Volunteering is Good for the Soul and the World

By Candice Russell

If you're feeling blue this holiday season and wondering why your family is less like the loving one in "It's a Wonderful Life" and more like the bickering cartoon characters on "The Simpsons," take heart. Try to help someone or some cause bigger than yourself by volunteering. It's a nice way to blunt the strong arm of the season's relentless commercialism and take a larger view of life. The opportunities are nearly infinite, limited only by your imagination and the time you can spare.

One Midwestern woman's creativity led to a much-anticipated seasonal event. On the first Saturday of each December, Diana Schmitt, her husband Mike and eighteen of their friends hold a Christmas party for the developmentally disabled residents of Saint Louis Arc in Saint Louis, Missouri. They are glad to see the revelers, who bring cookies and gifts and sing Christmas carols. Why did Schmitt conceptualize the party that has become an annual tradition over the last fifteen years? "It makes you feel good," says this former journalist. "Helping other people is the greatest high. You feel like you're giving back. People look forward to it."

Volunteering is a powerful and significant force in American society for many reasons. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly sixty million people around the country volunteered at least once between September, 2006 and September, 2007. Put another way, that number represents more than twenty-six per cent of the total national population. Breaking it down by gender, women volunteer at a higher rate than men across all age groups, educational levels and other major characteristics. There is a correlation between higher education and volunteering. College graduates are more likely to volunteer than people who only earned a high school diploma.

Most volunteers are involved with only one or two organizations, often reflecting their own personal interests. While older volunteers tend to work for religious organizations, volunteers of other age groups work to combat an army of diseases from cancer to tuberculosis. They help out at schools as teaching assistants and field trip supervisors. Doing jobs that include fund-raising, general labor, speech-making and envelope-stuffing, volunteers play an important, even vital role in many non-profit organizations.

All this hard work adds up to a startling cold hard figure. According to the Corporation for National Community Service, the volunteer labor force saves American organizations $158 billion in costs per year. In light of International Volunteer Day on December 5^th, these facts are not only sobering. They may also be motivating to readers wondering how they can make a difference in the world.

More than 500 volunteers help in a constellation of roles at the Humane Society of Broward County, the non-profit organization in Dania that finds homes for cats, dogs and rabbits. According to Cherie Wachter, director of marketing, these volunteers help out in the pet boutique, walk the dogs waiting for adoption, bathe and feed pets, and take pets home for foster care until puppies and kittens are old enough to be adopted. They also work as adoption counselors. Other volunteers with well-behaved dogs visit nursing homes and hospitals, bringing cheer to people in places where animals are normally forbidden.

As to why people become volunteers for the Humane Society, Wachter cites the obvious reason of a love for animals. "It's also a chance for people to get out of the house and meet others with the same interests," she says. "Many people live in apartments or condos where they can't have pets so they come here. We've had some volunteers who have been here well upwards of ten years, which says a lot about the staff and how this facility is run."

What would the Humane Society do without the work of its volunteers? "We wouldn't be able to operate," says Wachter. "In the fiscal year ending on September 30^th, it was determined that volunteers donated 155,969 hours. They saved us $2.8 million."

No price can be put on the services of other volunteers in this political season. Cynthia Busch, a Plantation, Florida mother of a toddler daughter, managed to find time since mid-September to be a team leader in the Presidential campaign of Democratic candidate Barack Obama. After Al Gore lost his bid for the same office, Busch felt strongly that she needed to do something when John Kerry ran for President four years ago. Kerry's failed campaign motivated her to become involved in working for Obama with victory in mind. "It is a lot of work," says this member of the Plantation Democratic Club. "The more you do it, the more you're addicted to doing it. I feel strongly that local people should be involved."

It's not just adults getting in on the action. Young people, who need to earn high school credits through volunteer activities, are participating more and more. It can give them a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, whether they are canvassing for funds to support muscular dystrophy research or creating a web site with personal stories about volunteering from their peers. Volunteering means they can test out career options. If it's a medical career beckoning, volunteering at a hospital is a good idea. If teaching is an option, check out after-school tutoring programs at elementary schools. In the process, young people meet mentors who may be influential for the rest of their lives.

At the age of twenty, Anastagia Pierre is aware of the value of volunteering. This Plantation resident recently won the title of Miss Florida USA, which she will defend in the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada next April. She makes personal appearances for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, committed to breast cancer research and education, and the Embrace Girls Foundation, a North Miami-based organization that teaches girls about etiquette and character-building.

"Volunteering gives us the freedom to grow as people, to focus on work that we really care about and find interesting, and to challenge ourselves," says Sarah Rogers, director of Jesuit volunteering at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England. "You change the attitudes of your whole circle of friends, family and colleagues in sharing some of your experiences with them."

Even reaching out to another person in need, outside of an official institutional capacity, can prove to be life-changing for both parties. When journalist Schmitt did a story for the Kansas City Star newspaper about transplanted Bosnian families, she met two pre-adolescent girls suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. One in particular, a girl named Majana, reached out to Schmitt, who helped get her free tuition to a Catholic school and out of the dangerous neighborhood where she was previously going to school. Thanks to Schmitt's mentoring and guidance, Majana went on to become valedictorian of her high school class, a college graduate, and a post-college graduate, earning a master's degree in economics. Currently, she holds a job with a major accounting firm in Chicago, Illinois.

"She went from a potential gang member to a contributor," says Schmitt with pride. "I was told that if you can only help one person, your life is validated. If someone presents herself to me as needy, I've always felt that I am beholden to help."

Sometimes what drives people to volunteer is recognition of a pressing need, such as seeing a loved one die in the care of a hospice. The gentle, loving end-of-life care provided in a hospice setting is remarkable when compared with the more medically focused care of a hospital. James Hallenbeck, M.D. calls care for the dying a communal activity and responsibility in which volunteers play a significant role: "The volunteer can provide perspective to patients, families and clinicians precisely because they are betwixt and between -- not dying, not family, not professional, but still important members of the tribe with a vested interest in the unfolding drama."

No matter where your spirit leads you this holiday season, the need for volunteers remains a constant throughout the year. Lending a hand is spiritually rewarding, allowing the giver to receive more than is given, which is a blessing in these troubled times.