The Gift of Volunteerism

In recent years, my parents and grandmother instituted a moratorium on any more unnecessary gifts. That is, they really didn’t want us spending our money on decorative (but possibly not very functional) items. The feeling that a gift is obligatory weighed heavily against the concept of wasted effort and funds. What to do? This presented a dilemma to both my sister and I, who of course want to honor our senior family members at the typical occasions such as birthdays, and other holidays.

So, over the years, we have learned to give gifts by proxy, if you will. That is, we spend the time and money that might otherwise have gone towards buying or making a gift – by making a donation, buying something for someone who needs it more than they/we do, or doing volunteer work. At the appropriate occasion, a card is presented to the recipient, describing the donation, usually accompanied by corny poetry (a fun, if somewhat embarrassing, family tradition).

My grandmother reached the age of 90 last July. Quite a milestone, and in her honor, my sister and I both committed to donate 90 hours of volunteer labor to Habitat For Humanity, over the next year. The HFH experience has been incredible to date: I’ve met interesting people, learned more about carpentry than I ever knew before, and have surely pounded more nails than I had, cumulatively in my 44 years to date. The benefits are all of the ones you’d expect from such an experience, with an additional one: my grandmother has a story to brag about, to all of her friends.

Although the December holidays are past us, there will be plenty of opportunities in 2002 for you to try something like this. Now is the time to start thinking about the volunteer opportunities that will make your gift “recipient” smile. Remember that not all volunteer opportunities require a large amount of time or money to make a difference in someone’s life.

Here are some real gifts we’ve given over the past year – perhaps one of these ideas will spark your imagination.

• The purchase and delivery of 5 children’s magic books to the school library, in honor of my father, who is an avid amateur magician.
• Making arrangements for 8 children’s birthday parties at a homeless shelter (plates, napkins, cake mix, frosting).
• For my birthday in September, my sister purchased five 10-pound bags of cement for HFH. How wonderful is this? Not only do I get to do the work, someone buys the supplies!
  The copyright of the article The Gift of Volunteerism in Volunteering is owned by Lisa Stambaugh. Permission to republish The Gift of Volunteerism in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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