Workplace: Time to Volunteer
Do you take time to volunteer? Does your company support taking time to volunteer? My first at-work volunteerism happened when I was a college student and employed by General Mills. The company participated in the annual Paint the Town event and I volunteered to help. What fun and what a contribution to an elderly person’s life! Volunteerism can happen through our companies, churches, youth groups, and individual efforts.
Time to volunteer can be found in a variety of ways: during a workday via a company sponsored event; during evenings or weekends; and during association meetings. Volunteerism can even happen at home: sewing bears for children in the hospital; crafting and baking for community or school sales; and raking or shoveling for a neighbor.
Ushering at many arts-performing organizations is an act of volunteerism. Groups of employees wear company-logoed shirts and usher at our Idaho Shakespeare Festival. A corps of seniors volunteers as ushers at our performing arts center. Volunteers of all ages work at fun-run events.
Non-profit boards are populated by volunteers who give freely of their time and expertise. Boards often look for volunteers with marketing, accounting, and legal expertise. Whatever your talents and expertise, your time will be valued by each non-profit you choose to serve.
Schools are always looking for volunteers who can: support in classrooms; work at annual events and fundraisers; serve on committees or boards; and who can lend a hand as needed. Room-parents. Art-moms. Cheer-squad supporters. Sports supporters. Dozens of opportunities exist. And pre-K as well as K-12 schools need volunteers.
Time from volunteers is appreciated by road-clean-up teams, garden groups, community arts groups, sports teams, hospitals and more. Your enjoyed activities likely have a community match for volunteerism. Explore where your time as a volunteer will bring you the most joy.
Volunteer time can happen in small increments or occur in large blocks of hours. Civic organizations often sponsor domestic and international projects that need hours, weeks, months and sometimes years of volunteerism to implement and complete.
Where can you happily take time to volunteer? Let your company know. Maybe a group of you can band together to increase the impact of volunteering. It’s a good time to volunteer.
Workplace: Managing the moments of our day-to-day business lives takes work. Together, let’s explore what issues and activities affect us every day (or some days) that we go to work. – Jana