Volunteering

 Volunteering is any voluntary act from a group or an individual who gives their time and works for community service. Volunteers, most times receive specific training in the field or areas in which they volunteer or work. These could be anything from medicine, emergency relief, education or even religious. Volunteering may include other services that are required on an as-needed basis, like a response to a natural disaster.

Volunteering helps people make new and lifelong friends, learn new skills, advance their careers, and even help get a happier and healthier feeling. All you need do is to find the right fit for yourself. Let Adrian Goh, a new-born Christian who had many years of experience in volunteering locally and overseas, share his thoughts.

Why is volunteering important?

One of the reasons why volunteering is important is because it provides vital help to charities and worthwhile causes, especially to those in need and the entire community.

In fact, lots of organizations and charities depend on volunteers because they are often only partially funded by the government or the local councils and cannot pay the salaries of all of their employees. In fact, the jobs done by many charitable organizations wouldn’t have been done at all, were it not for volunteers. That is because there is no means to pay the workers who would have done it. And where there may be a means, there may not be people willing to do the work -for instance, red cross volunteers, in a war zone. So, volunteers stand in the gap, despite the challenges.

What are the benefits of volunteering?

Of course, for those receiving help, the benefits of volunteering are obvious. It doesn’t matter whether it's offering free English lessons to kids in a developing country or helping to pick litter at the local beach, the benefits to the recipient and the community at large are not only the reason why you choose to be a volunteer in the first place.

But have you also wondered or realized how important volunteering can be for those who do it? As a matter of fact, volunteering has its benefit to the people who do it either part-time or full time. This may include reasons like relieving stress, fighting depression, and achieving your set goals.