About Volunteering

Are you considering volunteering?

It’s an important way to help individuals and communities in need.  

The idea of volunteering – giving your time and energy to a cause without financial reward – may seem an impossible task. The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said that the essence of life is “to serve others and do good,” and it seems an increasing number of people are starting to wake up and see why volunteering is important and to understand how serving and helping each other in different ways benefits not just others but ourselves, too. 

Volunteering is important for you as it offers essential help to worthwhile causes, people in need, and the wider community. Many organizations and charities rely on the generosity of volunteers and also many companies depend upon teams of volunteers to help them thrive and do their work.

With busy lives, it can be hard to find time to volunteer. However, with the right match you can find friends, connect with the community, learn new skills, and even advance your career. Volunteering can bring a whole host of benefits to participants when it comes to boosting their job prospects or enhancing their self-confidence and skills, but it should be approached with an openness that asks for nothing in return.

Giving to others can also help protect your mental and physical health. It can reduce stress, combat depression, keep you mentally stimulated, and provide a sense of purpose. While it’s true that the more you volunteer, the more benefits you’ll experience, volunteering doesn’t have to involve a long-term commitment or take a huge amount of time out of your busy day. Giving in even simple ways can help those in need and improve your health and happiness.

Volunteering can enrich your own life in so many ways without that being your intention. It will offer new life experiences and insights into social and developmental issues, as well as the inner workings of non-governmental and community organizations. It might give you the opportunity to travel abroad and experience diverse cultures, assisting local communities or environmental projects while seeing the world at the same time.

Volunteering is a great way to network and meet other like-minded individuals, creating friendships that can last a lifetime. Through the work and dedication of others, you might be inspired to start your own grassroots project to assist others or alter the career path you had originally set forth for yourself.

Volunteering is a great way to get a foot in the door in the workforce, with connections you make along the way maybe even leading to your dream career. Through the experiences you have while volunteering, you may get a better idea of the career path you have chosen and whether or not it’s right for you, saving yourself a lot of backtracking in the future.

Also being a volunteer is important for those in need. We all contribute to the construction of the world we live in—don’t you want your contribution to be one that makes that world better? It makes for a better world for all of us when we work towards equity and equality for everyone. 

Unfortunately, not everyone is born into a life of opportunity and sometimes just the country you grow up in will dictate a life of hardship and poverty. Those of us that do live in countries where housing, education, safety and health care are basic and upheld rights have a responsibility to assist those that struggle for these things on a daily basis and need a volunteer’s help.

You might think that this is an issue for their government to solve. But for some communities around the world, they aren’t even recognized by a government or are persecuted to the point that they have to flee. In other countries, corruption is so rife that little trickles down to those at the bottom and without international aid and the work of volunteers, hundreds upon thousands would go without.

When questioning your own thoughts about why is volunteering important, assisting those who are less fortunate than yourself should be the most compelling reason to take the plunge. That’s not to say you have to jet off across the world to make a difference. You can also look at communities in your own backyard who are working to improve the situation for those in need.

The most important of all is that volunteering makes a difference. Whatever area you are volunteering in, you are making an impact in your life, the lives of those you volunteer with, and the lives of those who benefit from your efforts.

Volunteering is a sacrifice, but when you start doing it, you usually discover the benefits outweigh all things you’re giving up yourself.

Do you have an upcoming event and need volunteers?

Register your organization, submit your event and find the most dedicated volunteers!