Giving Back
the joy of volunteering
Throughout our lives, we tend to focus on ourselves and our desires – possessions, prestige, reputation, business acumen, skills and talents. However, for many, a turning point arrives when they discover the joy of giving to others. This often happens as we reach a certain age though it’s not always the case. This “giving back” manifests in various ways but for those of a certain age, it frequently takes the form of volunteering.
As I write, we are coming to the end of ‘Volunteers Week’ - a moment in which we recognise and applaud those who give back.
The whole point of volunteering, regardless of precisely what we are volunteering for, is to give something back to others - a local community or a particular group of people, for example. It is all about the giving.
The funny thing is, what we give back is often what we have spent a lifetime gathering - our skills and talents, and free time.
But there is something more - the desire to give back comes from the innate constitution of our character and personality. Though many give back in this way, many more do not; and so there is something particular about the ‘giving’ group. It is as though they see two distinct but related things - firstly, a need of some kind; and, secondly, their own ability to meet that need. And so they give.
Probably the largest community subgroup who volunteer are those who are retired - they have the necessary free time to offer, and most volunteering takes place during working hours.
I am very fortunate in being involved with two groups which try to encourage people to give something back to their local community - and blessed in that many people respond to that offer of giving something of themselves.
The Charity
The first group is a local charity which oversees and manages the community assets of the village I live in. This all began with a plan to purchase a local building and use it for the community, rather than having it sold off and become flats - which had been the fate of another community building a little while before that. It seemed that the Council were selling off the community silver rather than using it for the community. And so the charity was formed.
Since it’s inception around six years ago, it has taken on all sorts of projects intended to benefit our local community in one way or another. These projects range from a weekly community lunch to employability schemes run in conjunction with the local schools, aimed at those who might otherwise end up without decent job prospects.
At the present time, the charity has around ninety volunteers - most of a certain age - who facilitate all our endeavours and keep everything running smoothly. The charity is also managed by a Board of Trustees who are themselves volunteers. All these people give their time, their skills and the particular aptitudes each possesses, all for a good cause which benefits many others.
The Memory Cafe
The second group is a local ‘Memory Cafe’ - a weekly group for people with memory or cognitive problems of any kind, whether through a dementia, brain injury or some other cause.
Unlike the Charity, which covers a variety of groups and endeavours, the Memory Cafe is aimed squarely at this one group, who have very particular needs.
Although ‘for’ these people (we call them our Guests), it is also aimed squarely at their loved ones, the Carers who accompany them. These good souls share the journey of those they love, often in isolation and without the benefit of external support, and they care quietly and relentlessly, twenty four hours every day. The needs of these two distinct groups are very different and so we cater for both at the Memory Cafe.
As well as the sessions themselves, there is all the planning which goes into them, so that we can offer a varied programme of events throughout the year, and to ensure our Guests and their loved ones always receive a good lunch and plenty of beverages and sweet treats. The sessions provide all sorts of activities - from live musical entertainment to a full Sports Day, from baking to seed planting. It is always enormous fun.
The volunteers who staff the Memory Cafe speak of what it offers back to them - although this is always secondary to what they give in the first place. From their work, they get a sense of joy from giving something of themselves, that joy which is quite unlike any other. But they give far, far more than they get in return.
Across both groups - the Charity and the Memory Cafe - I see the inner goodness of people from all walks of life; people who see a world of need beyond themselves and who desire only to give something they have within themselves in order to try to meet that need. It goes without saying that they all do this incredibly well - always with gentleness and compassion, with great grace and a warm smile.
Volunteers are indeed a very special kind of person - I think the word is ‘inspirational’. That is certainly how I find those whom I have the honour of knowing and working with.
Perhaps, having read all this, you might consider if there is some time, some skill which you, too are able to offer somewhere to a voluntary group?
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to this Substack. It’s free.