A little goes a long way! What drives you can move others. In celebration of International Volunteer Day (IVD), entrepreneur and mother-of-three Jehan Prochina shares five reasons why volunteer work rocks!

A volunteer is a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task. It’s such a noble meaning for the word volunteer, which I effortlessly lifted from Google.

In this day and age, people are too busy thinking how to get by with their daily struggles in life. Sometimes, people are way too preoccupied on how they will increase their profits or improve their businesses. Some people are very much concerned, especially those in the workforce, about how they are going to impress the boss in order to get that long overdue salary increase.

In the middle of everyday life, we often forget that what makes us truly happy could be something that we could volunteer for as a gift to the world—our love, service, time, and even our smile could make a big difference.

In celebration of the International Volunteer Day (IVD), which happens every fifth of December, this year’s theme is very special: “Volunteers Build Resilient Communities”. Below, I have listed five reasons why volunteer work rocks.

1. You get to network with the right people who have big hearts.
You see, when you expose yourself or your organization to a wider network, you attract the right people who can help you and your team. There is a myriad of companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other like-minded groups that also advocate the same principles you support.

Who knows? Maybe in those volunteer works you do, you’ll be able to meet the person who will help you grow professionally. For team leaders, it could be a way to sustain, not only the financial help your group needs, but also the manpower that specific tasks require. The bigger the network you have, the more chances of reaching out to more people in need.

2. You get to spread good vibes amidst everything that is happening in this world.
In our world filled with a lot of stress, we need a breather! Yes, it’s not every day that you will see people smiling, happy, and comforted even though they’ve experienced hardships of the worst kind. One smile is so contagious that it creates a ripple effect. We need to see that every day to relieve ourselves from everything even for just a while.

3. You get to inspire other people to do what you do.
With the help of social media plus the magic of word of mouth, it is not hard for everyone to know everyone, and to know the activities that people do. Your action can become a massive force that will encourage other people to do volunteer work themselves because they like what they’re seeing and they want to take part in it.

4. You get to value your place in this universe.
Talk about your life’s purpose. You’re not just a tiny speck in the universe, but you are a beautiful soul who has so much to offer. In order for you to celebrate this life, maybe if you do some volunteer work, that big gap or emptiness you have been grappling with all your life will be filled with so much love and affection that is meant to be shared immediately with others.

5. It’s a way to pay forward.
It pays to pay forward. Everything that goes around, comes around. So the moment you think that doing a good deed is just another success story to be posted in your timeline, think again. There is something deep that’s going on in every good deed you do.

Enjoy Volunteer Work
Becoming a volunteer is a selfless act of love that you can do anytime anywhere. You become a blessing to others, especially to those who truly need your help. Our ultimate duty in this world is to be of service to others and to give love. And you can achieve that through volunteer work.

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