Volunteer!
This week is Volunteers Week.
Volunteering is massively important, both to society and to individuals. Society as a whole benefits from it because those in need can be helped without government and taxes getting involved. Individuals - both those who receive and give - benefit from the contact and experiences.
Just think what we could accomplish if everyone gave up just a few hours of their time every now and then. We could leave this world a far better place. Don’t think that money is the answer. It’s not. Most charities don’t need monmey anywhere near as much as people - especially Scouting, which has thousands of young people across the country on waiting lists due to a lack of adults.
Of course, no volunteering is completely selfless - and I’m definitely speaking from experience here. Anyone who claims to do so is a liar. Volunteers benefit from volunteering their time very nearly as much as anyone they help. The benfeits are just in a different way - they are seldom obvious, but far more internal and personal. The personal satisfaction you can get from volunteering and a job well done can outweigh pretty much anything that has been sacrificed to achieve it.
I fully support the idea of workers getting time off to volunteer, as it encourages those who wouldn’t otherwise volunteer to do so. Though the idea of regarding volunteering as a “proper job-seeking activity” is ridiculous, as anyone and everyone could find the time to do some volunteering if they wanted to.
My employer gives me and every other employee half a day every month time off to do volunteering activities. This volunteering can be done on internally organised schemes, such as helping children in schools to read, or externally like me, with Scouting. I used my last month’s half-day to enable me to ensure that everything was ready for my camp on time.
This is the sort of model that all companies should seek to emulate. It provides for a more motivated workforce, and one who knows that the firm is making an effort to put something back into the community.
I volunteer as a Scout Leader because I enjoy it. I gain so much from the time I spend with my Scouts that the hours I spend doing it - and preparing for, and clearing up after - are way more than worth it to me.
If everyone can just put a few hours every now and then in to volunteering, then everyone benefits. Just a small amount can help so much. Just a little bit of your time can mean so much to other people in so many ways.
So volunteer, and let’s leave this world a better place than when we found it.
One last thing to say - just do-it.
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Couldn’t agree more.
Volunteering can be an enjoyable hobby - you like camping, join the scouts. You like motorsport, become a marshal. There’s something for everyone to enjoy.
And a lot of that enjoyment comes purely from self satisfaction. Last weekend on St John duties, I came away knowing I’d made a difference. If myself (or one of my colleagues) hadn’t been there, a young lad would have had to go to hospital for his treatment. A&E is a daunting place for anyone - so looking after him without the stress involved was an ideal situation for all.
The “Thank you”s I got at the end of the day made it all worth while.
There’s no reason why everyone can’t volunteer. It doesn’t require a huge amount of time. It doesn’t require a huge amount of skills. There really is an opportunity for everyone to get involved. So, if you’re not doing something yet - go out and change the world.
Perhaps you should have posted this a couple of months ago so that those inspired to volunteer had time to get their CRB checks processed…
[...] We are quite a giving nation in the UK. We all like to give to charity where we can. This sometimes gets problematic - you can’t give to every charity that has a box in a shop, sends you a letter, or appeals on TV. Otherwise, you’d need to launch your own appeal as you’re starving and homeless. Different people can give different amounts - some that can’t give monetarily are prepared to give their time instead. See the recent volunteers week. [...]