When I was growing up, I was a Girl Scout, and I spent many weekends doing clean-ups at parks, or bringing canned goods to a food pantry, or talking about ways we could help our community. But it didn't mean much to me -- the places we visited were all random, nothing hit home, and any impact that I felt faded after the weekend was over and school resumed.

Then I went to high school and joined our service club, Key Club, and again had the opportunity to participate in food drives and bake sales -- fundraisers that did some good, I'm sure, but for whom? I rarely interacted with anyone directly and any contribution I made to my community was through purely financial means, partly through my own fault as I only attended a few events in the community because I was "too busy" or couldn't find a ride, and partly because my school's chapter of the club didn't have that many events to begin with as we were relatively small. Suffice it to say, my volunteering experience before entering college was sparse and noticeably insignificant, though not purposely.

But I tried again in college, with better luck, since my school had a volunteering program through Campus Ministry that brought us out INTO the community once a week (imagine that! Real interaction!) and even provided transportation for anyone who volunteered. I started out volunteering at a local school in one of their younger classrooms, just as an aide who helped run the activities and made sure kids were behaving and going to the potty when they needed to -- little things that helped keep the class on task. Then I spent the next three years volunteering at a soup kitchen, one semester with kids for an after-school program and the rest with adults who stopped by when they needed a meal. This was a lot more powerful for me because the work I was doing was being put into action right in front of my very eyes; I was meeting the people that I was trying to help, and while it still means a lot to help without interacting, the smiles and jokes of those I met fed me in a way the sandwiches I handed out never could.

And then there was my semester abroad. How could I not talk about that? Anyone who knows me well knows that I straight peaked during my time at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, very likely due to my involvement in the college's chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul society, called VDP at Trinity because of their lack of affiliation with the church. I was only cleared to volunteer the last two weeks, but I participated in activities with the group of volunteers throughout and their enthusiasm and passion for altruism alone was enough to absolutely blow me away. These humans were by far some of the most incredible individuals I have ever come across, and I am humbled to have even spent a month learning from them. And when I did finally get to volunteer in classroom afterschool programs, I had more fun running around and playing games with the kids than I did spending time at bars with my American friends at night. It was the best decision I've ever made, and led me to make other momentous and extremely worthwhile decisions.

Flash forward to this past weekend, when I spent my entire Saturday smiling as I learned more sign language, danced in my first ever flash mob, and spread awareness for a cause I strongly believe in.... So why do I still volunteer? Because volunteering fills me in a way that nothing else can. It provides meaning to my life and gives me a reason to try harder, to do more, to be better. And, to put it simply, I volunteer because I was not put on this great big earth to pursue the interests of one human, but to spread my hands as far as they possibly can, and touch as many lives as God above will let me. And until my arms break and my hands falter, I intend to keep on.