Use your Work from Home Career to Become a Daytime Volunteer
By Catina Betoncur
Within the flurry of working from home, paying bills, making doctor and dentist appointments, cooking dinner and cleaning the house, life’s true meaning sometimes seems to fall by the wayside. Many us do not realize that we are here on this earth to do more that eat, sleep, and work and our true joy comes when we realize our true purpose. We are here to touch lives and to make a difference in those lives every day. As the old cliché says, “ It's not about me.”, and it is so true. We do not live on an island to our selves. We have to deal with people every day. Human to human
contact is a vital link to our very existence. Nevertheless, because of the busy schedules of most people free time to volunteer is usually not feasible. Those of us that work from home, however, in addition to the many other benefits, also enjoy the benefit of having flexible hours and being able to contribute when others can not. For those of us that work from home, it is a perfect opportunity to reach out and touch a life. We can help out when the majority of other volunteers are working their 9 to 5.
Psychologists cite volunteer work as an almost magical way to cheer up someone who feels depressed or lonely and a wonderful thing to do for one’s mental and emotional health. Instant positive self-esteem is another benefit of being a volunteer. Volunteering also gives those of us that work from home an opportunity to interact with others and be sociable, to enjoy the mental and emotional stimulation of being with others in new situations, something some of us can miss by working from home.
If you work from home and are interested in using your flexible schedule to become a volunteer, a wonderful way to express your compassion is to volunteer your time to worthy organizations or programs that provide for the needs of those in our community without hope or help. Daytime hours are probably the most critical time for these organizations to find help because so many would-be volunteers work daytime business hours, yet that makes your time and generosity even more valuable and opens up opportunities for those of us that work at home to fulfill a special need. Being a mom and leaving my full-time job in education in May 2005, I have had the flexibility to volunteer my time with organizations whose missions I believe in.
Even if you can’t volunteer during the day because your work from home job won’t allow it, you still have more time on your hands than other people because you can multi-task certain tasks at home (such as laundry and taking deliveries) and remember you have all that valuable extra time you save because you don’t have that long commute anymore!
Community service is a way to provide a practical need to organizations that are generally understaffed and depend on financial donations of businesses and private donors, which is increasingly fading. When you volunteer your time you make a contentious effort to see someone else’s needs above your own. You may not always be able to identify with a particular group or individual’s situation, but you can be there to show that you care. After the hurricane disasters, a tremendous outpouring of community support arose. I am thoroughly convinced that none of the hundreds of volunteers regretted even a single moment of their service. Yet, it should not take a natural disaster or other catastrophe to motivate people to give of their time.
When you find a time that you can live with--stick to it. Just as making appointments or eating times are established you should work your community service around a schedule. You are more likely to be faithful to your commitment if you the times and days you can definitely keep and be there. Commitment is probably the greatest challenge when you volunteer. Someone else depends of your service. They get used to your face and your voice and your unique gifts or talents. I look at the calendar of available times and then check my calendar and schedule appropriately. It is disappointing on both ends to not be able to keep your scheduled time. I also look at a couple of different times and days to reschedule.
Some ways that you can lend a hand are in areas of feeding the needy, office support, filing and organizing areas that have become neglected, answering busy phone lines at a help center, visiting people in a hospital or nursing home, providing spiritual care, or just taking people without transportation to appointments. You should also become a regular member of an organization that fits your lifestyle. Not everyone volunteers because they have a concept that they will have to be on a phone line speaking with someone in a critical situation or visiting someone who is disabled or sad. You should try out different areas and find one that ignites your passion and then continue to do it. Bring others alongside you, too. There can’t be too many volunteers.
There are so many wonderful benefits to being a volunteer. Not only does the organization benefit but you do too. There is a deep sense of personal satisfaction and peace within your own soul. You did something for someone other than yourself. You are in a unique situation to benefit from volunteering during the day because you work at home.
A few hours a week in between your business is worth a lifetime of joy. So, what are you waiting for? Take advantage of your work from home lifestyle to volunteer right now and discover your true joy and life’s true meaning.
Catina Betoncur is a single mother of one son, freelance writer and poet, and ministry leader for children and single mothers.
