The Benefits of Volunteering
Volunteering is an enriching, fulfilling experience that can strengthen your connection with God as well as with those around you. Helping your local and global community is a part of answering God’s call to love others, and volunteering helps both those in need and the volunteers themselves!
Improving the Community
The phrase “think globally, act locally” is at the core of volunteering. To truly make the world a better place, we can start by bettering our own communities. Small acts of kindness, whether it’s cleaning up an elderly neighbor’s yard or donating to your local food pantry, are just as valuable as large ones. Remind your child that even the smallest acts make a great impact.
Physical Health
Volunteering promotes physical health throughout our lifetimes. In fact, long-term volunteers tend to benefit from longer lives and better overall health. Volunteering is specifically said to benefit heart health. Those who participate in physical activities, such as building homes or community cleanups, benefit from keeping their bodies active and engaged.
Mental Wellbeing
The sense of purpose felt from volunteering can largely impact your mental wellbeing. Volunteering enhances self-esteem, sense of personal accomplishment, and overall satisfaction. In the long term, it can even delay or reverse declining brain functions that result from aging. Volunteering widens your social network, which can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.
Meaningful Connections
The Bible calls us to community for good reason: it’s encouraging, teaches us love and patience, and creates accountability. Starting to establish these connections at an early age can help children get ahead in life. Your child can create a community with other volunteers and establish deep connections with those they help. By strengthening their social network, they develop a new understanding of the world and reap the benefits of increased socialization.
Volusia Catholic schools emphasize community service and helping others in need throughout the school year. Students participate in a variety of service projects from collecting canned food and toiletries for parish and local food pantries, and writing letters to men and women serving in the Military overseas, to making beautiful cards and crafts for residents of nursing homes. These experiences form civic minded and morally responsible students. Learn more about our schools here!