Volunteering is more than just ‘freely offering to do something’. There is a whole world inside it and it does not only please the persons in need. Volunteers benefit more from community service than the ones being helped. A study showed that there are four major effects of volunteering. Those are the happiness effect, the more time effect, the health effect, and the career success effect. The ‘happiness effect’ displays how people who volunteer are considered happier. Monthly volunteers are 7% more content than others, two to four week volunteers are 12% happier and weekly volunteers are 16% happier. Since volunteers don’t get anything in return, it is clear that they continue helping due to the satisfaction they feel. Not only does your happiness increase when volunteering, but also your health benefits from it. It is said that people who do such activities, have low likelihood of depression. Meaning they are less likely to get depressed compared to others who don’t participate in these events. Moreover, most have greater functional abilities and it lowers mortality rates. Another effect that is portrayed on the individual is the ‘more time effect’. It states that people feel they have extra time to do more productive tasks, thus wasting less time than others. The same applies to money. You are less capable of spending more money and further capable of having a greater amount. Leading to the final effect, being the ‘career success effect’. Volunteers are more likely to get a job due to their openness and expanded knowledge. In addition, many employees assume that volunteering is a value, therefore making it a worthy practice. The majority of individuals believe so much in the benefits of volunteering that there are more promotions and an increase of salary to the people who do so. All that data and facts clearly state how much volunteering benefits the volunteer in more than just one way.

Furthermore, people continue volunteering because of the feeling they get after doing so. According to the article ‘The Chronicle of Philanthropy’ in 2011 there was a numerous increase of volunteers in America. Talking about 64.3 million people in a total of 7.9 billion hours of service (Donovan). People are continuously doing charity activities and gathering others to join them. If there was no clear benefit or satisfaction received after doing so, the number of volunteers would have undeniably decreased; however, it is constantly growing and most participants who get involved once, are likely to do it again. Moreover, a Newsela article told a story about elementary kids that for a school project donated their old shoes to kids in need. When completed, a girl got really touched by the impact it had on herself and the feeling she received, that she continued to do it for pleasure and convinced other students to join her. The guests at her birthday party were asked to bring pairs of shoes rather than  gifts so she could donate them. “The students said they were pleased to share the things they love — books, shoes and art supplies — with children nearly 1,500 miles away” (Balingit). That shows how it is pleasing for them to be helping others and it is not only because they have to, they are taking things from it as well. This activity made kids learn valuable lessons  outside their classroom walls. This is very beneficial because they will be ready to do activities like this when they grow up (Balingit). Spreading the joy of volunteering with others can truly make an impact in the world and in each of the persons helping.

According to Hilda Martinez, an 18 year old girl who has lived most of her teenage years in community service projects especially being staff of the Unidos program, she said “I fell in love with Unidos since the first day - I opened up, made new friends (both with and without disabilities) and it made me realize that it doesn’t matter where you come from, your background story, your social state, etc; but what matters the most is being yourself and letting yourself get known by the people around you, those who also want to be part of a change” (Martinez). This helps prove the point that by volunteering, it does not only benefit their happiness and their health, but also, in their personalities and really being who you are. Gabriela Sanchez, a high school teacher that was once a leader of a community service project in school was asked what changes have she seen on herself after doing community service. “First of all I think that becoming aware of the privileges I was born with has actually made me take more advantage of them.  Also, by doing this activities, I have develop life skills that have made me a more competent person, such as creativity, problem solving, social skills, presentation/sales skills, social awareness,  etc. It gives my life more meaning, which makes me have more life satisfaction and makes me at peace knowing that I am making a positive contribution to the world” (Sanchez). Her answer tells us that not only has it made her happier, it has also  helped her develop new skills and have more meaning in her life. “The opportunity to grow is the hidden power of volunteering” (TheVolunteerCenter). This quote stated by a group of adults when asked ‘What is volunteerism?’. By saying that, they mean: when doing something without getting anything in return, you grow as a person. You are able to feel good of something you have accomplished without reward and that builds more who you are. Evidently, it is not only the studies that show this, but people have had personal experiences that prove that this is correct.

To add on, in my life there has been a number of experiences that make me believe this is completely true.  Unidos is a program that involves people with all types of disabilities to come and have fun on summer with a group of volunteers. We take field trips to many places in Monterrey including; bowling, amusement parks, Rayados stadium, Fundidora, as well as many others. It has been a memorable experience because it really changed me as a person. I started off signing up for only one week. I was not that excited to go and most of all, I was scared. After the first week was over, I signed up for the following 3 weeks that were left. I never had seen myself more open with people that I had just met and how many true friendships I was making. Even if the friends with disabilities were having the time of their lives, the growth I saw on myself and others that also stayed there for almost all summer was unbelievable. Unidos was now brought to ASFM one Saturday a month to do fine arts activities. It involves waking up at 7am and leaving at 3pm from school with no hours being awarded. I didn’t think twice if I should sign up or not, I just did and that are the Saturdays I look forward to. Also, an activity I did on that summer before Unidos started was that I was a volunteer at ‘Instituto Nuevo Amanecer’. That is an organization for kids with cerebral paralysis. I was the right hand partner of a teacher for a week. I helped her feed the kids and teach them the different colors and helped them with their therapies. Seeing the way those kids went to school and everything that involved being there, was amazing. My knowledge on that disability increased a lot and now I will be able to know how to treat a person with cerebral paralysis perfectly. Last example of an activity I was a part of and that I really benefited a lot from it because of all the new things I learned was Techo. I was part of the community team and we went to pick up the kids while their house was being built. I got to know how people so close from me live completely different. I was able to teach them new stuff including games, arts and crafts, and life lessons. It was a hard and tiring experience that involved not showering for a day even if you were full of dirt, and being in the sun for 8 hours. Seeing their smiles in their faces while playing with us and seeing their new house being built, was worth it. I have learned a number of things from other people’s lifestyles and different cultures. Growing as a person is one of the most important things in humans. Because of all the experiences I have had I can say to everyone that the benefits the volunteer gets from community service are priceless.

Volunteering can be hard and scary at first. However, once you actually give it a try and see what is actually in it, it is the most likely that you will never regret it. Volunteering involves a lot of time, effort, and enthusiasm to do it and a lot of people are constantly doing it. All this clearly proves how doing a community service activity or charity, the volunteer is benefiting more from it than the actual people being helped. It is said that the volunteer doesn’t get anything in return, but looking back at all the benefits and impacts it has on you as a person and how much you learn through it, volunteers are getting more in return that all they give towards it.

MLA CITATIONS:
Balingit, Moriah. “Fifth-Graders Donate Goods to Peers in Caribbean.” Newsela | Fifth-Graders Donate Goods to Peers in Caribbean, Newsela, 5 Oct. 2017.

Cristin Downs. “Volunteering Benefits.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Aug. 2016.

Donovan, Doug. “Number of Volunteers Reaches Highest Level Since 2005.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12 Dec. 2012.

Martinez, Hilda. (2018, May 3). Personal Interview.

PillarNonprofit. “Youth Volunteerism.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Apr. 2012.

Sanchez, Gabriela. (2018, May 3). Personal Interview.