Empty Nest Home Exec

When your kids were young you likely helped out at their schools; coached soccer, volleyball or Little League; led Scout, 4H or church groups; hosted team dinners and more. Just because no one is passing a signup sheet around now doesn’t mean there aren’t needs. I have found carving out time to serve in my community to be personally rewarding. Regular volunteer work at the same place also gives me a place where I can make friends and feel a sense of belonging. Unlike a paid job, volunteer groups are usually happy to take you when you are available – so if you are gone for a few weeks, it’s fine.

Steps to Start Volunteering

Sometimes getting started is the biggest roadblock – so let’s look at some ways to do that!!

1. What things are important to you? Investigate organizations that address those concerns.
2. Think about things you are good at and enjoy then look for ways to use those talents
3. Look at volunteer requests and see how they match up with your values and talents
4. Get started – be prepared to go to Plan B or Plan C if your first attempt doesn’t work out!

Select Your Values

First, evaluate what’s important to you. Here are a few of  mine –

• My Christian faith is very important to me, and so I find ways to serve in my church regularly.
• I have seen several people I love lose someone close to them to suicide. One comfort I found was reaching out to a suicide prevention organization in my area to see what help they needed.
• I feel a lot of compassion for those coming to my country as refugees – so I have looked for ways to help them.
• I feel so blessed in my circumstances and feel strongly that I should share with those less fortunate in my country and in developing countries around the world.
• I love my family, so sometimes my volunteer time hits a little closer to home by hosting sewing time for nieces and nephews, helping sisters drive kids to school activities and caring for aging parents.
• I love my friends – so sometimes I volunteer with friends even if it’s not an organization I regularly support.

As I write this, I realize that there are so many other things I feel strongly about. However, if we each do a little, together we accomplish a lot. I can’t list all the worthy causes here, and I don’t have to do everything – and neither do you! The important thing is to be intentional about where you spend your time.

Identify Your Strengths

Next step is to look at the things you are good at (and not good at). What do you enjoy? Try to capitalize on your strengths. Let me illustrate. I wanted to help refugees. So, I looked on my favorite volunteering website and discovered that they were looking for volunteer mentors for refugee families. I really liked the idea of doing this. BUT making phone calls and setting things up is often a roadblock for me. This was something that required A LOT of personal initiative.I tend to be a little overly optimistic sometimes. So, I signed up thinking this would be a good way for me to overcome this particular hangup. We got assigned a family. We met with them a few times, but ultimately, I fizzled out. I felt like a real failure. It wasn’t great for me, and it wasn’t fair to the refugee family or organization. Looking back at that, I know myself. I would have done much better at something that asked me to show up every week at a certain time instead of having to come up with times and activities regularly. Since that experience, I look for opportunities to serve that fit better with my comfort and skill in that way. 

You might not have heard me say this before, but I love to sew! 😉  I have used this talent to host “sewing camps” at my house during the summer for nieces and nephews. I have another niece who comes over once a week (when I’m home) to work on a project. While this isn’t technically out in the community, I love doing it. It strengthens my relationships with my in-laws, nieces and nephews, and teaches them a skill they might not otherwise get. 

Find Ideas for Volunteering

A little over a year ago, I got a group of friends together and we signed up for the same volunteer shift sorting toys for the Salvation Army’s Christmas gift giving project. Afterwards we went out to lunch together. It was a fun way to get together with friends and do some good. The next Christmas people were asking if I was going to do it again. (I didn’t – but that doesn’t mean I won’t next year!!)

Now that you have thought about what’s important to you and what you are good at, it’s time to go looking. There are some great websites that connect volunteers with organizations that need volunteers. I love justserve.org , and volunteermatch.org . These allow you to put in where you live and look for opportunities in your area. Some communities have their own websites for volunteer opportunities in their area – so be on the lookout for those. These websites offer one-time service opportunities (help with a specific event) as well as on-going opportunities. Some of these are at a specific time each week or month and others are frequent, but you can participate as you are available. Some of the opportunities in my area right now range from litter cleanup, historical tours, and respite care for elders to donating soap or hosting a foreign exchange student. There is bound to be something that will match up with things you care about and are good at. 

I want to interject here that paid jobs are also amazing ways to contribute to your community – so if you are spending your time that way and don’t have time to give to volunteer positions – THANK YOU for the contributions you are making to our communities!! Perhaps you have more money than time. I know non-profits are ALWAYS appreciative of donations! This is a do what you can and don’t beat yourself up proposition!!

All that said, if you are ready to try volunteering, I hope these steps will be helpful. What have you tried in the past? What do you do right now? What do you love? Share in the comments below!