Community Service: It Helps More Than Your Community

By Sebastian Troup


People don't always have time for community service though they acknowledge it to be a "feel good" activity that they want to accomplish. It is quite hard to make volunteering time with everyone so busy with their respective work and family. Listed here are a number of reasons why volunteering is a valuable use of your time aside from an opportunity to feel good about yourself.

Everybody knows that community service does indeed affect our community. Why not help in making the community a better place to live in by spending a few moments in service? Volunteer service for a few hours a month is more than enough to give huge difference and this is greatly appreciated. There are many varieties in volunteering activities today like park and street cleanups, local school projects, serving food at your local food pantry, helping with youth activities, and there is no shortage in such activities at any time soon. Such activities not only contribute to a better community but your family and yourself can benefit from it.

Your share in the volunteering work becomes exemplary to others. Not only are you making a huge difference with the community, but this also inspires your family and friends to volunteer. If you have children, you can use this opportunity to teach them about the importance and the fun of volunteerism. It is a good idea to find a volunteer opportunity that allows children to take part in such service. At a very early age, they will be able to grasp the idea that giving back is not only the right thing to do, but also helping others and the environment can create a better future for everyone. You also can create group volunteer events and invite your friends and ask them to participate. Social media is a very powerful tool that can be used to invite friends to join in and also spread the word throughout the community.

A lot of companies today are offering some sort of workplace volunteer program that allows you to volunteer a certain amount of hours per month depending on your schedule that are approved during work hours. If given a chance, why not use this time for the better good of the community? This is a free time that the company is paying you for, so this is a good advantage to invite family and friends to partake in group activities during work hours to make the most use of their time. Inquire to your management if your company does not have a workplace volunteer program to help you get started.

Volunteerism enhances your skills and you gain more experience. This is one benefit that many don't realize, but is maybe one of the most important reasons to volunteer. You may have seen terms about volunteering such as "micro-volunteering" or "skills based volunteering." These are new concepts that are proving to be the most valuable to volunteers and organizations. Micro-volunteering or skills based volunteering means taking the skills you possess (often through your work experience) and applying it to a volunteer opportunity in small increments of time.

For example, there are hundreds of nonprofits that have no access to a web designer. If you are a web designer yourself, then you might be surprised that they are in high demand today. You can share your talent and skills to the community by spending a few hours of your time in volunteering for couple of weeks. This is a great training ground to hone your skills and gain additional experience while at the same time the charitable organization can benefit greatly from it. Freelance web designers can do some professional work that could lead to a long-term career and contract with the organization once they see how well you do volunteering which is a very great opportunity. Not only are you helping others, you also are building an even better resume for yourself.




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