Why Should You Volunteer for This Opportunity?
It is a big question. Time is an allocatable resource and very few people sit back and say they have too much of it, especially with a plethora of streaming services out there. Not going to sugar coat it but when the answer to this is "to feel good" or "be involved in your community" the blood pressure rises and "NO! No! Do better!" is shouted at the ceiling.
When we have asked volunteers to share their experiences engaging in community not one of them says those things. Not one. They talk about how they could use skills that they felt helped someone or a cause, they talked about feeling seen, they talked about realizing a passion, about meeting friends they now have for life, about moving the dial on a topic that kept them up at night, about having a reason to get up in the morning, about making healthier lifestyle choices, about the epic Christmas party, about teaching their children or grandchildren about taking care of each other, about getting a letter of reference for a post secondary program, about finding pockets of joy, about the insider or early access to something, about expressing themselves, sometimes it is even about the amazing t-shirt they got!
So this is the challenge to any of the thousands of entities out there looking for the privilege of engaging people in volunteerism, be bold in promises of why! Because engaging in community offers hundreds of opportunities to change peoples lives and we need to be specific and explicit about that potential.