Why You Should Volunteer In Your Local Community
With family, work and friends taking up precious time, everyday life can be hectic enough without finding time to volunteer. However, even if you have a busy schedule, volunteering has many rewards you can benefit from.
Giving help to important causes and your local community is worthwhile, but you, the volunteer, will also gain from donating your time. Volunteering can help you make friends, grow your career, develop a new skill set, and of course, make a difference.
If you’re wondering why you should volunteer, enlisting your time to a good cause has lots of benefits, which include:
- Community connection
- Keeping mentally and physically healthy
- Developing useful skills
- Sense of fulfilment
- Feeling happier
1. Community Connection
One of the best benefits of community volunteering is having a positive effect on your collective. Through giving your time and skills, volunteers give their support to help people beat challenges. This helps empower others, which has greater effects on the community itself.
This also has benefits for volunteers. Volunteering is a great way to meet new people and create friendships within your community. It helps increase your network as you meet people with similar interests, explore neighbourhood facilities, and enjoy fun activities.
People who have received support from volunteers are also likely to give their time to help others. This helps form good relationships and a positive culture within the community.
When others notice how volunteering has helped their own society, people become inspired to donate their time as well.
As there is more community involvement, the small society turns into an active, hands-on collective. People become motivated to work together, address issues and make a difference at large.
2. Keeping Mentally and Physically Healthy
Improving your physical and mental health is a great reason why you should volunteer!
Volunteering naturally places you in contact with others, which can have a great impact on your general well-being. Talking to understanding people can help you create a strong supportive network, which in turn, can help fight mental issues, like stress, anxiety, and depression.
Volunteering also has physical health benefits. A 2013 study looked at older adults who volunteered and found they had a reduced mortality rate compared to those who didn’t volunteer. The older volunteers also found it easier to carry out general tasks and had less of a chance of experiencing high blood pressure.
Volunteering was also found to reduce the risk of inflammation and cardiovascular disease, while another study found that volunteering helped ease the pain felt by chronic pain patients. If you want to improve your mental and physical health, volunteering is a great way to do so.
3. Developing Useful Skills
Volunteering can help you develop skills and gain experience through new opportunities. If you’re interested in a particular career branch, you might be able to volunteer first to understand what jobs in that industry might look like.
Volunteering also allows you to meet new people, which can help you increase your network. If you decide to go after a job in the branch that you volunteered in, the new connections or mentors you met may help you advance your career. Volunteer experience can look great on your CV and to future employers.
Volunteering can give you training to develop skills you may already have, or learn an entirely new skill set. These will depend on where you volunteer, like working with vulnerable people or managing fundraising events.
At Home-Start Cymru, you can donate your time to be a Home Visitor volunteer. Our volunteers work with parents and their children to support families in Welsh communities.
We give our volunteers the necessary training to make a difference, along with opportunities to improve their skills, confidence, and well-being.
Whether you help parents organise their home, travel to medical appointments, or spend time with families outside the home, just a few hours a week is enough to make a difference.
If you want to take part in a worthy, rewarding cause, fill in and submit our expression of interest form. To speak to a volunteering team member, send us an email atinfo@homestartcymru.org.uk.
4. Sense of Fulfillment
Feeling fulfilled is a great reason why you should volunteer. Many people volunteer to show care for interests outside of their careers.
For example, people interested in gardening might give their time to their community garden, while those interested in social care might volunteer at charities that care for families or children.
Spending time on a personal passion and making a difference in people’s lives can give volunteers a new purpose. This motivation can carry into your work and social life, helping you feel more positive overall.
Volunteering can help all age groups. Younger people can benefit from volunteering as it helps them connect to people outside their regular circle. This can give them exposure to a variety of viewpoints, helping young people develop empathetic skills.
Older adults searching for purpose after retirement, or following the death of a loved one, can also benefit from volunteering. This gives them a regular event to look forward to and keep busy, giving them a personal sense of fulfilment unrelated to family life.
5. Feeling Happier
Have you ever noticed a warm feeling after lending a hand to someone, or doing something nice to cheer someone up?
Volunteering your time to others is rewarding as it promotes positive emotions. Known as the ‘helper’s high’, the brain produces dopamine, the ‘feel good’ hormone, when we donate our time to do good for others.
Research has also shown that people who volunteer feel happier compared to those who don’t. This may be for many reasons, including social connection, bettering your community, or enjoying interests outside everyday commitments.
Related to the point above, volunteering also gives people a new sense of fulfilment that carries into work and personal lives.
Whether you spend an hour a week or donate your whole weekend to a greater cause, volunteering can improve your mood and help you feel happier overall.
How Can I Volunteer To Help My Community?
There are so many reasons why you should volunteer for a greater cause. If you’re ready to start benefiting from donating your time, we could use your help.
At Home Start Cymru, you can volunteer to make a difference in households across Wales.
As a Home-Start volunteer, giving parents your support and friendship can help them improve their relationships with their family members. Volunteering with us allows you to meet new people, develop your skills, and support families in your community.
To start volunteering with us, fill in our expression of interest form, or find out more about being a Home-Start volunteer on our website.
For enquiries about volunteering, contact us at volunteering@homestartcymru.org.uk or for regular updates, check out our social media on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
We hope this post answered why you should volunteer and that you’re inspired to take action in your local community.
