Blog

Volunteering: A Personal Story

By: Robert H. Gillespie, LMSW, Social Worker

June of 1989 was my first experience with volunteering.  In May of that year I completed middle school and was anxiously looking forward to beginning high school in the fall.  As with most soon-to-be 14 year old boys, I was filled with anxiety about starting a new school.  To make matters worse I was facing an entire summer of sitting around my house worried about the upcoming change.  After a couple of weeks of anxious boredom, my stepmother, a registered nurse, suggested I volunteer with a local agency helping children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Jumping at the chance to get out of the house, I decided to follow my stepmother’s advice and volunteer.  Admittedly I initially volunteered as a way to escape a monotonous summer and possibly meet new friends, but as the summer days passed, I began to look forward to the actual work and not simply socializing. I began to realize many of the “clients” were kids around my age whose daily life was drastically different from mine.  This was truly eye-opening. Of course it was fun being around other teen volunteers my age as well and I made a few friends that were already in high school reducing my foreboding doom of starting high school. However, the largest and most enduring impact was experiencing and learning that I can have an impact on the well-being of those around me by even small acts of giving.