Your Experiences
Feel free to post what you want, be honest, & keep it relevant.
How does volunteering affect your daily life?
Are there things you would do differently next time to make the experience better?
Any suggestions for people thinking about volunteering somewhere for the first time?
Where did you volunteer and how did you find the opportunity?
My hope is that my experiences will inspire others to share their own stories, ask questions, and, by taking away the unknown, encourage those who may be apprehensive about trying something new.
I recently moved back to the Northern Virginia area after living in NYC for the past year attending graduate school….while there I had the opportunity to volunteer at Covenant House, unfortunately…the paperwork process took about 4+months and by the time they had gotten back to me, I was packing up my studio and heading south. While living here and job hunting, I decided to check out some volunteering that I could do in my spare time…I did this 1) because I was bored, and I could only sleep and eat and work out for so much time, 2) I was inspired by my good friend Rachel, 3) I wanted to finish what I started in NYC. Anyways…found this company called Reston Interfaith and they work with low income families in my area and they have several different services that they provide from childcare while parents are learning how to get out of poverty or while they are taking classes on getting their GED to tutoring low income children from K-12 grade to food kitchen staff at one of the local shelters to assorted fundraising events. I ended up becoming a tutor for children k-5 and met with them every Monday after they got of school and before I would go to work and helped them with their homework….and I just loved every moment with them. Half the time I would help with their homework…which you would think would be pretty easy, but trying to explain what an antonym is to a 7 year old is tougher than it seems. The other half of the time I would play games with them–from checkers to chess to connect four. I recently got a promotion at my job and have been unable to tutor the last couple of weeks…but I’m setting up shifts to help out with the holiday gift drive and holiday meals for the holiday season. I started out volunteering because I didn’t have a job, but just because I have one now doesn’t mean I’m going to stop.
Volunteering a few hours of your time a week doesn’t take much effort—it’ll probably take more effort to find an organization and fill out the paperwork. What’s a few hours out of one whole week? You’ll probably spend that time watching mind dulling tv anyways….and being able to give back to those that are in need has got to be worth more than catching up on your shows or catching up on the latest celebrity gossip.
1Thanks for sharing, Liv. Paperwork is an unfortunate necessity of volunteering with children in most cases, for obvious reasons. I’m glad you are figuring out how to fit volunteering into your new work schedule.. Even so, there’s always time for mind-numbing television
2