The joy of helping others

My hat is off to people who are so completely selfless that they will put themselves in any situation, even physical danger, in order to help others. That is not me. However, I do like to help. I have done a smattering of volunteer work here and there over the years while I was working full time, but I was too selfish to give up my precious few evening hours (I worked 10-11 hour days) to volunteering. Hence, I always said that, when I retire, I want to commit much more time to doing more volunteer work.

Within a few weeks of my retirement date, I had already registered my desire to help on four different volunteer projects in my area via Volunteer Match (www.volunteermatch.org). VM is a fabulous website that allows you to tailor your search for volunteer opportunities in your area to just within a certain distance or just in certain subject areas, etc. They will email you an updated list matching your search criteria as often (or as little) as you like. I recommend VM to anyone looking to volunteer (whether a little or a lot).

In the last few years leading up to my retirement, I had these grand visions (okay, fantasies) of the impact I could make through volunteering and how it would work in my life (and enrich it)--however, there were several stark realities that got in the way of my master plan:

1) I knew that there would be fewer volunteer opportunities where I now live as a retiree than where I had been living before; however, I did not realize how substantial an impact this would have on my plans. When I lived in the DC area, the list that resulted from my VM search criteria was overwhelming in terms of trying to decide which of the opportunities on many pages of those offered I may want to try. In Delaware, I have a much smaller list and have to hunt more to find a few things I might want to do.

2) Not only are there less opportunities here, but the distance to drive to what ones there are is greater. For example, animal welfare work was at the top of my list of volunteer projects, but there are no shelters in my town--I have to drive almost 30 minutes (one way) to the county seat just to find an SPCA shelter. With the price of gas what it is, that definitely impacted my decisionmaking. When I lived in the DC area, I could find multiple volunteer opportunities that were 5-10 minutes away where I lived or worked.

3) Volunteer organizations move at their own speed, which can be very frustrating if you are motivated and ready to start helping! :) This I already knew to some extent from my volunteering experience in the DC area. The opportunities I applied for through the county's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) were a piece of cake (this is a national program, by the way, so if you are 55 or older, I urge you to look up your local RSVP office). The RSVP coordinator got back to me very quickly and I had a meeting with her within a week of expressing my interest on Volunteer Match. Other volunteer programs, not so much.

I started my first volunteer "job" in mid-July. It is not remotely like anything that I had conjured up in my "Dream Volunteer Job" fantasies. It is, in fact, a paid job that they can't afford to hire anyone to do. Since 30 years of my Federal career were in a related area, I figured it might be interesting to see the same programs from a completely different angle, so I said I'd help. Because I'd just retired from a 37-year Federal Government career 6 weeks before and this was way too close to the desk job I had just left, I told them I would only work two half-days per week and they agreed.

I am just a voice on the phone to people in need--people who can't pay the rent, can't feed their children, can't pay for child care, don't have medical insurance, etc. I don't actually provide the help they need, but I am a conduit to getting them to it. I am a small cog in a very large wheel that is designed to provide help to those who need it; but even being a small cog feels pretty good. When I feel I have done my best to provide a friendly, understanding voice on the other end of the phone and to give them the information they're seeking, it's great.

The biggest benefit of this "job" is that it reminds me every week how blessed I am. I own my own home, I can pay my mortgage and bills, I have medical insurance and I can buy groceries. I am not wealthy by any means and there may be times that finances are tight (especially now that I am living on a pension) but, compared to someone who can't feed their children, is being evicted from their home or is sitting in the dark because they had to make a choice between the rent and the electric bill, I am doing just fine. While it is disheartening to hear so many sad stories, it brings the news stories about the economy to a much more personal level.

I have plans to get into more areas of volunteering. I attended a meeting today for an organization that is dedicated to teaching people how to manage their pets during a disaster. I still have the SPCA on my "maybe/likely" list. I've also contacted an organization that is building a no-kill animal sanctuary in the area. In the long term, I'd also like to get involved in the area of literacy--anything from reading to pre-school children to tutoring school-age children to teaching children or adults to read.

Helping others helps me feel like I am connected to humanity and to my community. If you're not already volunteering, I encourage you to check out Volunteer Match and see how you could use your talents to help others. It may take a village (to quote Hillary Clinton), but one person can still make a big difference to someone in need.