The Power of Volunteering

Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mold the present into a future of which we can all be proud.
– Submitted by Helen Dyer, Parks Funding and Volunteer Coordinator, Teller County, CO Division of Parks, Colorado, USA

We all have choices to make; choices about how to spend our time, our talents, and our treasures.  Let me be more precise.  We do have choices to make but perhaps not about anything we possess.  As a person of faith, I believe that what we have is given to us by our gracious God.  We are stewards of everything we own, the time we have, and even  life itself.  So the question becomes… what are we doing with our life?  Are we living for ourselves or others?  Is our life making a difference in the world around us?

Nelson Mandela quoted, “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

Volunteering is a powerful way to make a difference and be the change we want to see in the world.  This does not have to be a 2-week trip to remote parts of an African jungle. This could mean volunteering one Saturday morning a month for your local community center or soup kitchen.

Here at Orchids of Light, we believe in the power of volunteering.  We partner with small communities around the world supportive transformative social change in Health CareChildren’s RightsChristian Outreach,Displaced PeoplesCommunity DevelopmentEducationEmpowerment for WomenYouth LeadershipVolunteer PlacementSustainable AgricultureHunger AlleviationHousing andDisaster Relief. We connect you directly to the men and women performing the miracles on the ground and to the global communities they serve all of whom are waiting for your name to become part of the narrative.

Through service opportunities, both global and local, it is our hope to positively impact others through our presence and resources.  This happens whether we are physically constructing a home or school, providing medical aid, feeding the hungry, teaching, or bringing laughter and smiles of joy upon the faces of children.

I believe  there exists opportunities for everyone to use what time (great or small) they have and match it with a passion.  When this occurs, the power of volunteering impacts the volunteer as well.  What happens is that volunteers discover  their hearts touched and changed.  Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,  “It is one of the beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely help another without helping himself.”   By volunteering you discover that by giving you receive!

You may never know the power of your volunteering, but every single act of kindness and generosity does make a difference. Regarding her work with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta India, Mother Theresa once said, “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” 

This reminds me of a story:

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son”, the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You cant make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”

 

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
-Nelson Mandela

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