Alexis Zimmer wrote an awesome article where she highlighted 6 reasons why volunteering is important. I’ve boiled the important points down into 4 new reasons why you should participate in service to others.

1. Gaining new experiences

Volunteering provides you with circumstances where you experience new surroundings, situations and people. You can learn a lot by spending a few hours in a new location with new people; it can really expand your horizons. I personally, had never worked with special needs young adults before I was in a Community Service Fraternity in college.

We spent many Saturday mornings at a local park playing softball, football and basketball with a program that integrates special needs young adults into the community. It was a spectacular experience and I would never have learned so much about my patience if I had not volunteered in this situation.

2. Giving back to your community

Volunteering in your community for others can be such a rewarding experience. It brightens the lives and communities of those you are helping and in turn it makes you feel really good. When I was in High School, I completed my Gold Award for Girl Scouts (I know, people always teased me about it). It was an incredible experience though because I helped 30 middle school aged girls with 5 elements to being a happy girl. We focused each day on positive life lessons and I can confidently say we all walked away with a greater sense of self confidence.

3. Sense of accomplishment

We all get caught up in ourselves, it’s inevitable. We measure how productive we are through time or monetary compensation. However, volunteering is one of those things that when you spend your time and energy on it, you walk away feeling really great, regardless of what you get out of it. It’s something you do because you want to and because you’re making a difference. There were times in college when I was in my fraternity and I really didn’t feel like attending community service activities, but when I went, it felt so good! I was happier, calmer and more productive for the rest of the day! I always took this as a reason to keep going back. 

4. Building career options

By participating in volunteering situations, you are being exposed to different career paths. Through gaining new experiences students have the opportunity to practice a career with no pressure. In every volunteering experience I’ve had, I’ve always pictured myself working there full time. Would this work for me? Could I do this all day, every day? It was good practice analyzing different career paths.

These are just a few more tips as to why you should volunteer and provide service to others.

Try it, you’ll love it!