Throughout history, volunteering has evolved into a cultural connection; a common characteristic of humans on a local, national, and global level is the desire to help one another. Although this statement is not necessarily true for every individual, most people feel an urgency to assist friends, family members, coworkers, and/or strangers in need or in crisis. Why should we volunteer? Many people donate their time for varying reasons whether it’s fundraising for disaster relief or collecting, preparing, and serving food for a food bank (Moore). Maybe it’s the warm sensation in your heart after you play a game of chess with a bedridden cancer patient, or the contagious smiles shared between servers and recipients at a soup kitchen that …show more content…
As an active member of the community, I did not want to see my church and library flood into a watery mess. A call for help was made to locals, like myself, who were willing and able to combine efforts in preparation for the “great” flood of Iowa City. My dad, mom, sister, and I participated in the sandbagging event, a whole three hours of shoveling orange, dusty sand into two-feet-deep bags and placing them into wooden crates. This process was monotonous and demanding, but with the help of thousands of local citizens, thousands of sandbags were filled in a matter of a couple days. Community members helped protect precious historic buildings and houses that may have resulted in a damaged downtown. The sandbagging event was, like I said, repetitious and grueling; therefore, I can understand the displeasure in partaking in an event like this, but the “satisfaction of saving someone’s home is priceless,” (What Volunteering).
Where do you spend your money? Is it put towards purchasing the latest iPhone or attending the anticipated Miley Cyrus concert (even though you don’t like her music)? Many people feel content and satisfied sticking with the “in” crowd. What if a trend wasn’t materialistic; rather, what if it was contributing to improve the world? Don’t you think you would receive an equally as gratifying feeling regardless of whether you buy
When one volunteers, it is not for their personal gain, yet rather for the benefit of others. The volunteering opportunity would enable one to make a direct connection with others. Thus, the volunteers get
Do you you think students should be required to volunteer in their communities to receive their high school diplomas? I for one do not think you should be required to volunteer for your community in order to get your diploma. In my eyes no one should be forced to volunteer to do anything however, volunteering does teach responsibility and builds character. Volunteering for something on your own shows what type of person you are however, being forced to volunteer isn’t really volunteering. I do not feel like you should be forced to volunteer for your community in order to get a high school diploma but I do think volunteering is a good thing to do.
“Many people feel a sense of self in doing something for others: friendship, support, bonding and a feeling of belonging are why some people volunteer. I also felt this feeling of belonging when would participate in the Saint Jude Bike-a-thon. Most of my friends and classmates would be there pushing along with me. Volunteering events also provide a great opportunity to meet new people and develop new meaningful relationships with them. The shared experience is usually what bonds people
Volunteering in America is something that has helped this country to grow the way it has. Services that were given through volunteering are a necessary part of how this country has dealt with its challenges. Beyond the wars that have made and changed the lives of Americans, this country has also had to deal with tragedy that strikes with natural
Volunteering has been an essential part of my life in the past few years. As an immigrant to Canada, I deemed it my responsibility to serve my community here and back home. Hence when I got ample of opportunities to get involved I always seized them.
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.
The waters were murky and brown with dirt, debris, and garbage. Rainbow colors were often found on top of the standing water, meaning chemicals were now being mixed into the waters as well. Some residents in these areas were lucky, they still had power and the water was around the home, not in it. However, many people were not this lucky. As strong communities like ours do when there's a crisis like this we banned together. Those who had small boats or canoes made rounds around the neighborhood, dropping off water bottles or sandbags to those who needed it. When the waters receded everyone helped with the cleanup. Homeowners got new carpets, appliances, and paint. New flood warning systems were implemented and for the most part everyone felt better, so life returned to normal. That is, until the next spring when this vicious cycle repeated itself. The town offered to buy the homes that kept being destroyed by the floods. The hope was to allow the ground more room to absorb the water. Sadly, this effort was in vain the towns still flooded just the same as before. Every time it rained, sandbags were offered by the police and fire departments. Homeowners would wait with bated breath until the morning, to see what waited for them as the sun rose. The firefighters even helped hand out the sandbags to people who couldn't help themselves, like the elderly and the disabled. The towns were
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
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.
Shelters provide volunteer opportunities to those in the community. Volunteers from schools or career programs help the community by placing people in administrative jobs and service work that benefit the needy. Many schools require students to have a volunteer hours. Volunteering increases the awareness of how poorly some people live and survive. Volunteering is a good way to just help the community. Most people volunteer because they want to. Volunteering is a good way to help the community, because many times it is a subject that needs help. Out of the goodness in people’s hearts they want to help, and volunteering is a great way to help. “Not only are
America’s gift of volunteerism to my generation has made an impact on the country, and more specifically, my family. With all the things going on in the world today like wars, tough economies, terrorism, natural disasters, and what’s going on in Washington, I feel that everyone is pulling together closer, and wanting to see their communities shine.
There are almost as many reasons for getting involved in volunteer work as there are volunteers. Once people get started, they find that their deepest rewards are ones they didn't expect when they first came looking for a volunteer assignment. Participants entered the volunteer world through ads in the paper, articles in the media and invitations by friends. They wanted to get involved in a new community, they overheard someone talking about a need or they just wanted to be active. Some wanted to repay a perceived debt to society and others took up volunteer work as part of a major reassessment of
The need for tutors is overwhelming. Tutors help fill the gap between the teachers and the students. With so many students in each classroom, the teacher can't give each student the one-on-one attention that some students need. This is where tutors come in to play. Tutors have been a key instrument ineducation since as far back as the 1500's (Gordon 9). Tutoring is almost as old as educating children. Tutoring younger students is also still going strong in the twentieth century. Today it is more~important than ever due to the increase in students and low budgets that some schools have. As stated by Edward E. Gordon in his book, Centuries of Tutoring" Schoolinghas dominated the twentieth century, but tutoring still holds an important
In my five years of active volunteer work with multiple non-profit organizations, I have seen firsthand the lack of attendance of my peers in times of great community need and support from its members. Although it has become more complicated to find time to give back to the community, with a full-time school and work schedule, there is always spare time to give back. The rapidly growing demand for volunteers in communities all across America is increasing and it is everyone’s duty, especially college students, to pay their dues to the