One of the best ways to get involved within a community is to volunteer time and energy. Whether it’s an organization that focuses on a specific hobby or a governmental agency, volunteering is an excellent way to feel empowered and to help others advocate for themselves as well.
According to LaMorris Sellers, anyone can volunteer depending on their interests, ability, and time availability. How does volunteering empower yourself and others? Here’s how:
Partnerships With Organizations That Matter
When first thinking about volunteering, there is a myriad of organizations, clubs, or businesses that would be happy to take volunteers. It’s empowering to choose an organization that matters to the individual volunteer because it’s an individual choice of a worthy cause.
It also makes a difference to the people that the volunteer is helping. Sometimes volunteer opportunities mean working with people that cannot advocate for themselves. By pairing passionate volunteers with these individuals, empowerment is ever present. Helping one another makes everyone involved feel good.
Learning Opportunities
Learning new skills while volunteering is a great way to learn. From teaching or studying a new language to basic life skills, volunteering presents a lot of different paths to learning new things.
Sometimes it’s intimidating to try to learn something new but with volunteering, the learning opportunities are often built into the volunteer event. Additionally, soft skills such as working with others or customer service aren’t taught in schools but are things that are learned on the job, which is a powerful skill to possess.
Organizing and Legislative Knowledge
Volunteering also encourages people to step or feel more confident when it comes to legislative action.
Many volunteer opportunities have to do with politics or fighting for a certain cause. When volunteering for these kinds of events, people learn the best ways to advocate and empower not only themselves but others.
Age is But a Number
Many times, volunteering involves working with youth or older adults who have both historically been cast aside or victimized. Through volunteering, both parties are taught how to fight or speak up for themselves and others. This can be done through workshops, lectures, or in-person experiences. By lifting voices that are usually silenced, both volunteers and those they’re advocating for are empowered.
Persistence Is Rewarded
While change often doesn’t happen quickly, it’s rewarding to see it occur after months (or even years!) of volunteering. This teaches volunteers that persistence is worthwhile and empowers them to continue fighting for or volunteering with an organization that matters to them.
Volunteering is available to virtually anyone who is interested and is a wonderful way to feel and be empowered by others. Check-in with your community and see if there are opportunities nearby or ask friends or family if they know of volunteer jobs.
Some volunteer opportunities can be found with volunteer.gov, VolunteerMatch, or organizations like Peace Corps or American Red Cross. Another simple way is to Google “volunteer opportunities in (name of town).”
