21st Century Community Service

I saw a friend’s Facebook picture about some hand’s on volunteering that she was doing and my first thought was “I wish I could do something like that”. Then I thought, wait a minute! I AM already volunteering! I volunteer anywhere from 10 to 15 hours a week (sometimes more), why didn’t I think of that first?

I volunteer as the bookkeeper for a national non profit organization working to beat the breastfeeding booby traps, I volunteer as a leader for La Leche League, in addition to the usual breastfeeding support by phone and e-mail and leading meetings several times a year I also organize and execute several fund-raising projects per year, administer their Facebook page and group, I built and maintain their website and handle all memberships and will occasionally organize events such as the Big Latch On. I even added to my plate this week by taking over the invoicing of leader dues for the Sunshine State Area.

Now that I really think about it, I volunteer quite a bit! My guess is that because I do it at home and I enjoy doing it my brain just doesn’t register it as volunteer work. All of these little jobs are so emotionally rewarding to me, better than writing a check and the jobs fit me because I don’t need money or a car to do them and I can do them on my schedule, usually when the kids are sleeping or ignoring me while they play.

That is one of the advantages of living in the 21st Century, there are so many ways to use technology that you don’t have to work a shift at a soup kitchen to give back to the community.

If you are not currently volunteering in some way, I encourage you to think about how you can give back, it can be easier than you think and it will only take as much time as you are able to give, even 1 hour per month helps!

If you have any special skills, non profit and community organizations are always in need of help with web design, fundraising, graphic design, bookkeeping, grant writing and more. Even if you don’t have any special skills they can always benefit from people spreading the word about their cause. Who knows? maybe they will have the perfect job for you that will be so easy and fun that it won’t feel like work at all.