When most people think about community service, they imagine it as picking up trash in a park or cleaning a river, or anything that has heavy labor work involved. I had this thought of community service being about manual labor, but that changed as soon as I became more engaged with the community. In truth, there are many forms of community service, and you should consider spending some of your time volunteering for local organizations.

To start off, the act of volunteering is best defined as unpaid work that will help a group of people or society. Before people begin by saying how there is no money involved with community service, this form of work offers many benefits a simple paycheck does not offer. Community service can take different forms of work. This work can be tutoring or mentoring students, volunteering to help the needy through working in soup kitchens, and food pantries. Community service can also be helping to build communities such as Habitat For Humanity, or even caring for animals. Many other forms of community service all make up a variety of ways to give back to the community.

The next question is "why should you give back and do community service?" That question is all up to the individual, and the most recent time I did community service was this past month when I volunteered at a race. As an avid runner, volunteers are needed to help with distributing water, cheering, and handing out medals. Through all the past races I ran, I wanted to do my part, and give back to my community. That's why I mention how community service can be fun. It does not have to be hard work. When picking a site to do community service, make sure it is something you are most passionate for which will enable you to have the drive to do the service, and produce good work along the way.

To wrap up, community service is needed in society in order to grow as leaders and become more aware of our community. Again, community service should be fun, and not be viewed as a manual labor job. Community service can lead to making new friends, and making new connections. These friendships and partnerships with the organizations can make for long everlasting friends.