I recently read an article that claimed that volunteer numbers were significantly lower than they were ten years ago, in just about ever sector. Though I can’t personally confirm the numbers or the percentages, from pure observation, I know this is true. I’ve watched the volunteer opportunities balloon on sites like Craigs List, I hear new stories about foundations and organizations having difficulty finding good people to donate their time, and I read all sorts of articles about the selfishness of Generation X and Y, one of which I happen to be a member of. Where does this selfishness come from? Did our parents not instil us with good morals? Are we perhaps lacking good role models who might show us that giving back to the community is far more important than taking from it? I know for me, it’s a combination of everything. Unfortunately, I was raised by a single mother, who though I’m sure didn’t mean to come as a callous and selfish human being, she never really saw the point in community service. Neither my brother nor I were ever encouraged to give back, but the story was very different with my father.
My father was a soldier with the Canadian military for over twenty-five years. He was a peacekeeper for twenty-two of those years, and when he was home from deployment, he was always involved in community projects. Whether it was raising money to give new toys to the local kindergarten class, or doing clothing drives to send much needed supplies to people in need in those countries he had been deployed, my father was an upstanding citizen. I followed in my father’s footsteps, and joined the Air Cadets when I was eleven years old. I spent the next seven years volunteering with veterans, collecting canned goods for the local food banks, teaching newcomers to the country about our customs and traditions, and anything other project that I felt I needed to contribute to.
Admittedly, my enthusiasm to give back has waned as life got in the way. I started working and studying full time, and any extra time that I had left over, I was travelling overseas. For the past few years, I’ve led a pretty self indulgent life, and I’m not proud of it. I’ve decided that it was high time that I start putting some time and effort back into the community that has shown it’s love and support for me. So for the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to build a small army of volunteers among my friends that are willing to put some of their skills to good use in the community. My friends are all professionals, some with business careers, some are artists, some are lawyers, some are doctors, engineers and writers. Our group is diverse, and we all decided that we all had something that we could contribute to the world that didn’t involve collecting a pay cheque.
This blog is solely dedicated to plugging the average citizen into their community. There are individuals that don’t have a fraction of what you have and families that go to bed hungry every night. There are too many children in your own community that can’t afford a new pair of shoes or new clothes for school. In my backyard lies North America’s poorest neighbourhood, and far be it from me to keep walking past it like it doesn’t exist. At the very least, I think it’s my responsibility to acknowledge it, give back, and when I have my own children, it will be my responsibility to teach them that there is more to life than just them!