Volunteering

I average about 3-5 hours a week between my local Kiwanis Club, a day camp for kids that I am on the board for and my work organizing a fund raising festival for 3 other charities.

 Depending on the time of year, or the amount of projects we have, it can be more.    But I would say I average more than 200 hours a year - on top of my full time job and the two other business I own.

As a business owner (and wannabe triathlete) I don't have a lot of time to volunteer, but we do give a lot of money to a program in North Omaha that helps at risk kids.  It's a great after school program to keep kids off the street and educate them.

Also in regards to the "at whose expense" part of your post I feel that the economy is the number one issue with this election and its the number one issue in the country.  If we don't fix the fiscal cliff we're heading for all government funded programs will be destroyed.  So in my opinion the real expense will be suffered if we don't fix the economy.

I've been heavily involved with Habitat for Humanity for the past 15 years or so.  I've served on the local Board of Directors for the past six years, including two years as chair.  I volunteer at jobsites a couple Saturdays a month, which tends to cut into my training time.

I've also served as president of the booster group at my kid's high school, and on the boards of a local day care/preschool and of a faith-based counseling center.

In the last 25 years I've served two terms as an Elder at my church and have served on numerous committees.

I feel like I've been blessed in my life in many ways and enjoy being able to give of my time to good and worthwhile causes.

Mark

0.

0 zero, nada nothing - and in Greek Tipota.

got me thinking though - so going to investigate something I can do with my daughter who is 7.  She's an only child so I figure something with children or animals would work for her interest.  Watch this space I shall update when I find something suitable.

Like many I am time poor I never even manage to help out on working bees at her school but i happily contribute financially....is that enough I wonder sometimes.

Anyway let's get into giving back.  Thanks for making me think.

I had more time to volunteer when I was homeschooling my kids in elementary school than I do now that they are college/ high school age and I am working full time.  

I used to volunteer in 2 or 3 parts or children's ministry at church, a homework helpers program, and a meal for underprivileged/ border on homeless or just plain financially out of luck.....all through our old church in PA.  In VA, we have some opportunities to volunteer, but not as much continuity to the process.  I don't want to do a "once and done" mentality with community service......and I am also in a place where I need to mentally distance myself from some of it because so many people continue to stay in situations they will never improve from out of fear or beliefs....If you're in an abusive relationship, I don't care what your religious faith says.....you and your kids need to get out and be safe.  NOT stay there and perpetuate the abuse by allowing it to continue  (I know someone in that position)

I don't volunteer and was never taught to.  I did a few times in high school and college cause there was a pretty girl that did and then when I was forced to by judges orders.  I never really got any enjoyment out of it so I've never been inclined to go back.

I was taught that if you want something, go out and work for it.  "Life's full of stuff you don't want to do, but you still have to do anyway.  Get used to it." was one of my dad's favorite sayings.  The other was "Everybody's got problems.  90% of the people don't care and the other 10% are glad, so get over it."  So I was never taught to be particularly sympathetic to those with less.  Those people were just poor decision makers in my house.  If they didn't want to end up poor, pregnant, and on welfare, then they should have worked harder to be in the top 10% in their class with an automatic bid to college and made better decisions along the way.  I don't say any of this as an opinion on right or wrong, but to give context to the question:

What is the draw to volunteer?

lots of organizations provide services to a wide variety of people (not just poor and pregnant teenagers?) on tight tight budgets.  volunteers help it work.

hospitals and nursing homes rely on volunteers to take some burden off of overworked nurses.

communities and churches put on carnivals and all kinds of events to provide something fun for kids to do or for families to get to know each other.

even our local opera house relies on volunteers to usher and hand out programs so they can afford to produce good quality shows.

and hello....could triathlon EXIST without volunteers??

do you really think in your life you have never benefitted from a volunteer's services?  it's about giving a little back to a community you care about.

I was going to answer zero and was feeling a little guilty.  Then I remembered I was a volunteer fireman, a youth softball coach (no daughters of my own) and a volunteer Spin instructor.  So, if those count as volunteering then the answer might be 0-5 or more, seeing as I fought wildland fire for 9 hours on Sunday.  Also, my wife is the Parks and Rec director in our home town so I 'volunteer' for every local function (bike ride, Okie Noodling, Easter Egg Hunt,........).  My wife is also a Rotarian, so that opens the door to volunteering at several other special events.

My wife and I just recently learned about Oklahomans Against Trafficking of Humans (OATH).  We haven't yet decided how we are going to donate our time to this.

Yeah, I've seriously considered volunteering for a tri and started to last year and something else came up.

Don't know.  Guess that's part of the question.  It honestly wasn't an opinion piece, but a true inquiry.

I do volunteer at a race or two each year, but I don't see it the same as something like the women's shelter I am usually doing it because a friend asked, or I get a discounted entry, or I know several people racing. 

I have done Habitat for Humanity for purely my own enjoyment. I know, I am an evil person. 

At the heart of things, I am better at writing a check than I am helping out.  I am just not the warm/fuzzy type!   I would likely help out if asked directly (hey, can you clean up the highway this weekend? sort of thing), but I don't look for ongoing opportunities.    I would happily sponsor a volunteer if someone wanted to help, but didn't have money to give/needed help in order to volunteer their time like a bus pass, lunch money, etc. 

I see where you're coming from, and sometimes feel the same way about certain sub-sets of people who are on the receiving end. But there's such a wide array of those who truly need help in this world, including but not limited to:

Children - kids have no say on who they were born to, how they are raised, etc. until they are XX years old (double digits at least) and can help themselves or escape. They don't have a voice. I give to groups who help kids, but not necessarily the adults - for example a program that discretely gives backpacks filled with kid-friendly food to kids on Fridays so they have food to eat on the weekends. A big, sad problem in many communities.

Elderly - organizations like Meals on Wheels ensure the shut-in and low-no-income elderly have nutritious, hot meals. You might be surprised at the need here. My mother does 3 routes a week and until she did, I had no idea. It's heart breaking that these individuals don't have family or friends and physically can't get out, but don't have the money or means to get help. 

The abused - women/children/animals. Sometimes getting out of an abusive relationship means leaving EVERYTHING behind. Helping these individuals get back on their feet and back into society safely is very worthy and important, IMO. 

Those with mental/physical disabilities - I don't think this one needs any explanation. The softest spot in my heart is right here, having a family member who had severe disabilities. Ensuring that they live a full life of dignity and respect is again, worthy and important, IMO.

Most of the organizations that help the groups (and others) I listed run on mostly volunteer hours. The "draw" to volunteering (I'm really surprised that was a serious question?) is that you're helping those who cannot help themselves. Like MEH said, it's not all pregnant teenagers and slack-offs. There are real needs out there, a lot of which could not have been foreseen or prevented, many that would be a detriment to our society if it weren't for volunteers.

I feel I should point out that just because you object to helping people doesn't mean you can't volunteer. For example, we foster dogs for a local dog rescue (I think that counts as volunteering).  They pull dogs from full shelters and we take them into our home and care for them, train them, and generally love them until they find a family that is perfect for them.  I wouldn't know how to quantify the time spent on that in hours, but it is definitely worthwhile, if challenging.

I also volunteer at races from time to time, which is always a fun way to get involved in a race that I'm not running.

I've been volunteering for years with Special Olympics, but after retiring from the military and getting involved again in triathlon, things sort of came together and have me now working with Wounded Warriors using cycling and triathlon training in rehabilitation.

Again, would have never thought of myself as a mentor, but it's amazing to help out as a training partner!

There is more to volunteering...

I volunteer as an EMT with 2 ambulance clubs.

My son and I are volunteers for the DCNR and teach beginner's kayaking classes. My entire family also puts in vounteer hours for the park service to do some maintenance like removing invasive species, landscaping, and shoreline erosion improvements. We also help maintain a small part of the Appalachian Trail.

Do you want the government to do it?    

There is more to volunteering than 'just helping the poor' - I volunteer to help my community because the local government cant afford to do everything.  The local paper did a story on my Kiwanis club just recently as we celebrated our 90th anniversary.  One of the things I said was "I grew up in a great town and had a great childhood.  And a large part of that was due to unknown volunteers donating their time to build parks and create events.  Joining Kiwanis is just my way of paying those anonymous people back so todays kids can have the same positive experience I had"

Our club has built every playground in the public schools b/c the town couldnt afford too.  One of our members donated river front property for a municipal swimming area, the field house was funded and built by my club.  We raised funds and built the local bandstand for community concerts. We have an observation tower called Poet's Seat that overlooks the valley.  Our club and other volunteers clean the area, and we rebuilt the flag pole and replaced the flag

Local events such as the 4th of July fireworks are staffed by volunteers.  Our Winter Carnival, triathlon, the building of hiking and mt biking trails, River Cleanups - all done by volunteers.  We care about our community and want to make it a better place to live, so like you said "you want something done (like a better community to raise a family) you have go out and do it"

So whats the draw?  If you arent going to do it, who will?   Because more than likely when you say 'they' will take care of it, 'they' are volunteers.

Justin - I was going to jump on the bandwagon of proving you wrong - but I think that has been done. However, I want to play devil's advocate and point out that he didn't say he didn't agree with it - he was just saying he didn't really know. Without "blaming" his dad - I somewhat agree with that philosophy. However, that would be in a "perfect" world that none of the unwise would need help. And as Meh and Lisa pointed out - there are a lot of those in "need" that wasn't about making unwise decisions. One great organization that I had only recently learned about is the Fisher House. (I'm not working for them or anything - just as an example.) They provide housing for injured solidiers' family - it is usually located within walking distance of the hospital. There are actually scientific reasons - due to studies - to have a support system during this time.

However...I digress to the OP's question. My volunteer hours are probably a 40/week. However, most of my volunteering - if not all - is providing me with a career. We have started a non-profit race promotion company - and currently I am not getting paid. I also started interning at a local organization as a marketing and communications intern. (I'm not a current student...but isn't "intern" a nice way of saying you aren't getting paid?!?) So that's pretty much all I do "work wise". 

It is interesting - again going to Justin's post - that your parents can really influence these things. My dad wasn't really the type to go to an organization to volunteer, but he spent hours and hours helping neighbors. In the house we lived in while I was in high school & college, a lot of the neighbors were not spry chickens. My dad would shovel driveways (manually) without being asked and eventually became a friend and occasional helper. Thats just the way he is. My mom's parents were A+ students in volunteering. My 96-yr old grandpa still attends Kiwanis every week. They have also done ok in life and are usually generous towards other organizations.

Honestly, I'm not even sure what about volunteering I enjoy. Or why I do it. I think it was just the norm for my family to do things for others. 

I truly value all of the responses, so THANKS!!  I've been curious as to how connected some folks are.

Justin, I sort of felt that way, too, I was the old, "Hey man i worked three jobs in college, scraped to get by, blah blah blah. pull yourself up from your bootstraps, dude"  BUT I also didn't choose who I was born to:  Two loving parents who taught me hard work, provided me with a solid private school education, and encouraged me to go to college from a young age, even when *some* women my age were not. Don't get me wrong, we were solidly middle class, didn't have much and I took out loans to go to college but with the right support system.  Not everyone has that.

That said, perhaps it's my Buddhist leanings that have taught me that people don't purposefully go out and try to not succeed.  When trying to explain my domestic violence work, b/c blv me, I get SO MANY ppl who just are dubious of the women we service, that imagine if your whole life you were told the sky was green and then someone came along and told you it was blue.  Why, all of a sudden would you blv them?  You wouldn't.  

What compels me to volunteer?  The absolute gratefulness I have for all of the blessings I've rec'd in this life (and trust me there's been plenty of suffering to go along with it) -- for instance volunteering at races, b/c others have been there for me when I've raced

And of course I suppose in the end it is self-serving, but if I can make a change in ONE person's life, it will be worth it.

Same here, ~20 hours a month. ~5 hours after my regular job on Tuesdays.

I used to volunteer weekly at the SPCA, but now my volunteering is more sporadic. I usually volunteer at events, usually races and sometimes World Vision. In July I spend probably more than 20 hours per month helping organize a bike race, but definitely less in the winter months. I've learned a lot at each volunteering job that I've had.

My best volunteer gig was working in the Field of Play at the Olympic Oval for the 2010 olympics.

As a response to multiple posts, I don't think it's a bad idea at all, just I was "taught" differently, so I was always curious as to the motivations.  AND it was always associated with the poor, indigent, and lazy.  I've never associated trail repair, triathlon, conservation, community building with volunteering.  I know any idiot would make the connection, but for whatever reason, I never have.

Probably Mehaner's post was most poignant with "(not just poor and pregnant teenagers?)"

Considering my "new definition" of volunteer work, it's still 0-5 hours, simply because that's how often it comes up.  Trail repair (there aren't a whole lot in Texas) and then I plan to start volunteering at Tri's but that will still leaves below 5 hrs/wk.

Responses were eye opening none the less.  Thanks.