On Volunteerism

Recently, I volunteered to help run a holiday food drive at Ridgeview to benefit the Larimer County Food Bank. We decorated boxes, made posters, figured out the logistics of where we would keep the food and where it would eventually be donated, and set goals and incentives for the students. Some things went very well, but others didn’t go quite as planned… Still, through the amazing generosity of our Ridgeview community, I am pleased to report that we gathered five hundred pounds of food to donate to those in need in a little over a week!

While I happen to enjoy doing this sort of work, I understand that many people don’t find it particularly rewarding, at least in the short term, or else they think themselves too busy to make it a priority. However, if we better understood the larger significance of volunteerism and its essential role in creating and sustaining a community, we might all make more time for it.  Moreover, I think people would surprise themselves in how enjoyable it is to work with others, if only they gave themselves the chance to engage. By volunteerism, I do not simply mean “jobs where they don’t pay you.” To me, volunteering is any gift of self -- your time, your efforts, your other resources -- that you make to help your community. The community in question can take many forms: it could be your family, your school, your country, or even all of humanity. What really defines a community is a sense of shared identity, coupled with a responsibility or moral obligation towards one another. It is this sense of responsibility that motivates volunteerism.

Community is sometimes thought of as contractual in nature, but this is inaccurate. A contract is a trade of one thing for another, having nothing to do with a lasting connection to that person and everything to do with what you, personally, get out of it. Furthermore, a contract is nullified as soon as its terms are violated -- and whatever relationship it created is thereby extinguished. By contrast, community is about our shared identity -- a web of connections between one human being and another. This shared identity takes community beyond the selfish and fragile world of merely utilitarian interactions. It creates a “we” that is more than the sum of the individual “I”s.

While community may be stronger than a series of mutually beneficial transactions, it is not invulnerable. It can easily erode if not maintained by its members. At its heart, the “we” of the community is derived from the same sense of mutual responsibility for one another that motivates volunteerism. If this sense of shared responsibility is not actively cultivated by the individual members, then the community is diminished and ultimately ceases to exist. Volunteerism can prevent this in three ways: first, the more obvious: because volunteerism is motivated by that sense of mutual care and responsibility, volunteers guarantee the continued existence of a sense of shared identity around which that community defines itself. Through the actions of volunteers, the shared goals, priorities, and values of the community are pursued. The more involved the individual members of the community, the stronger the bonds between them grow. Second, the enthusiasm of volunteerism helps to create more people invested in their connections with others. It is far easier to care about someone who has proven they care about you. Volunteering then becomes a good way to make true friends, because one thing you know about those who are volunteering alongside you is that they share your values.

Thus, we arrive at the true significance of volunteerism: it is a shield against the erosion and downfall of our communities and serves as the guardian of human connection. I hope I have convinced the skeptical of its importance, or at least provided an informative glimpse into the worldview of volunteers so that they can take one step closer to understanding that any gift of self is worthwhile, even if it seems less rewarding in the short term. Over the past year, we have all come to realize how much we need our human connections. It is my most sincere hope that division will be rectified and unity cherished. We should each begin volunteering in and for our communities, whether at school or otherwise. We should also be sure to take the time to express our gratitude to the volunteers we meet, for the gifts they give sustain us all.