Five top reasons to volunteer

The joy of Volunteering by Olivia, one of our enthusiastic students volunteers from the University of Salford for Students Volunteering Week – 2021

Volunteering gives you the chance to make a contribution to the kind of community and world that you want to live in. Every volunteer can make a great difference, do not underestimate your potential. It does not matter how big or small your steps are, you have the possibility to make an immense difference to the world. Don’t just simply overlook the benefits of volunteering. Embrace them!

1) YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT

Even just the smallest of actions can bring a greater change. By doing even just one small act of kindness you could then trigger something bigger, leading to others striving to help and achieve great things! For a volunteer, no task is too small or insignificant, everything counts. Plenty of us spend a lot more time thinking about ourselves than we should, by volunteering we can find out about the greater picture and what is going on in the world around us. By volunteering, you will look outside your bubble and feel proud of your contribution in making a lasting change. You’ll be connecting with a community, making it a better place. Volunteers make the little things count!

2) NEW EXPERIENCES

By volunteering you are open to new opportunities and you can gain experiences that you might not have even been expecting. The experiences that you come from volunteering often allow you to gain new skills which you can take with you through life. The skills are not just important for you to grow as a person, but they are skills that could help the people you pass in life. The skills and experiences from volunteering are valuable to life.

3) YOU BECOME MORE OPEN MINDED

When you volunteer to help other people, this will allow you to become more open-minded. It is more than likely that you will become more empathetic and see things from a completely new perspective, in a way that you never thought that you would. You’ll gain patience from this and probably value the things that you already have in life a lot more than what you previously did.

4) BOOSTS YOUR WELLBEING

Giving up some of your free time, even if it is just a fraction does wonders for both your physical and your mental health. If you are taking some time to focus your efforts on improving other people’s lives, then it is likely to lift your own emotions at the same time too as you feel satisfied when you have done something to give back. Volunteering can help counteract the effects of anger, stress, and anxiety and has also been shown to combat depression too.

5) IT IS FUN

Volunteering can be a fun and simple way to discover and explore your passions and interests. Volunteering ignites passion and can be an escape from your regular daily routine. You can really get yourself stuck in as a volunteer and enjoy what is going on whilst doing it for a greater cause!

Volunteering makes the world a better place by helping a community in need. If you want to make friends, improve your wellbeing and even develop some new skills in the process, begin volunteering. You can change your own life and the life of others when you do.

Find out how you can make a difference, click the link: Volunteering