GiVING Hospitality by Volunteering
Being a volunteer means that you are offering something – something that is not required nor an obligation.
Most of the time, to volunteer means that you are working side by side with others. This connects you to other human beings as you are working toward a common goal or purpose.
It is a win-win for all parties involved. Those who receive help are grateful for the help, and volunteers learn that helping others makes them feel better.
Consider the following as ways you can start volunteering and pay your good fortune forward:
- Offer to help family members
- Volunteer at school functions
- Coach youth sports
- Tutor friends and classmates
- Prepare and serve meals
- Serve in a community organization
Volunteering is beneficial to the doer for a whole host of reasons, including stress reduction, combating depression and providing a sense of purpose. Volunteering is important as it offers essential help to worthwhile causes, people in need, and the wider community.
Did You Know?
When we volunteer our own time, giving of ourselves to specific causes or people in need, we not only make a positive impact on others, but we’re also blessed with the following scientifically proven benefits:
- Counteracts the effects of stress, depression, and anxiety
- Makes you happy
- Increases self-confidence, as you meet new people doing new things
- Provides a strong sense of purpose
- Keeps you mentally and physically healthy, which leads to living longer
Why Volunteer?
Volunteering is one of the most rewarding things we can do. It’s also one of the best ways to invest in our own development, socially, personally, and professionally.
Here are some reasons everyone should volunteer with their time, their talents, or whatever resources they’re blessed with which they can use to bless others:
- Gain confidence – trying something new, meeting new people – Whether it’s right now or in the future, we may not always live or work in areas where we know everyone. Even today, there may be people you see every day or every week or month, but you may not know them personally. Volunteering in community projects with other, like-minded people is a great way to meet and get to know new people in our lives.
- Make a positive difference that matters to people in need – Making a positive difference in the lives of others certainly helps them in a variety of ways, depending on the type of volunteering we’re doing. Whether it’s with our time, talents, resources, or money, the impact doesn’t stop with the receiver of those things. Science reveals and studies show that when we focus less on ourselves and more on positively impacting others, we experience more joy and happiness and we live longer, with less depression and anxiety.
- Become a part of a community – There are three physiological human needs we all have. (All of us have a need for autonomy, which is to have the room to make our own choices for how we go about our lives and work. We all have a need for competence, which is to feel that we are capable with the skills and abilities to do certain things like our schoolwork, jobs, sports, etc. And we all have a need for relatedness, which is a sense of community and relationships with other people in our lives – friends, family, classmates, teammates, partners, etc. Volunteering can certainly fill the void across all three of these, but without fail, when we GiVE of ourselves alongside others who also share our same desire to GiVE and help others, we connect on a deeper, more human level. That alone will inspire us and propel us to perform our best in the classroom, in sports, in our careers, and in life.
- Learn new skills; We learn how to take on and overcome new challenges – social, leadership, and life skills. A well-rounded skill set, complete with social skills to help you build bonds and form relationships with diverse groups of people will set you apart. Social skills lay the foundation for leadership skills such as the ability to formulate and articulate a vision, the strategic ability to plan and set goals, and the balance of grace and grit it takes to motivate and inspire people to join in and GiVE the best of themselves to further your cause.
Your GiVE Culture Challenge for this week:
Let’s Volunteer
Research volunteer opportunities you can participate in together.
Make commitments for:
- How you’ll volunteer your time or resources
- How frequently you’ll participate
- What impact you plan to make as a result of your efforts.
We’d love to hear your stories of how your friends, coworkers, students, or family members have shown you hospitality; or how you’ve taken it upon yourself to GiVE hospitality to others.
Share it in the Lead with Hospitality Facebook group here.
Have a great day, and never stop GiVING the best of yourself and looking for the best in others.
Taylor
