Why does someone “volunteer”…?
Volunteer = NOUN (a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task)
A person volunteers because they want to give to the society that they belong to.
Giving of one’s time, efforts, and abilities is rewarding to one’s self. It is just like helping someone to do something, only in volunteering you are helping an organization do something.
I believe that everyone wants to give of themselves in some way, but it is greatly limited by the amount of “free time” that they personally have directly available.
I believe that the ‘reward experience’ is different for each individual, and it is amplified by that person’s desire to contribute utilizing their own devotion.
I have volunteered for many organizations and experienced many different ‘reward compensations’ from each organization. Although an organization must thank and reward their volunteers for their time and efforts, the greatest compensation of volunteering comes from inside ourselves as an achievement of gratitude for helping others.
This is where hospice excels with their volunteers who devote their time to help people deal with the most difficult thing of all: death, the end of life. This trauma has been experienced by my hospice volunteers; thus they have both the experience and skill to navigate this trauma.
Helping families move through the end of life trauma combined with helping the departing accept finality creates an overwhelming reward of gratitude within each hospice volunteer.
