Volunteering for a Better World is a group dedicated to providing information about volunteering to those who may be interested in giving back but who are unsure about the wide variety of opportunities out there. These diaries are intended to provide a forum for those already involved in volunteerism to share our own experiences as volunteers (the joys, the pitfalls, the unexpected lessons, etc.) and the organizations/groups/causes we work for and to answer questions others may have about our work.
The Corporation for National and Community Service sponsored a survey which was published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January showing the numbers of Americans who performed volunteer work in 2010. It’s an interesting look at the race, gender, age, marital status, and educational attainment of volunteers in the United States.
Here on Daily Kos, many Kossacks have 2 jobs: one that pays the bills and another that they do because they feel an obligation to help a particular cause or because it’s something that they find rewarding and fulfilling in a way that their paying job is not. Many people do volunteer work because they have a lot of free time due to being retired from the workforce, being temporarily unemployed, or because they’re still enrolled in school.
Regardless of the kind of volunteer work you do or why you do it, this group is interested in your stories. What made you decide to volunteer your services? What sorts of volunteer opportunities are there in your community or elsewhere that might interest readers of Daily Kos? Many here volunteer for political campaigns and help out at every election by registering people to vote and working at the polls on election day. I am sure that many of you have great stories to share and all kinds of advice for the uninitiated - those who have seriously considered signing up for those kinds of activities but who haven’t yet taken the plunge.
As a way to gauge the interest in this sort of group, please let me know the following in the comments:
1) What sort of volunteer work are you involved in?
2) What sort of volunteering would you be interested in learning more about?
3) Would you be interested in posting a diary or joining this group?
4) Do you have a diary you posted in the past that you would like re-published in this group?
I will be checking the comments over the next several days even after this diary has disappeared from the diary list. Thank you for your feedback!