When we think about the benefits of community service we tend to focus on how we are able to help people and make a difference in someone else’s life. But the person’s life we are changing the most is our own. No, I’m not talking about the obvious feeling of satisfaction you get knowing you helped someone else, or the new found appreciation for the things you have. I mean the lifelong impact the people who dedicate their lives to helping others has on you or the strengthening of your faith by seeing what having faith does for the people going through one of the hardest times of their life.

If you have volunteered at a homeless shelter, you know what I’m saying. You walk in and you can immediately identify the people that work there by the huge smile on their face. Although these people witness things on a daily basis that can really wear a person down emotionally, they still keep a smile on their face and they never have a negative thing to say. They also have such an appreciation for the volunteers that makes you never want to leave. You can also see the impact their smiles have on the people that they serve.

Faith is a touchy subject in our regular lives, we don’t tend to talk about it to the people around us because of the fear of upsetting them. This does not take place in homeless shelters, people that are homeless most of the time have nothing else to cling to but their faith. When you sit down and have a conversation with a homeless person, one of the first things they talk about is their faith.

I hope that this has inspired you to go out and try and make a difference in the community around you. We all make time to go out with friends or binge watch Netflix, so why not go out and help those around you that are struggling to get by. Sometimes all you need to do is smile and that can make a world of difference.