Just like when one contributes time to what they love, such as rock climbing, staying up to date with latest nft news, watching shows they love, and cooking delicious foods. Volunteering is when one put their time, effort, and talent into a cause or mission that could benefit those who are in need. According to Volunteering Australia (2016), volunteering is time that is willingly exerted for the common good, with no expectations of financial gain. This type of activity usually does not benefit the volunteers in terms of money. However, volunteering does help a person grow and adopt a new perspective toward life.
Volunteering supports our communities by providing the essentials such as food, clothes, furniture, knowledge, and many more. There are many things that we can contribute to our community. Thus, to contribute, one must be prepared to contribute their skills, knowledge, and experience to the activity.
There are many places one can implement their volunteer efforts such as the public library, local parks & recreation department, local community center, animal shelter, food banks & homeless shelters, disaster relief, and human & civil rights organizations.
People volunteer because of its benefits
There are many benefits if one chooses to participate in volunteer works. Once one has seen the happiness and satisfaction of people’s places or the cleanliness of the environment after volunteer work, it gives a sense of satisfaction and self-confidence. The ability to make a change in someone’s life or the environment lights up a passion in someone to do more volunteer work.
Additionally, volunteer work could also make you more attractive to employers. Your resume would be polished and stand out among other participants. This is a sign that a candidate is dedicated, committed, loyal, and possesses a strong desire to contribute to a successful society.
Volunteering also teaches people about time management. This type of work is flexible and only takes place when a few volunteers are available to do the tasks. If you’re a student or an employee in a company, it’s wise to create a schedule for when you are available to participate in volunteer work. It’s also good that volunteers recognize their limits so that they wouldn’t exert too much effort to the point of burnout, stress, and depression. One can be committed to volunteer work for a few hours a month or a few hours per week, depending on availability.
Meeting new people and making new friends or connections are also part of the big reasons why people choose to volunteer. It’s normal for humans to crave connection with others. Hence in times when a person is lonely or in need of companions, volunteer work could be the solution. There are many people from different backgrounds with different interests, and different places which makes it interesting to learn about them.
6 Volunteer Ideas for you to Get Started
Currently, many have taken inspiration to safeguard the environment, animal safety, healthcare, and so on. Many youths have stepped up and become an inspiration to many others. For example, Greta Thunberg implores other youths and many others to protect our planet. Your effort matters. With that in mind, here are a few volunteer ideas for you to implement in this growing movement.
Plant Trees
It is important that we have enough trees due to their environmental benefits. Trees offset carbon emissions, provide food and shelter for wildlife, decrease soil erosion, and the list goes on. Even politicians have emphasized its importance by planting a few trees to implore others to do the same.
Maintain Environment Cleanliness
The environment is important to be maintained so that our children could run freely without worrying about the park’s hygiene. In addition, communities would use public lands such as canyons, mountains, and trails to exercise or track through.
Maintain a Community Garden
Green thumbs would surely enjoy this volunteer work. Community gardens are usually shared places where people can gather and plant all sorts of plants together such as fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
Animal Rescue and Care
Many shelters need volunteers to care for the animals. The help they need includes cleaning cages, feeding animals, walking dogs, playing with the animals, and training them in terms of behavior. There is also other work that requires less hands-on activities such as fundraising, social media marketing, accounting, IT, and events. Animal lovers would enjoy this type of volunteer work.
Teaching
If you’re confident in your teaching skills, then volunteering to teach adults and children is good for you. English is the lingua franca, hence English teachers are in demand in your local community or abroad. A few tasks volunteer teachers can do are assigning tasks, administering tests, grading students’ work, and teaching students creatively.
Work with the Elderly
Some elderly populations are out of range from communities, thus volunteering can help provide a quality life for them. You can volunteer in nursing homes where you can deliver meals, shop at the grocery store, check in on them every morning, and help them whenever they are in need.
Volunteering is Easy
There are many opportunities for you to volunteer. With many places in dire need of volunteers, you are surely needed. Whether working with animals, the elderly, children, social work, or sporting events. You can always do a Google search, search on social media, or ask a few friends if they are already involved in volunteer work to get started. You’ll be able to get experience in so many things and learn new knowledge from so many people.
