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Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

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Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#101

Post by narag »

A long long time ago I watched a TV program asking for money and volunteers to go to 3rd world countries. At the moment I had nothing to lose so I called. It turned out that they didn't really want volunteers and asked me for money that I had not.

Later I offered free services to a couple NGOs as a programmer or system admin. Again I was asked for money instead.

So actually I don't know about growing with that kind of volunteering, but I surely learned some lessons.

I was a mentor for a year in Coder Dojo, that was different and much more satisfying.

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#102

Post by davidjnelson »

akulbe wrote: post #100

Volunteering has helped me to better understand there's more to life than money. I knew it already, academically. But having the opportunity to actually do it... it made the idea more real, more concrete.

That's a really beautiful way of putting it. Do you experience more happiness when you help others? I've found that to be the case personally.

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#103

Post by davidjnelson »

wwarner wrote: post #53

I loved volunteering at an overnight shelter for homeless men, which I did for about 5 years. After the very first night, I realized that I had done more to address my anxiety about homelessness in this single gesture than I had achieved in the prior 30 years of giving spare change to panhandlers. Most homeless people are not panhandlers, and lots of panhandlers aren't homeless. A lot of homeless people were injured…

Wow, bless your heart. Such an uplifting story. What did you learn that could be an insight applied to helping address the issue of loneliness?

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#104

Post by johnchristopher »

I have been volunteering on and off for some years in shelters, local ONG active in environmental field.

I can't say it helped me grow personally but it sets me apart in some conversation. It's more like a badge of honour or some cheap way to get recognition from my peers and others. Quite sad but that's not why I entered volunteering anyway :).

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#105

Post by davidjnelson »

beadoer wrote: post #26

As an American from an immigrant family, I owe so much to the volunteer mentors, teachers, coaches, and community activists that volunteered in programs I was in growing up in New York City. It eventually led me to go to college, then on to work as a NASA engineer and for many startup companies afterward. I've personally volunteered in NYC, LA, Spain, Brazil, mostly in the homeless, substance abuse, and prostitution/…

> I believe we exist to give to others.

Absolutely! This is a great mindset. Many successful people advise this. One example is Tony Robbins. Any ideas on what prevents more people from trying it out?

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#106

Post by ChuckMcM »

Volunteering with my Church at the community service centers that help the homeless allowed me to interact with a large swath of the homeless population around where I live. Not only did this give me a better understanding of the challenges they face it turned many of them from 'that guy on the corner' to actual people I know and know me.

Having that level of understanding helps dispell myths about what is, and what is not, possible in terms of helping these people. It also gave me an idea of how cruel and debilitating mental illness is on an individual's ability to function.

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#107

Post by akulbe »

davidjnelson wrote: post #102
akulbe wrote: post #100

Volunteering has helped me to better understand there's more to life than money. I knew it already, academically. But having the opportunity to actually do it... it made the idea more real, more concrete.

That's a really beautiful way of putting it. Do you experience more happiness when you help others? I've found that to be the case personally.

I have a pretty umm... interesting... history. MANY folks were a good influence in my life. My hope in my particular venue of volunteer work is to help affect some of the same change in the lives of others. It's most definitely rewarding.

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#108

Post by kalleth »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #48
c0wb0yc0d3r wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you start as an ASL or at a lower position in a troop? Any tips for someone who wants to do that same?

Not OP but, in the UK ASL is the lower position. This https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A17719527 is a good summary of all the structures. Some groups have "adult helpers" but generally that's avoided as it suggests the parent will only be there fleetingly in which case spending the training resources (mainly time) is not efficient.

Yep -- you can help out, but as soon as you figure out if it's for you, your first "appointment" is ASL.

It's essentially what you want from it -- don't consider them "levels" but different roles. They're all volunteer after all!

I don't want the added responsibility of having to lead the entire section so as an ASL, I'll plan and lead 1/3rd (ish) of the weekly meetings, and do some of the day to day with the young people on camps, but my SL handles the longer term planning, balanced programme prep, and so on.

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#109

Post by ctdonath »

Panera deals with leftover breadstuffs by donating it to charities. Just walk in and ask about their "Dough Nation" program: sign up under a recognized organization and pick a day of the week you can reliably pick up leftovers at close of business. I've been doing it for years, taking about an hour a week to pick it up, keep it overnight, and deliver next morning to a local church's public food pantry distribution. Personally, it's a way to (in a sense) donate hundreds of dollars of food weekly with just an hour + $2 gas per week; the food is otherwise wasted if not for someone merely transporting it. I also get to teach my kids about charity; easy to take them along to see and "help". A real "bang for the buck" volunteering job; not sure it helps me grow so much as help others grow with little effort on my part.

Another is randomly volunteering at "Save The Horses" locally. In a high-tech world, helps one to stay grounded by working on a farm; this being a volunteer-run farm rescuing unwanted farm animals, they need people for unrelenting litany of feedings, cleaning, walking, brushing, repairing, decorating, collecting, ...

Re: Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?

#110

Post by Pica_soO »

No. I drove some refugees around in germany, to bureaucrats and back home. No warm and fuzzy feeling. No lvl up on kharma. No everlasting friendships. Just strangers, going to strange places and then home (which is now germany)- basically another day in germany. Very anticlimatic. Just humans. In the end it where just wasted days, in which i could have done open source stuff. Build something. Created anything.
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