Is Giving Good For You?

The reason that I believe that volunteer work and work in general is vital to success in the today’s world and society is because the generation that I am apart of is lack of a better term lazy.The motto of the entitled generation is procrastination is key. The most important part in forming a generation comes from the parents. The outcome of a generation’s attitude always leads back to the source (the parents). Volunteer work in present time is very important for the youth, but is equally as important for adults too. Some local organizations in Juneau are Love Incorporation, Helping Hands-Healing Hands LLC, Saint Vincent De Paul, and Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). It is a non profit organization that provides health care for residents of Southeast Alaska. Saint Vincent De Paul is an organization that provides housing for low income families in Juneau, Alaska. Service is an essential

I agree with Ansen that there are two-way benefits towards the person that needs help and the person that is volunteering. When I was volunteering to go to the nursing home and pamper the elderly ladies, not only did the elderly have fun but we volunteers had a bunch of fun. We all had smiles on our faces and wish that we could stay a bit longer. It benefited them because it gave them a wonderful day to remember but it did the same for us. It also helped me out in other ways because I was able to use that service as something to put on my resume for when I need to get a job. In the article Ansen mentions the GIVE Act (Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education) and how “it suggests that there is public support for an expansion of national service” (Ansen, 2013, p.137). This part ties in with the day the guest speaker brought up the service for cleaning up the bathrooms, grass, and streets. Not many people volunteered for this one and same goes for me because in my head I didn’t want to clean any bathrooms because I thought that it was gross. While I was sitting there watching a couple of people stand up, my youth pastor looked at me and suggested that I help clean up bathrooms as well and so I did. When I did I felt like a germophobe and hardly wanted to touch anything but when we were done with the bathroom the owner of the store shook our hands with a smile going ear to ear and said thank

In this experience, my health will also be improved. Volunteering can open my eyes more about the world. This is improving my health. It can help me be more aware of the environment and what it needs. This counts as improving my mental health. Not only that, but in a positive way.

Many people don’t realize the true value of volunteering, but I’ve come to understand the incredible impact of volunteering through my experience at Memorial Hermann. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” For me, his words could not be truer.

Volunteering is undertaken in both organised and casual ways. Firstly, volunteering through organizations. That provided $5.9 billion to Queensland’s economy in 2004; $3.6 billion from the activities of middle-aged and older people. Australian Bureau Statistics (2007) also stated that volunteer rates were higher among older people who donated money than those who did not (30% compared with 17%). Secondly, volunteering through casual ways. de Vaus, D., Gray, M., & Stanton, D. (2003) said that Australians aged over 65 years contributed almost $39 billion per annum in unpaid caring and voluntary work ( rising to $74.5 billion per year if those aged 55 to 64 years is included) . Therefore, the unpaid work of older people as carers and volunteers saved a huge cost for the

While there are many theories within the Social Work/Gerontology discipline that is relevant to this topic, the one theory that seems most relevant is Activity Theory. Activity Theory argues that older people continue to benefit society as well as themselves when they continue to be active as they age. The theory argues that a senior’s positive perception

However, my thought was changed by the first sentence that the author stated “the effects of giving as we age are especially dramatic” (Huffington, 2015, p. 240). I realize that this is about the love of giving afterward. When we are giving, we are also spreading and sharing love with others. Moreover, I feel when we are little as a kid, we tend to give more than we are in the older age; maybe this is why children are always happier than adults. The message from this section sticks out to me because of the statistical findings shows that more than 75% of the employees who had volunteered said they felt healthier; more than 90% said volunteering had put them in a better mood, and more than 75% reported experiencing less stress (Huffington, 2015, p. 241). I have no idea there are many benefits when we give or volunteer until I read this message. I believe I can use this to improve my relationships with others by volunteering in the community such as help the elders or the children and affect others to give as well. A relationship can be built up by giving, which also gives me the opportunities to become friends with others. Moreover, giving expands my relationships within the social

Next, Szalavitz bolsters her previous statement that people can benefit from selfless acts by presenting statistics and facts discovered by a study from BMC Public Health. To give the reader a sense of reality, Szalavitz offers a reminder that genuine and regular benevolence is required to reap such rewards. Next, she mentions a few more health benefits that one can acquire from helping others before describing the harm it can incur. Szalavitz continues her argument by describing a more general danger of benevolence and recognizes the limited verification of the research findings. She concludes the article with statistics of how people are being encouraged to volunteer around the world and establishes the purpose of helping others in the first

I chose to volunteer at Lakeview Health Center in West Salem, Wisconsin. Lakeview Health Center is a long term care facility that provides care for adults with special behavioral or mental health needs. At the beginning of the semester I listed ways that I thought Lakeview Health Center would enrich my knowledge in the field of psychology and goals that I intended to accomplish during my hours spent volunteering. I believed my knowledge would be expanded in the areas of mental health, the process of socialization and altruism. I will now reflect on this list and on the goals that I hoped to achieve.

“older people should be counseled against buying into negative stereotypes about aging, and instead they should focus on volunteering, and other empowering activities that promote increased self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. The community should be educated to promote positive views of aging and to dispel myths about aging. Programs that

Peter Singer’s The Most Good You Can Do is an insightful, informative, philosophical spin on the typical self help book. His ideas on effective altruism, doing the most good with what you have, is a fresh look at living a charitable life. The book provides an ample amount of examples of people and companies who strive to make as much impact in the world as possible, likely in an effort to make effective altruism appear to be a feasible way of living for the average person. However, as the book progressed, it seemed to lose focus, shifting between profiles of effective altruists, and Singer’s own point of view on the movement. Overall, the ideas presented were interesting and thought provoking, but the entire text could have been shortened dramatically and

The United States is a country of volunteers. In 2002-2003, 64 million Americans (28.8 percent of those 16 and older) donated 52 hours a year, the equivalent of more than one full work week, to building shelters, coaching Little League, caring for the elderly, teaching literacy, and countless other community-minded pursuits. Statistics show in Source F that “groups mandatory and nonvolunteers – were less likely to volunteer 8 years after high school than persons who strongly encouraged to volunteer or did it for strictly voluntary reason (43 percent).”

“Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together” (Ryan). These words said by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, reflects the words my parents would always say to me when I was little. I would donate old clothes that did not fit, or toys I did not play with anymore. Every summer I would volunteer at my town’s public library, as well as at my church. However, as I got older, doing the simple tasks at the library felt tedious and uninteresting so I stopped volunteering for a while. There were times when I had spare time that could have and should have been put to use volunteering, but I did not have the motivation. However, after being inducted into my High School’s National Honors Society, I needed volunteer hours in order to remain in it. This was the motivation I needed to begin volunteering again.

Allyene, Sonia, ed. "Volunteering Helps You, Too." Black Enterprise 37 (2007): 74. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Benedictine University, Naperville. 2 Apr. 2008. Keyword: volunteering.

1) The article from The Gerontologist supports the activity theory of aging. This states that as people age, it is very important for them to be engaged in various activities and social roles. As described in the lecture, studies have shown that those who stay involved have less signs of depression and have a lesser decline in mental health. In addition, they are considered more competent than others in their age group by the general population since they are actively participating in society. The research described in the article proved that those who had moderate or high participation in activities such as working, volunteering, and caregiving had a better psychological well-being. It is not necessarily just taking part in these, but the level in which one does so is also crucial. It appears that moderate participation is the best way to a better psychological well-being, as one does not want to be overworked, but should still be involved.