EDITORIAL: Volunteering proves beneficial to community, ourselves

 

At The Champion, we put a lot of stock in volunteering. Each week, we run a feature devoted to a member of our community enthusiastically giving back. We find our Champions of the Week by simply asking local organizations if they have volunteers who deserve the spotlight, and we give them a bit of recognition for their trouble.

Volunteers do not get paid. They do not generally get accolades for doing what is needed. They don’t get much tangible benefit at all. But they do get much more.

“The way I look at it is, it’s not just a need,” said Lee Ann Harvey, the lifelong community coordinator for the city of Decatur. “It’s also beneficial for the volunteer. A lot of times, when someone volunteers for a nonprofit or even a one-time opportunity like a special event, the volunteer gets as many benefits as the organization does.”

Volunteers, by definition, help others. They touch lives and provide necessary services to organizations that would otherwise be unable to deliver. The volunteer at a music festival, passing out bottled water and providing directions, is filling a very similar role to the volunteer at a homeless shelter. It takes all kinds.

But even more generally, volunteers help themselves. According to NationalService.gov, the Corporation for National and Community Service, volunteers have a 27 percent higher chance of finding a job than someone who does not volunteer. Volunteers can network, gain new skills and stand out from peers in finding a job. And, at the same time, they are connecting with their communities in meaningful ways. In our sprawling area, where people spend hours trapped in cars on the highway, volunteering can stave off isolationism.

The most recent data shows about 26 percent of metro Atlantans volunteer, while only about 24 percent of Georgians overall volunteer. This puts us at 28 out of the 51 largest metro statistical areas and 40 out of 50 states and Washington, D.C. in volunteering We can all stand to do a little better.

“I think a lot of it is awareness, here in Decatur. Because we’re so small it’s very easy for us to find out about volunteer opportunities because we have very robust volunteer resources,” Harvey said. “In the broader county it may not be as easy to have that information readily available.”

A simple Google search can help. We have a vibrant international and refugee community that may need help adjusting to American life. DeKalb Medical and Emory University Hospital need volunteers to help with clerical work, administrative tasks, or just comforting patients and their families. Animal rescue groups need volunteers to help save pets from our overstuffed county shelter. And the list goes on.

There is a task, an opportunity, an opening for every member of our community. Just look around at all the churches, libraries and schools–those alone could have dozens of opportunities. This community is where we live, work and play, and we owe it to those around us to be more than idle consumers.

“Somebody might not have the time to be a tutor and commit to going on a weekly basis, but there are a lot of one-time volunteer opportunities,” Harvey said. “For the most part it’s about three hours and it’s spending some time with fun people and learning new things. So it’s not so much a job as it is more of a form of entertainment.”

And who knows, you might get your 15 minutes of fame as our Champion of the Week.