At the Ohio Region Awards Convention, I had the opportunity to attend a breakout session titled “The Power of Volunteering.” Led by a juvenile court judge from Clark County, the session covered three main topics: what it means to volunteer, why some people don't, and what can be done to encourage more volunteerism.

What does it exactly mean to be a volunteer? The general definition of a volunteer is someone who works on behalf of others without regard to monetary or material compensation. Why would someone freely give away time or money for no personal benefit? Some may say that we have a moral or civic duty to help our fellow (wo)man in the community. Others just say that they do it for the warm fuzzy wuzzies that they feel in the pit of their stomachs when they help people. If so, where did the desire come from? You could argue that there is some innate predilection buried deep inside the human psyche to help people in order to ensure the survival of the human race but it's looking more likely that the drive to volunteer is a learned trait. Yes, that means that all we have to do in order to grow the available pool of volunteers is just a little teaching by example.

So, why don't more people volunteer? One reason given is that they don't have time. For many people, a full time job and a family to raise can certainly narrow your volunteer opportunities a bit. Another reason stated is it doesn't feel like you're making much of a difference in people's lives. If you volunteer time out of your busy life to clean up a park and a couple of weeks later it looks like it never happened, that can certainly demoralize a person. Unfortunately, another reason given to not volunteer is a fear of lawsuits. Due to the current lawsuit-happy environment in this country and the near hysterical fear promoted by politicians and the media anytime that children are involved, it's no surprise that people choose to take the safe route and pass up the opportunity to mentor a needy child.

The question now becomes how do we encourage more volunteerism in spite of the negatives? One of the suggestions raised during the discussion was to simply say thank you. Just a slight notice of the contribution they made, no matter how small, can make a big difference in whether they decide to contribute in the future. Speaking of small contributions, there are no doubt many opportunities that you pass up every day without even realizing it. Not every volunteer opportunity requires hours of your time or even much extra effort at all. Of course, developing a personal relationship with your subject or fellow volunteers will increase the likelihood of future involvement. Another point that was brought up was the difficulty of actually finding appropriate volunteer opportunities out of all of the separate resources available. A central clearinghouse of volunteer requests was wished for in order to match up organizations with those who could satisfy the time and effort requirements. Finally, a suggestion was made to push for colleges to require mandatory volunteer service in order for the student to receive their diploma. The most controversial suggestion of the day, others argued that the very essence of volunteering required a willing participant or their chances of helping in the future were greatly diminished.

No matter if you decide to volunteer information (directions for Cherie), time (drive Dave to the hospital), or financial and material wealth (open your home to someone down on their luck), every little bit helps to make the world a better place. In fact, you can start by taking a couple seconds out of your day and volunteering your time to give a perfect stranger a big 'ole Phi Theta Kappa hug*. Sure, they'll probably look at you funny, but you'll be secure in the fact that you helped make the world just a little more welcoming.

By: Richard Binkley
Chapter Secretary
* Author not responsible for court costs