by Celia Love

Created on: April 29, 2008

The value of volunteering is multidimensional similar to a domino effect and has caught on like wildfire. Volunteering has become prevalent and we all reap the rewards of it in almost every aspect of life.
I have been fortunate enough to have been on both sides of the spectrum.

As a patient in a post-surgical unit recovering from serious surgery, it was unbelievable feeling to have someone come in to check on me, make sure I had water, give me an extra blanket and ask if there was anything she could do for me to make me feel better. Knowing that this person is not getting paid for this, rather is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts is touching.

As as a volunteer, it is an amazingly invigorating and rewarding feeling to know you are helping someone, easing pain, giving comfort, offering an assistance that improves their state of mind and day. You are making a difference in someones' life, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Continuing the domino effect, the effects of the volunteers actions has in effect just made a difference in many lives by the 'ripple effect'. Whether it is in a hospital setting, giving care to a patient thus taking stress off nurses, relieving stress for family members and has made a difference in their own lives in the process.

Whether it be in Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Hospices' Museums, Animal Shelters, Zoos', Schools, or in an in home setting, volunteering helps all involved. Being touched by volunteer ism by giving or receiving continues on to be beneficial in the lives of everyone we know and interact with similar to the "Pay It Forward" method.

Voluntarism effects people in many ways , different situations, and on different levels. Often in ways that we remember, and at times when we are most vulnerable. It saves resources, money that is now available to make improvements in other ways. Relieves stress in jobs and lives of the overworked and underpaid. Voluntarism's nurtures the sole of the giver and the receiver and continues on.

Make an improvement in your own life, in the lives' of others and in effect the world, become a volunteer in something... in anything.

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