Everybody knows volunteering is a nice thing to do for others. However, sometimes it seems like many people do not understand how much it really means and how good it makes you feel. Let me throw out a few things to illustrate my point.

1. When you volunteer, you may be helping people that would not get help otherwise. Many organizations asking for volunteers need the volunteers because they can’t afford to hire people to help the ones in need. For example, if a soup kitchen does not get any government funding and they’re local and only run because of their donations and volunteers, you are helping keep that place open by donating or volunteering. If they didn’t have help, they would not be running and the people the soup kitchen helps would not eat that day.
2. You could be helping to save the life of someone. You never know what a person’s life may entail. They could be close to death for all you know. They could be suffering from starvation, dehydration, an illness, the cold/heat, depression, or a number of other misfortunes. By volunteering somewhere, you could potentially save the life of someone suffering from any of that.
3. You are making a difference in the world. Unselfishly giving your time and energy to volunteer for an organization makes the world a better place one step at a time. Many people this day in age only are willing to give their time and energy if they know they get something material in turn. If you can see the invaluable gains you get out of giving, you are making a huge difference. The world needs more unselfish people.
4. The experience you get looks great on your resume. When companies see you have done work for people for free, it shows you are a hard worker with good morals. Companies like that. Image is a huge part of a company’s success, so having a company full of moral employees builds their image to make their company seem great. Also, you may be gaining experience as you volunteer that will help you in future jobs. For example, if you volunteer to do marketing for a nonprofit, you are gaining that marketing experience that will help you get into the marketing field. Not to mention, the organization you volunteer for will likely be more than willing to write a letter of recommendation for you.
5. It makes you feel amazing. The organization you help when you volunteer will always be grateful for your contributing because they know they need people like you to keep their organization running. Even more so, the people you are serving who got their meal for the day, have clothes to wear in the cold, or whatever else they could be benefitting from are incredibly thankful. The smile you see on someone’s face when you put bread on their plate is one of the most gratifying experiences. That smile signifies you have made a difference in that person’s life.

There you have it. There are plenty of other ways volunteering makes a difference. These were just the first five I could think of. Feel free to share other ways you feel volunteering makes a difference!

By the way, there are a ton of ways you can volunteer while in college. BGSU has a coed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, the Office of Service Learning, The Chapman Learning Community, philanthropies served through sororities and fraternities, the MLK Day of Service, Volunteer and Partnership Fair, and other opportunities.