Volunteering: Get a Lot Out of Giving a Little Time

You often get as much as you give when you donate your energy to a local cause.

Maybe you've decided to forgo a yearly vacation due to rising travel costs. Perhaps the recession has begun to hit home and you feel like you don't have as much money for extras. Or you may have already Simplified Your Holidays and you're no longer shopping for months and cooking for an army...so what do you do with your time? Volunteering introduces you and your family to new experiences while supporting causes that you care about.

Voluntourism

Voluntourism combines your service, a good cause and enriching experiences. You can make a difference abroad or at home, all at a fraction of the cost of a traditional vacation.

  • Find peace on a budget. Many yoga centers and retreat locations offer the same experiences for a reduced price in exchange for volunteer hours.
  • Follow your ideals close by or far from home. Whether it's with your colleagues in Louisiana or on an alternative spring break in Mexico, you can learn new skills and contribute to worthy causes.
  • See the world at a grassroots level. Plush resorts can hide the often charming reality of local people. Traveling with a service group offers you more authentic encounters and unique opportunities to get to know the people and places you visit.

Community Arts and Sciences

Arts organizations like community theaters tend to suffer from a dip in donations during an economic downturn, so it's important to continue investing in their vitality. A show at your local theater costs about the same as a movie ticket, and has the magic of a live performance.

  • Get backstage passes. Volunteer ushers often receive free or discounted tickets. Similarly, many museums and science centers exchange admission for volunteer hours at information desk and exhibits. These are great family opportunities for educational enrichment and a behind-the-scenes look at local arts.
  • You can be the star. At your local theater, choral society, poetry slam group or gallery, your artistic creations and abilities can be showcased along with other budding artists from your area. For little to no investment you can get a chance to explore your talents and connect with other artists.

Local charities

Many of us are feeling the economic crunch this year, none more than food pantries and other charitable organizations that must tend to vulnerable citizens on an even tighter budget.

  • Donate time. From serving food at your local soup kitchen to delivering meals to the elderly with Meals on Wheels, you, your family and your church or workplace can put your ideals into practice by helping your neighbors.
  • Donate food. Find out how to host a food drive from Feeding America (formerly Shared Harvest).
  • Donate clothes, toys, and other goods. Many charities organize a coat drive or toy drive every year. Look for opportunities for your congregation, office, or community group to partner with existing efforts.

Why it's important

You may already know that volunteering can make you feel good, but did you know it's actually good for your health? The Corporation for National and Community Service states that " research has established a strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer." Volunteers socialize, learn, and work to improve society, and their activities are based upon a sense of connectedness. Donating your time to worthy causes is important in and of itself, but also as a rewarding sociable alternative to another popular American pastime, shopping.

Nowhere is our conflation of consumption with community more evident than the prevalence of the shopping mall as a center for social interaction, especially in suburban and rural communities where few social gatherings exist beyond those that take place at the local mall or big box store. As the New York Times quoted William Severini Kowinski in "Cathedrals of Consumption," their review of The Malling of America, " Shopping [has] become the chief cultural activity in 'our united states of shopping.'"

By choosing to support the arts and work on social problems like hunger, you connect with others without buying anything. During a time when our murky economic future can be disempowering, volunteering means asserting the power you as an individual have to make change. At a time when there are few donation dollars to be had, donating time can be a way to help keep your local arts organizations and educational centers afloat.

Learn more

Consumption and community

Voluntourism

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