Importance of Volunteer Work - Essay Example

IMPORTANCE OF VOLUNTEER WORK AFFILIATION: Importance of Volunteer Work Now-a-days, there is a growing trend of volunteering work and the number of volunteers is increasing at an accelerating rate. The demand of the volunteering service is enhancing as it is the best way of improving the community and providing help to the citizens. As responsible citizens of our community, we need something valuable for the community so that the people in our surrounding can live a life full of happiness and prosperity. Many people think that the volunteer work is done by those people who have limited skills for doing other professional jobs or who have got ample time. Well, this is a wrong concept as the professional people must also get involved in volunteer work as these professionals can also make valuable contributions to the community. The main purpose of the volunteering services is to give something rewarding to the community so that their experiences are enhanced. If we will look in our surroundings, we will find that there are many issues that need to be addressed; all we need to do is identify them. The volunteer work helps in developing the skills of the volunteers professionally and personally. I did not agree with this fact in the beginning but my experiences taught me a lot of things. During my job, our company decided to organize a workshop for the employees to help them learn the community service skills. From my department, I was forced to attend the workshop. I have to admit it that my aim of life was totally different before I undertook the activities that we had to do during our workshop but now I have learnt so many things that I can do for my community. The whole workshop lasted for about one month and we were given two projects during the workshop which we later named as Habitat for Humanity and Light for Life. The projects are now the integral part of our organization and all of us are satisfied with the efforts that we are putting in the projects. When the workshop first started, we were asked to identify two main issues that needed immediate attention in our community. At first, I could not think of anything but one day when I was going home from my office, I sat for a while in the park near my house and observed the things happening there. I was just having a good relaxing time when I noticed a boy watching the park from outside and smiling. I observed for a few minutes and asked him why he was sitting at the gate. I was shocked to hear his reply; he was physically handicapped as his legs were not functioning and he did not have any home for shelter so he used to sleep on the street. At that moment, I realized that we need to do something for such handicapped and homeless children. The very next day I gave the idea to my team to work on two aspects i.e. develop a team who will help those families who don’t have any home to live and get approval from the management to make a school for handicapped children where they can get necessary education and polish the skills that they possess. Although getting approval from the management was difficult but however, we succeeded in starting the school. Initially, the school was started on a small level but from trial and error, we learnt our mistakes that we should encourage the people to remain consistent and try hard to do something beneficial for something. The other project Habitat for Humanity is closest to my heart. The primary objective of the project was to help build and rebuild homes for those people who are not financially sound. We were ten volunteers in this project and we elected one leader by voting among ourselves so that all of us were accountable for our activities. We had to do proper investigation when someone filed a request for building or rebuilding the home. I learnt that analyzing the skills of everyone is very important as it helps in dividing the task. In about one month, we were able to help more than twenty families find suitable shelter for them. Although we got fifty applications but ten of them were fake so we had to reject them after investigation; however, twenty projects were completed on time and twenty are still in progress. Almost all the people are satisfied with the work that we have done and I am satisfied in doing something beneficial for my community. The workshop on volunteer work helped me in uncovering my skills that I had for serving the community. During both the projects, I learnt that if we want to do something beneficial for our community, then we need to develop three key skills in our personality i.e. excellent observation, direct involvement in volunteer work and reflection on experience. The volunteer workshop has affected my personal and professional life as now I have realized that we as a team and on individual basis can definitely add something valuable in the community. During my learning process, I was involved in a project in which my company was thinking of buying a land that belonged to government and it was set aside for building homes for poor people. Our company wanted to make a hospital there; although it was a noble cause but I gave suggestion to my management to evaluate that which option is more important for the community, shelter or medical facilities. Our management was a bit reluctant to consider using the land for building homes; so I recommended them to visit our projects i.e. Habitat for Humanity and Light for Life and spend one day over there. Both of our projects were in development phase but I came up with the idea of directly involving them in the volunteer work when I reflected on my experiences. I also got interested in volunteer work when I got direct involvement in the project. After spending a day at the project places, our management started giving a second thought to our proposal and made a feasibility report for the need of hospital and homes. It was found that homes were more important than hospital and our management stepped back from the proposal. The skills learnt during the volunteer work have sharpened my observation skills and have induced me to get directly involved in such activities. I have been successful in implementing these skills in my personal and professional lives. Whenever I have to convince someone, I first observe the person’s behavior, get him directly involved in the project and then ask him to reflect on his experience. I am happy that I have changed the perception of so many people regarding life. All my family members, close friends and colleagues take active part in volunteer activities whenever they get the chance. After realizing my potential for something valuable to the community, I have become associated with Lydia Home Association and Sir’s Play Palace Inc. I have joined both these organizations as part-time volunteers. I go to Lydia Home Association every weekend and spend more than twelve hours each day. The Association has been developed for young women who have suffered some miseries in their lives. As a volunteer, I have to take care of five women whom I have to help with developing skills on how to live daily routine, how to communicate with people, how to act in a family setting, how to deal with the problems, how to control stress level and tackle issues calmly and most importantly behave well in a social gathering. Since these women are a bit reluctant to learn the skills, so I need to be patient and deal with them in a calm and composite manner. I volunteered to work at Sir’s Play Palace Inc. after my office hours. I work there for three hours daily and two hours on weekend. At the place, I work with children aged between one year to ten years and my responsibilities are to drive the children to school when the driver of Sir’s Play Palace Inc. is on vacation or is on leave for being sick, I teach the children how to play with one another, tie their shoes, how to read books, take them on trips on weekends, how to eat, give them potty training and how to behave in a good manner with people. Sometimes, when my boss has to go somewhere because of home emergency or business trip, then I volunteer to take care of the business activities. On weekends, I work at the church near my house as a Volunteer and I have volunteered to do two things i.e. work with the youth choir and serve in the kitchen on every Sunday. Overall, the volunteer work is a rewarding experience and it has increased my satisfaction with my professional and personal lives as I am doing beneficial for the community all year round. Professionally, I have learnt that all of us should work like a team and should be always willing to do volunteer work for our colleagues and bosses. Such activities have many positive implications in the business such as it helps in developing cordial relationships with everyone in the organization, eases out the stress level, ensure completion of projects on time and creates a happy and friendly atmosphere as well. Although I don’t get any pay for the volunteer work that I am involved in but the feeling of satisfaction that I get by doing such value added activities cannot be expressed in words but the efforts that are put together in achieving the aim is definitely worth the effort. Since such activities result in healthy relationships both in personal and professional lives, the performance at the work enhances and ultimately the optimal results are attained. Hence, every one of us needs to unleash our community service skills so that all of us can work as a team and ensure that the community is the best place for people’s living. I learnt a lot during and after my volunteer workshop experience and I have applied all the knowledge and skills that I learnt during my experience in my life. Therefore, every one of us must opt for volunteer activities whether for our community or our management or our boss so that the interpersonal relationships are enhanced and we as a collective team add something valuable for the community. Read More