The value of volunteering isn't best conveyed with words: it's felt in the heart.

I have completed volunteer work, in some capacity, for the past 18 years. My first ongoing volunteer gig was visiting low-income tenants and the homeless in Spokane, Washington. Since that time I have written public service announcements for a radio station for the blind, waitressed at a restaurant that employs homeless men and women, read letters to a woman who couldn't hold them herself, and spent five years as a "Big Sister" to a wonderful young woman during her formative years.

I admit that my motivation for volunteering hasn't always been altruistic. I started volunteering because I felt that offering my time and talents was "the right thing to do" to help the disadvantaged (not realizing that volunteering would change my life more than the lives of others!). After college, I volunteered to gain exposure to different organizations because I was terribly bored in my entry level job.

Over the years, I have learned that volunteering is the right thing to do because it changes my misconceptions about the world and exposes me to wonderful people and experiences.

Following are just a few of the valuable benefits of volunteering:

1. Volunteering keeps your own problems in perspective. Helping others is as close as it gets to walking in someone else's shoes.

2. Volunteering keeps life interesting. If your job or your personal life is hum-drum, try serving food in a soup kitchen or playing games with children. You'll be amazed by the sudden richness in your life.

3. Volunteering exposes you to diverse people. Not only will you learn and grow from the people you serve, volunteering is an excellent way to meet people who share common interests. This is one reason why volunteering can be an effective strategy to meet a date (although this shouldn't be your only motivation for volunteering!)

4. Volunteering allows you to contribute during a recession. Rather than become depressed about the economy, why not donate your time and your skills to do something positive? You will feel better and you will serve your community.

5. Volunteering exposes you to different industries and jobs. The side benefits of volunteering are the valuable skills you will learn and the contacts you will make along the way.

In this time of history in which volunteers are so desperately needed, volunteerism is at a low. The value of volunteering goes beyond the trite idea that it's right for society and that you can personally benefit from it.

There is great value in human beings coming together to learn from each other and to serve one another. For when you volunteer, you realize that you benefit from the experience as much (and often more) than the people you're serving.

Learn more about this author, Kristen M. Anderson.
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