Volunteer- someone who does something without pay

I am currently teaching a Junior Achievement class to Kindergartners and this is one of the first words we had to talk to them about. Surprisingly most of the class knew what a volunteer was, however as an adult I find that few adults understand its meaning and want to become a volunteer. Maybe this has to do with the fact that by definition a volunteer does something without pay; and we as adults are always trying to make money. Don’t get me wrong, we need to make money but why not doing something out of the goodness of our hearts without trying to make money on it?

This is sad to me, because there is so much more we could do with our time than sit at home or sleep(lots of my volunteer activities happen very early in the morning!). I volunteered when I was in high school for different things but never to the extent that I could have and should have. While in college my time was spent studying or with the sorority. Now as I begin my career (working a minimum of 45 a week sometimes much much more) I find that volunteering has become an important part of my life.

There are many reasons why this has become so important to me; one is that I feel it is now time to give back to AOII and when Ms. Frey asked that I help I could not turn her down. However, the main reason I have started volunteering with different organizations is that the company I work for and my boss are passionate about volunteering and encourage me to volunteer. This is something I never thought would happen for me. Boy Was I Wrong or What?!?! My boss truly inspires me to be a better person. How many people can say that about their boss?? I can! She volunteers her time and gives without ever thinking “what’s in it for me”. Last week she was awarded a Community Service Award for the second time in three years (Guess they couldn’t give it to her in back to back years) and was recognized by many of our peer’s in the credit union world. I was so proud of her!

The reason for this post about “volunteering” is that this morning a group of employees from work volunteered at the West Alabama Food Bank to stuff food packs for the Brown Bag program they sponsor. This program provides food to needy elderly once a month. When I say morning I mean MORNING! I got up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready and get breakfast for our volunteers. What was truly amazing is that I asked Andrew to help as well. We were afraid we were going to be short on volunteers due to two of our main employee volunteers being off on vacation this week. Andrew said, “sure no problem” and when I told him we had to be there at 6:00 a.m. he still never complained. I have always known that Andrew had a big heart and is truly a great person, but today he amazed me even MORE. He was there at 6:00 AM no complaints with a smile on his face. When I returned to work today, everyone that was there has come up to me and said how nice it was of him to come and help and I know they truly meant it.

I want everyone to think about an opportunity that they could become involved with and volunteer their time. Ask your company what community service projects they are involved in! Adopt-A-School and Junior Achievement are two groups that are always looking for volunteers. I love a busy life and feel that I am more productive when I am going 90 to nothing. See for yourself, when you volunteer your time I bet you will find a more balanced life.



Thanks

Kelley