other youth organizations can tell you about their activities. Most large cities in the United Kingdom have youth groups for community service, for it is here that the need is greatest If you join such a group, you will bring pleasure and hope to people who need your help. The author's purpose in writing this passage is to explain ______.