Global Days of Service Kick-Off: Volunteering in the Hustle and Bustle of Daily Life

A banner introducing the Global Days of Service from Walden U

Walden University's Global Days of Service starts today!

Today begins Walden’s Global Days of Service 2016, a week-long celebration of our mission of social change where those in the community are encouraged to volunteer and make a difference.

According to a 2015 study conducted by the United States Department of Labor, the volunteer rate for the US is in decline with 24.9% of the population volunteering. While many in the Walden community volunteer regularly, there’s a good chance that this isn’t something that everyone does, perhaps because they don’t feel like they have the time or they haven’t found a place to volunteer. We get it. There’s already so much to balance in life from work to family to school.

However, as Hillary stated in her blog post last week about writing skill development, “Yes, you do have time for that—even if it’s just 5 minutes a day.” The same is true for volunteering and working to make a difference in your community: you have time for that, and it’s important. Even if it’s just an hour a week or one afternoon each fall, taking the time to volunteer will bring many positive benefits to both you and your community.

In my own experiences volunteering at grade schools, summer programs, the zoo, fall clean up days, and nursing homes, here are the benefits of volunteering I’ve discovered:

You Meet New People: Volunteering is a great way to get out in the community, meet some new people, and form relationships. The people you meet might become your friends, colleagues, co-workers, teachers, and more. There’s a good chance that you’ll meet people who are different than you and can challenge you, help you grow, and teach you new things. For example, each time I volunteer with kids, I learn more about curiosity and having fun, and each time I volunteer at nursing homes, I learn about wisdom and patience and storytelling. Meeting new people and expanding your network and the people in your circle can bring many rewards.

You Learn About Your Community: Through volunteering and the people you meet and structures you work within, you can learn a lot about how an aspect of the community works. For example, I just moved to Minnesota from Missouri, and each week I volunteer at my local grade school in the media center and in a classroom. Through this experience, I’m learning a lot about the diversity in my community, the needs of the school district, and what kinds of books and topics entice kids to read.

You Positively Benefit Others’ Lives: Volunteering, by nature, is a somewhat selfless act. We all have busy lives, and choosing to spend our time on an activity without compensation shows effort. That effort is not missed, and you might find that your volunteering positively impacts someone else. Whether it’s providing someone with a meal, offering tutoring in a community center, cleaning up fallen leaves, or working one-on-one with kids: you’re making a difference through your selfless act and positively impacting someone else’s life.

You Get to Try Something New: Volunteering is a great way to develop skills and have new experiences, and the time commitment can be as much or as little as you like. Through volunteering, I’ve enjoyed developing my skills in working with children, which is not something I do in my job as a Writing Instructor here at Walden. In addition, through fall clean-up and outdoor beautification projects, I’ve learned a lot about yard work, basic maintenance, and gardening. You might find too that you can use volunteering as an avenue to have a new experience or develop a new skill.

You Can Use Your Professional Skills in a New Context: Volunteering is a great way to use your professional skills in a different way to benefit those in need. For example, several years ago I volunteered in a summer program held at the zoo, assisting kids grades 1-5 as they created books about their experiences and the animals they were seeing and learning about. As a writing teacher practiced in asking leading questions to encourage and support writers, and as an amateur sketch-artist gifted with the ability to draw pictures of animals, these skills were very helpful working with kids this age as they worked on their first books. I felt proud using my professional training and creativity in this way.

As we celebrate Walden’s Global Days of Service, I hope you’ll reflect here with me: What other benefits are there for volunteering? How do you use your professional skills to volunteer and offer a service to your community? I look forward to hearing your responses and celebrating Walden's Global Days of Service with you.

Jes Philbrook is a Writing Instructor and the Coordinator of Doctoral Writing Assessment at Walden University, and she is working on her dissertation as she nears the end of her own doctoral program in English. In addition to her busy life working and writing, Jes volunteers each week at the neighborhood grade school. She loves volunteering because it’s a way to give back, make new friends, and learn about her community.