What are your adult experiences on volunteering?

Question

What inspired you to volunteer? Did you get a job from that experience? Did you have an impact on other people lives? Did you make new friends??

Answer 1

I don't volunteer for religious reasons (I'm an atheist) and I don't volunteer because I want a warm fuzzy feeling. I volunteer for causes I feel strongly about -- often, I volunteer out of anger over a particular situation. I also volunteer in order to build on a skill I have (or want to have) or to network with people of a similar mindset or career focus.

Volunteering has lead to work for me, but not always at the organization I was volunteering for; often, the experience I have listed on my CV that I gained through volunteering (newsletter editing and design for a nonprofit focused on women's rights, for instance) contributed to my getting a paid job at another organization .

Did I have impact on other people's lives? Through the organization I volunteered for, I hope so. I rarely volunteer directly with the people served by a nonprofit; rather, I work with the staff at such organizations.

Did I make new friends? Yes - many became friends for life.

Answer 2

I volunteer for church group functions and other organizations that help people. I have never got a job from the volunteering, but I have made a difference in peoples live and they have made a difference in mine. I have made many friends.

Answer 3

I have always wanted to help others, even as a child, I would give away clothes or toys to kids who didn't have them.  I would convince my mom to buy an extra bag of groceries to take to a family in need.  I was born a volunteer.

Experience from volunteering has given me life experience as far as realizing that material things don't matter as much as helping your neighbors in need.

I have visual confirmation of the impact we have made in the lives of people living in the squatter camps in South Africa.  We plant gardens for families and teach them how to maintain and harvest from them.  The fresh vegetables provide a vitamin enrich supplement to their staple of mieze (corn).  We have seen young child gain weight, grow taller and look healthier since we started this project.

We now sponsor children at a preschool and are able to monitor their progress in growth and learning capacities.

We have made life long friends while volunteering.  The friends you make usually have the same interests and passion as you do because you're volunteering in the same area.  

Everyone should volunteer, it's good to give back and be thankful for the good life you live.

Answer 4

I like to help people and there are so many in need. I have always been this way....maybe something as a child did it, or maybe my parents...dunno....I do have a job, but not a paying one...I do international aid....currently in Accra, Ghana...digging wells, repairing houses, and giving out food and meds.....I hope I have an impact....good friends....but it fluctuates as people come and go, but there are always long time friends and new friends to meet....I started with Habitat for Humanity....then branched out....I still work for them on the Gulf Coast, but only during the summer...good luck!!

Answer 5

MOST of my volunteer experiences turned into full time jobs that I absolutely loved....