As syndicated in the Observer/Eccentric Newspapers May 2004

Volunteering: Like a paying job, only better...

On Tuesday, April 20, as part of National Volunteer Week, I attended the Annual Habitat for Humanity Michigan Awards Dinner.

It included a reception for former President Jimmy Carter who was the Guest Speaker and who will be leading Detroit’s “JCWP Blitz Build in June 2005.” Carter promotes Volunteering by working side by side, with hammer and nail, with thousands of others who build new homes for families in need. Volunteerism is “the backbone of America.”  Danny Thomas said, “Success has nothing to do with what you gain or accomplish for yourself. It is what you do for others.”  Similarly, a wise man named Z. Hurston once said, “There is nothing to make you like other human beings so much as doing things for them.”  The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ cured the sick, made the blind see and the deaf hear, and fed the multitude…at no charge.
Other greats in the area of volunteerism are Mother Theresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

A recent Detroit News and Free Press article of February 22, 2004, ran a front page story titled, “College kids pick service over sun: Spring break trips to help less fortunate teach lessons in volunteerism and compassion.” More locally, the United Way, along with co-sponsors like the Observer and Eccentric, are looking for its next batch of home town heroes” to honor at a special luncheon this June to celebrate volunteerism.
In addition to honoring existing volunteers, it is also hoped that this event will spur more people to start volunteering.  These are but some examples of many areas where volunteerism is being lived out. Almost every type of skill is needed somewhere. The benefits to others are incalculable and the benefits to one’s self are amazing.

Volunteering your time, energy, and talents gives you an opportunity to support a cause, to share your knowledge and expertise, to meet people and make friends, to feel the satisfaction of helping others, and to make a difference in your community.  Others have said that looking for volunteer work is very much like looking for a paying job-only better! You can expect volunteering to be a fun way to spend your valuable time with the added benefit of helping others.

To get started is simple. Just call any agency, business ,hospital, or community institution and ask if they are looking for volunteers. Be prepared to express what areas of interest you might have.  You could then be expected to be interviewed by an agency representative who is trained in determining the appropriateness of you as a potential volunteer.

There are certainly many volunteer opportunities (and benefits) for men and women of our disabled population. With disability often comes depression, isolation, and self-pity. Finding one’s niche in the world of volunteerism can be a potent antidote and restore one’s sense of self, sense of purpose, and sense of belonging.

In my work with people who have lost so much in life due to traumatic injuries, I have seen a turning point in their suffering towards mental health when they realize they can be of service to others. This puts their own problems into perspective and helps them to find new aspects of identity as helpers.
Whether motivated out of a therapeutic need to overcome one’s own hardship or the result of a well-off, ambitious person having time and talent left over to share, the ministry of volunteerism benefit all who are involved: a win-win situation for the giver and the receiver.
Locally, Botsford Hospital has had a longstanding successful volunteer program. Call them at (248) 471-8000; Habitat for Humanity Volunteer Department in Detroit can be reached at (313)521-6691 x-107; many volunteer opportunities can be found world wide via Google computer search: key in search world “volunteerism.”

Leonard J. McCulloch is a Diplomat of American Phychotherapy Association and a Volunteer Member of the Red Cross Mental Health Disaster team.

He is Director of psychological Services at Broe Rehabilitation Services, Inc. of Farmington Hills and can be reached at (248)474-2763.