Daria Wieliczko Volunteering - a Tough Nut to Crack?

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If an earthquake, flood, or war suddenly strikes your country, there are a number of organisations that will offer humanitarian aidhumanitarian aidhumanitarian aid. AltruismaltruismAltruism motivates acts of help in times of crisisin times of crisisin times of crisis or military conflictmilitary conflictmilitary conflict, so that we can always count on others when we are in needin needin need. Bringing reliefreliefrelief in times of war or natural disastersnatural disasters [natural disaster]natural disasters is the most extreme case of help, and volunteers often risk their own lives in an effortefforteffort to save others. In order to become such a volunteer you need to be an adult, because only adults can take such life‑threatening riskslife‑threatening risks [life‑threatening risk]life‑threatening risks. However, this doesn’t mean that younger people can’t become volunteers when it comes to charity. After all, you don’t have to be an adult or work for a public servicepublic servicepublic service to help others. Actually, it’s an activity that you do every day, at any age.

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Obviously, you could ask yourself the question, “Why bother in the first place?” There are dozens of other ways to spend your free time than helping others. That is true. However, research carried out on hundreds of volunteers shows that volunteering is mutually beneficialmutually beneficialmutually beneficial. According to the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, volunteers can benefit frombenefit frombenefit from participating in charitablecharitablecharitable activities in many ways that improve their health and wellbeing. It has even been observed that volunteering helps to reduce your social isolation and improve skills such as cooperationcooperationcooperation with others, patience, and conflict solving. What is more, the British Youth Council organisation lists improving your self‑worth and building confidence as other common benefits of volunteering. In fact, your teenage years might actually be the best time to learn about global issues and make a positive impact onmake a positive impact onmake a positive impact on the world. By joining a volunteer programme, you can gain practical experience and cultural sensitivity that you would probably never gain in the classroom.

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There’s no denying that most of the charitycharity charity happening around the world is about money. Money is the problem‑solver so most of the actions organised by any foundationfoundationfoundation around the world serve to raise moneyraise moneyraise money. In such a case, the volunteer’s job is to ask people, companies, and institutions to make a contributionmake a contributionmake a contribution to a charitable cause. Companies can also contributecontributecontribute in other financial ways. Instead of giving money to a charity, they often decide to sponsorsponsor (verb)sponsor a particular event or person. This way, they control where their donationdonationdonation goes and which cause or person they supportsupportsupport. Obviously, generousgenerousgenerous sponsorshipssponsorshipsponsorships don’t go without a trace. You can often see a sponsor’s logo or a banner with the company name and contact details hung somewhere during a sponsored event. So, many companies sponsor athletes and events in order to promote their business on the market. Another win‑win situationwin‑win situationwin‑win situation!

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Nowadays, fundraisingfundraisingfundraising has become much simpler thanks to the internet. You don’t even have to leave home to find the right charity and provide supportprovide supportprovide support. Every foundation and charity have their own website on which you can make a donationmake a donationmake a donation. There are also social media sites that help to promote fundraising campaigns. Actually, networking on social media has led to the development of grassroots fundraisinggrassroots fundraisinggrassroots fundraising, the quickest way to raise and donatedonatedonate money. In this peer‑to‑peerpeer‑to‑peerpeer‑to‑peer movement, single donors have taken over the initiative of raising money and the activity happens mostly through a network of friends, or family and business contacts. To collect as much money as it’s possible, they simply share fundraising activities by posting information on their walls and everyone can make a donation with the click of a mousewith the click of a mousewith the click of a mouse. This, too, works both ways. If your family or friends need help, they can also start a fundraiserfundraiserfundraiser on one of the crowdfundingcrowdfundingcrowdfunding sites and gather smaller amounts of money from a large number of people who will definitely feel sympathy forfeel sympathy forfeel sympathy for them and pay. GenerositygenerosityGenerosity, like altruism, has no limits.

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To sum up, there are many ways in which you can fulfil your civic dutycivic dutycivic duty and volunteervolunteer (verb)volunteer. You don’t even have to be a member of any organisation to help others. Many of us help our elderly neighbours walk their dogs, do the shopping, or assembleassembleassemble a new chest of drawers. These acts often mean more than paying money and prove that you develop empathyempathyempathy for other people’s situations. So, it’s up to you to decide how you help, what is important is that you do it.

1 Źródło: Daria Wieliczko, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.