Taking Advantage of Volunteering

Taking Advantage of Volunteering

Today most people take volunteering for granted, not knowing that without it our communities would not be where they are now. Some of us go along everyday overlooking the benefits volunteering bring to our community. For instance, many of my peers and the students around campus look over all the help volunteering provides to the people around the town. I know this because I am one person who has not put much effort into volunteering. I see it going on all around me, but I can not say that I have done much in the community to help. I know there are a thousand reasons why I should be more involved, but there seem to be a million reasons why I have not gotten around to it.

Presently I can not say that I have done much volunteer work outside of the activities I participate in at the church I attend. Although it is considered volunteering, I do not think that is enough. At church we put together many projects to give the children in the neighborhood something to do. The only drawback is that our services only reach a few people. For instance, we hold a Christmas clothes drive every year. Here we give free dinners, brand new toys, and clothes to those that come.

We also hold vacation bible school every summer to keep the children busy and out of trouble while they are out of school. A problem lies here as well. This program is only held for one week of each summer. We organize a field trip to encourage especially the teens to come to vacation bible school. We usually go to an amusement park as a reward for attending the whole week. Although this helps the community, there is still a lot more that could be done.

I plan to put forth a lot more effort this year and in the years to come to help more in the community, because I know first hand that volunteering is very helpful. All through middle school and high school I needed math tutors to help me understand and study the material that was being taught. If there had not been people willing to volunteer their time to help me, I would have been in a lot of trouble, because I have never been good in math.

So far I do not feel that I have done my part to repay the community for the help it has provided for me. From this day forward I plan to repay the community by finding more ways to help out. There are very may volunteer opportunities that are not being taken advantage of. There are