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Someone asks you, “Why don’t you try volunteering some time?” At which point you say something equivalent to being too busy, or that it’s work without getting paid. I had the same thoughts when I had started. Mostly because I had never done it before, and didn’t know how it would work out. Yet a few weeks ago I spent some time looking up non-profit groups and chose a local one to spend some time at. I did some work at a place called Paws with a Cause.
They are an organization which trains assistance dogs. Not just for people with seeing disabilities, they train them for people with hearing and mobility disabilities as well. It didn’t really go as smoothly as I would have thought it would, it took some persistence to get in touch with the people I needed to, to get everything set up to start my volunteering. I got it all set up so I could volunteer 3 hours twice a week, I figured it was enough time to get stuff done but not so much that I would feel like I was working.
I showed up on a Tuesday at a little before nine in the morning. I got the tour and learned what they did to train the dogs and how I would be helping out. At first there wasn’t a whole lot to do so I ended up helping the volunteer coordinator stuff some envelopes, and make a spreadsheet of local events for coordination of summer events. I eventually moved back to the research and development area over the next couple weeks and spent some time helping out in the production of custom dog harnesses and such.
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Now I should probably mention that I had volunteered in the first place because it was part of a course requirement for one of my classes in college. Otherwise I would have probably kept putting it off as something that I didn’t really have time for. I spent fifteen hours over the course of three weeks there. Fifteen hours might sound like a lot, it did to me when I found out I needed to spend fifteen hours volunteering. But in reality it was over relatively quickly, when I was finished I felt like it was insignificant.
While right now I am not volunteering. I am in the middle of preparing for the end of the semester at school and have an unpredictable schedule. I would have probably still spent some time volunteering but I was told I would have to plan it out ahead of schedule and can’t just drop by when I have time. I do feel like volunteering wasn’t really anything like I expected. It really didn’t feel like I was working, more like I was hanging out helping someone. Maybe something akin to helping a friend paint a room or someone build a deck. It might not be for everyone but I enjoy helping people out when I can.
I hope if you’re reading this and you have never seriously considered volunteering that you may have gotten some insight. I guess it’s like a lot of other things in the regard that you really can’t judge it until you try it.
