Volunteerism - A Very Noble and Underreported Practice

In general terms, volunteering is the practice of people working on behalf of others or a particular cause without payment for their time and services.

Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity, intended to promote good or improve human quality of life, but people also volunteer for their own skill development, to meet others, to make contacts for possible employment, to have fun, and a variety of other reasons that could be considered self-serving. T

Commonly speaking people choose to become volunteers because they genuinely want to help others do better or to improve upon the greater community of which they are a part.

Many are not aware of the strength that volunteers provide to make things operate as efficiently as it does. In fact they are the glue or the filler that hold things together in this town as well as many smaller towns across the nation.

We are fortunate to have many such people living in Altadena that practice volunteerism. Although our Town Council are elected officials they are otherwise volunteers giving their time, talents, energy and service to the community.

Organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Altadena Rotary, Altadena Heritage, Sheriff’s Support Group, PUSD (school) Volunteers, Meals on Wheels, and many fine groups are made of people who either pay a fee to belong to a group that practice altruistic activities or just offer their talents where needed to serve the community.

We put an our annual big event, the holiday celebration at Christmas Tree Lane, with volunteer labor.  We clear trails, mentor children, and do much more.

Without volunteerism where would this town be? My calculated guess is that we would be a far less attractive community because there are no funds to hire the people that serve in their current positions as volunteers.

The difference between a really great community and one that is just ordinary is the strength of citizen volunteers. The more pride people have in their community the better it tends to operate to the benefit of its members.

Many people who work jobs in the service business do so as a means of providing income, but those who do things just because they love it tend to put more of themselves into the offering.  

Along with the paid professionals are groups of concerned citizens that help fill in the missing gaps. When people really care about their community it is really evident.

This is also true when it comes to numerous neighborhood watch groups. They are completely organized and operated by concerned citizens that want to make their neighborhoods better. Obviously the more neighbors that get involved the stronger the watch groups become and everyone benefits from the strength of having a tighter net.

As an aging community we have so many people who are retired, self-employed or just out of work during this downed economy. Many have talents galore, but no place to put their talents to work. Might I suggest that if you have the time, and your income is sufficient, that you put your talents to work helping others in need by becoming a volunteer.

With the retirement age of 65 these days and people living much longer than in the past you have a huge group of citizens who are extremely talented and don't have very much to do to occupy their time.

Sixty-five years of age is much too young to be put out to pasture. You need planned activities to keep life invigorating and engaging. Depending upon where you decide to donate your services life could be anything but boring.

Since most of our elder flock has more than 40-plus years of experience in nearly every profession that a community needs, why not volunteer some of that experience doing things that are still productive; and from which you know others will reap many benefits?

Altadena is that kind of a town, one that is made up of many volunteers doing what they do just to make things better for others… just because they love it. You don’t usually see them and you may not know them, but without them Altadena would not be as special.

If more people were conscious of the benefit of being a volunteer imagine how much better this community could be with all this talent we have living here; talents that could be put to good use serving our community.

Although volunteering is not everyone’s cup of tea, in Altadena we seem to have a very healthy share of citizens that simply do what they do because they want to make things better and more enjoyable for others.

If I may borrow a popular phrase, “reach out and touch (help) someone.” Become a community volunteer.