In Service to Others: A Volunteer’s Perspective

Thursday Thoughts, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Females

45 minutes after leaving home, I arrived with my bright aqua vest on, hanging yellow identification tag, and an eager spirit to start my first individual volunteer shift at a local hospital. All that was required to volunteer was a four-hour-once-a-week commitment greeting guests, helping them to elevators or appointment desks, pushing wheelchairs, running between floors if something needed to be transported, and being a friendly, upbeat, helpful person to anyone I met. Doable, I thought. Enjoyable, I hoped.

Being related to doctors my entire life, I’ve often wondered if I would have chosen that field if my parents’ entrepreneurial example and spirit didn’t influence me more. Since becoming totally bald due to alopecia and losing dear friends to cancer, I felt a tug at my heartstrings to volunteer with cancer patients – especially young ones if I could. Although I do not have cancer, I feel very associated with it and empathic to people I know who have it.

Last week during Catholic mass, the priest talked about the importance of serving those less fortunate or those in need in the ways Mother Teresa did in her life. I have always felt my calling was to “serve” as evidenced by my volunteer, activism, and fundraising experiences starting at age 9 and continuing through high school, college, and adult life. I’ve never, not served and I made my sons create their own community service projects in high school to benefit others.

But this new commitment feels different. I’m volunteering in an area that is calling me based on what others think I have wrong with me. The compassion people have shown me thinking I’m a cancer patient with no eyebrows, eyelashes, or hair on my head made me realize how kind people are. I, for one, want to return that feeling by serving children and their families dealing with a cancer diagnosis, to return some love and compassion. I get to do that after this five-week volunteer training period.

I really wanted to share some “wisdom” gained in one four-hour volunteer shift to shine the light on what it is like to help others in this capacity:

* Every single person I approached or helped appreciated the support and made sure to say “thank you” no matter what.
* Old, young, strong, weak, black, white, and brown people understand the universal feeling of compassion and empathy.
* Even if someone doesn’t ask for help or looks like they don’t need help if you ask, they will tell you they do and be thankful you asked. If they don’t need your assistance, they are still grateful you asked them.
* You never know someone’s story by looking at them.
* Generosity of spirit and deed goes a long way.
* Kindness is the currency people need most.

9,000 steps later when my volunteer shift was done and my mileage equaled a typical 5K run I do daily, it hit differently. It was so much more rewarding to have walked those 9,000 steps in service to others, and not just for myself.