Volunteers work to make our world a better place. And the volunteer generally feels better about life for having given of time or money. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm, 26.4 percent of the United States population volunteered at least once in a recent twelve-month period. Women volunteered more than men. Those people ages 35 to 44 were the most likely to volunteer. Married people volunteered more than unmarried people. People with children under 18 were more likely to volunteer than those without children. More educated people tend to volunteer more than less educated.
So what is this volunteering stuff all about? I like to volunteer through a variety of programs. Kiwanis. Public Schools. Church. It makes me feel useful. I am at a point in my life where volunteering is a giving back to a community which has given me so much…a home, a good business, nice parks, a crime-free neighborhood, paved roads, sidewalks and a good place to raise a family. There are several ways of making contributions. First, and the most important is time. When you give time, you’re giving the most precious item you possess. For that reason, when I give money, it is primarily to those causes to which I give my time. While I receive appeals from numerous worthwhile causes, I minimally give to those in which I am not personally engaged.
I know the pressures put on young families today. They are busy figuring out how to make ends meet. They are paying for obligations of raising their children where peer pressure exerts enormous demands on limited resources. They have to pay for clothes, food, housing, and utilities; and in order to be accepted socially, they must also buy certain “must-haves” for their children to not be considered outcast. Those “must-haves” include tiny electronic communication devices along with the latest modes of transportation, a nice house and good summer camps. Those same families have enormous demands placed on their time. They are asked to transport children to various sports or music activities, school plays, field trips and the like. If there is more than one child, these demands are especially high. And yet, when asked to volunteer in the classroom or provide some other support, many do step forward. Some do not. Recently I volunteered six hours of my time to drive students to a music festival forty miles away. No parents volunteered to drive.
After a disaster, many people feel compelled to volunteer out of compassion for fellow human beings in need. Altruistic volunteerism relates to wanting someone else to care when terrible things happen. To be that person is a great way to start volunteering. Then, when you realize how good it makes you feel to give to someone else, you just might want to repeat the experience. The flip side is the person in need. Many people have the attitude that they are self sufficient even in their time of need, so it is difficult for them to accept aid even when that need is obvious. For example, I think I would have a hard time imagining how it would feel to have someone volunteer to rebuild my house after it is destroyed by a natural disaster.
Organizations have been established to encourage volunteerism. I can remember my mother-in-law volunteering at the Red Cross as a nurse. My father attended Red Cross training so that he could be qualified to teach swimming and water safety. The American Red Cross runs the local Blood Bank where I have possibly helped to save three or four hundred lives with my eighty-plus donations. That feels really good, as these are people who through no fault of their own have needed a transfusion.
Another great volunteer organization is Kiwanis International. Having been active in Kiwanis now for thirty years, I find that belonging to such a volunteer organization has numerous benefits. It helps me see what needs are unmet in our community. It helps me find volunteers for projects I care about. It provides a format for learning leadership skills. It provides programs that stimulate my mind. It provides a communication with other volunteers to learn what works and what doesn’t work in service. It provides a pooled financial resource to accomplish more that I could on my own. It provides an outlet that I can work together with my wife to make the community a better place. And it offers a forum to have an enormous amount of fun with our younger generation of volunteers through the Key Club at High School level and Circle K at the Collegiate level.
Once an organization gets big, however, it requires a staff to manage the many different questions of liability, insurance, corporate policy and the financial costs of volunteering. Because the actual work of volunteering is local, the professional staff provides a framework under which service can occur. They coordinate schedules, big projects, and training. They can also undertake projects larger than can be accomplished at the local level. For example, Kiwanis International has helped to wipe out iodine deficiency disorder worldwide. That would not have been possible without a professional staff at the international level communicating with regional administrators. The result was an acceptable cost of providing service. The professional staff also helps to protect the tax-exempt status of such associations, which is in the public interest. If you donate, I think it is important to ask what percentage of your contribution goes to professional fund-raisers. As I have said before, that is why I like to donate locally.
The United States Government has at least thirty-four programs for volunteers. Among them are the Peace Corps, the National Parks Volunteers, and the Civil Air Patrol. The Peace Corps idea was a good one: If we help other countries with our young well-educated enthusiastic volunteers the citizens of those countries would learn to respect us for having given out of our largesse. The rule was put in place that they would have to want us, since to impose our volunteering would violate their sovereignty. That is a good rule. Interestingly, from those Peace Corps volunteers I’ve interviewed, it seems that the volunteers benefit more than the countries they served. Which begs the question. Is volunteering really a good thing? Or is it better to let people arise from their own difficulties with hard work and resourcefulness. Of course there is no clear-cut answer to these questions. In some cases, the need is so great that there is no other way out but to accept the offer. However, in some cases, it might be better to let people figure out how to improve their lives in their own way…our methods are not always “right” or the only way to do things. As we have found with Native Americans, they often had greater respect for the land than the people who came from the East, even though their customs were considered at the time “savage”. The same is true for the Wixarika, the Guadalajara natives who rule by consensus and have for many years resisted the influx of modern culture including roads and electricity.
So if you volunteer, try to make sure your efforts are wanted and needed. Give the people you serve the dignity to acknowledge you as a human being and not a meddling do-gooder. Do try to make a difference in the world which will be appreciated by those you serve. Contribute locally so that your money is not wasted on administration and you have some control on how it is used. Treat any volunteer commitments you have made as important as your professional ones: Show up when you say you will. Be someone who can be counted on.
Volunteering
When you volunteer, it makes you feel good.
But please make sure, it also does the recipient good.
Lend an ear so you hear,
Hold a child who has a fear,
Go to a class—read a book
Clean a creek or a brook
Plant a tree in a park,
Build a playground on a lark
Raise a roof on a shed,
Keeping water off a head.
Raise some funds for a cause,
Stuff trauma dolls full of gauze,
Pancake breakfast served for kids,
Put their pain on the skids.
Pay attention to others’ need,
Make that your volunteer creed,
Keep giving of your time,
To not do so is perhaps a crime.
©Frank Bliss 2009 All rights reserved
May, 2009
