I have always been a firm believer in giving back to the community. Although I may not have the easiest life, I have been blessed in many ways. I am healthy, I have a job (for now), a roof over my head, and I have great family and friends. It would be really selfish of me to not give back.
While I was working and going to school I did not have a lot of free time for volunteering. Once I graduated I began to look into some organizations that I wanted to be involved with.
The first organization I tried out was New Hope for Kids in Maitland. This is a great organization that helps children and families cope with the feelings of grief and loss after the death of a loved one and also grants wishes to children ages 3-18 with life-threatening illnesses. I volunteered with New Hope at the Celebrity Mascot Games and wanted to start training on becoming a grief counselor. The only problem was I had to commit to one night every two weeks for six months. Normally this would not be a problem, but I wasn’t working at the time and needed to keep my schedule open. I eventually did start working at a job which made me unavailable at the times grief counselors are needed.
I ran into a similar problem with the next organization I became involved with, Shepherd’s Hope. Shepherd’s Hope runs several free clinics around Central Florida for people without medical insurance. I found the clinic closest to my house and volunteered there a couple times. Once again they wanted me to commit to a location and come the same time every month. And once again, my current job made me unavailable.
At the end of 2009 I decided that in 2010 I would volunteer more. Since I wasn’t available for New Hope or Shepherd’s Hope, I chose Eco-Action, an organization that does canoe clean-ups. Because a friend of mine was involved with the organization, I asked him to sign me up for the next available clean-up. This did not get me on the email list however, and I drove a half hour away only to find out the clean-up had been canceled due to bad weather. This was mostly my fault and I do plan on trying to volunteer with them again soon.
Most recently I’ve gotten involved with an organization called One Brick. Instead of committing to just one organization, One Brick allows you to pick volunteer opportunities based on what fits best with your schedule. After signing up on their website, you check the event calendar for days and times you are available, sign up and go volunteer. It’s perfect for me since I obviously have problems committing.
Last weekend was my first opportunity to volunteer with One Brick. The American Diabetes Association was having their annual Tour de Cure and One Brickers were needed to help set up. I really enjoyed helping out and meeting new people; although, it was raining and super cold. I quickly went from being pumped up about helping to feeling sick. This was not enough to turn me off from volunteering in any way. In fact, I hope to make it to another event this weekend.
Last but not least, I must mention my favorite volunteer experience of them all, being a DJ for the Rollins College radio station, WPRK 91.5 fm. I love being a DJ for WPRK and consider it more of a privilege then volunteering. I love it so much that for four and a half years I got up at 4:30 am every Friday for my 6:00 am show. Fortunately I am now on Thursday nights at 7:00 pm.
As I sit here typing this, my throat is sore, I am coughing and have a horrible headache, which I’m fairly certain is from the 3 hours I spent in the freezing rain on Saturday setting up for the Tour de Cure. But it is not as bad as having diabetes or not having the health insurance to get my self checked out or fighting a life-threatening illness, and that is why I volunteer.
