Volunteering: A Spiritual Salve

“Volunteer—not so you can build your resume, but so you can build yourself.”

 Unknown

 

I started volunteering down here in South Florida a couple of years ago, after an extremely long hiatus from community service.  My first spat at service began probably around the age of 8 or 9 when my dad would take my brother and me down to the convalescent home where my mother worked, close to the end of her shift.  The "service" generally consisted of speaking with and spending time with the elderly patients, shedding just a bit of youthful energy on them and bringing smiles to their faces.  

 

To be perfectly honest, maybe it doesn't seem like much of anything; we never realized that it was a community service.  And even though it was sort of required of us, it felt quite natural.  Highschool brought about another time in my life where community service was a regular activity, though this time quite deliberate and much more satisfying.  These days helping to serve the "homeless" helps to keep the spirit of service alive.

But the other day I had a chance to jump in and participate in a mobile food drive at a local church close to home.  In this current economy a lot of people need as much help as they can get, and a box of food provided with the spirit of love helps plenty.  Still, for every person that was served, my return on investment felt even greater.  Never doing this work for any type of personal accolades, it still felt good to be asked back to help again in the future.  And you can bet that I will be there again real soon.  

Just this evening, during a phone conversation with my oldest daughter, I was similarly rewarded.  It seems the spirit of charity has not fallen far from the tree.  She was breaking down her x-mas list to me and I noted to her that all I was hearing was wants,, what was she doing for somebody else.  She stopped me short and explained that she had recently devoted a few hours to, of all things, spending time with the elderly.  I am extremely proud of her, as my child of course but also just as a person of conscience in this world.  She has always made me feel good in that sense and I can only hope and pray that she carries that energy throughout her life.  Kudos to he mother also for helping to foster and encourage service.

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