[kittycat97]

Recently i have just started volunteering. It is always good to help people and it helps especially when you are depressed. Feel free to share your own volunteering experiences here and boy funny moments.

[kittycat97]

*any .

[Fresia]

Volunteering is much appreciated; the work is invaluable in helping the organizations and others. Thank you to you and all that do.

I miss being able to do it and with having been sick recently, I am looking forward to starting back again when things clear up. I do miss the people and experiences.

[shezbut]

I agree with Fresia ~ Kudos to you for volunteering your time & enjoying what you do. There are so many wonderful opportunities out there waiting for volunteers! I'm anxious to get back into volunteering with the elderly (they're LOTS of fun, imo), but I need to get more healthy before I can do that again.

In the meantime, I have Adopted a Highway for a cause close to my heart (Epilepsy Awareness). I go out to my 3 mile section of a small highway and clean both sides by myself, and I enjoy that. Maybe someday I'll ask for help from others...we'll see.

[kittycat97]

Do you guys think that it is ok for people who have mental illnesses or undergoing therapy to still do volunteering work? I hope i won't face any discrimination when they do found out about my current conditions.

I think it's fine. Kudos to you for wanting to help.

I absolutely love volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, and i like volunteering at church in the sunday school nursery.

[kittycat97]

Ok, anyone wants to share interesting experiences?
Here's one from me:
Once I helped out in a bingo session for the elderly in the old folks home. One elderly man was interesting- instead for circling the numbers, he actually signed it a few times until the box with the number was covered with his signatures! In the end, his sheet of paper was filled with his signatures 0.0

[kittycat97]

There has been some discrimination about the mentally ill. People think we are crazy people, emo or whatsoever. They don't know the real reason we broke down is because we have been strong for too long.

I'm so sorry to hear that you experienced some discrimination unfortunately anywhere you go there are always some people who find it hard to relate, unless they have been through the same issues. but that doesn't mean that they should behave in a discriminatory way. i used to volunteer at an animal shelter during high school and at two organizations during college.. i really enjoyed being around animals. i would like to do that again but I'm not sure I can right now.

[kittycat97]

Why not? If you set your mind to do something, you will be able to do it.

[Puffyprue]

theres a lot of funny moment , kids they are so amazing

i really miss them ! i was volunteering at orphanage, nursing house and few places when i was in uni it was really fun!
i have a lots of funny moment and this one its really funny and bit embarrassing, i have big boobs so one of my kid come to me telling me " thats big" i was thinking she talking about my belly so i was like " o yeah my belly is fat and laughed" and she said " no... ( pointing at my boobs) " by now all the kids staring at me and she continue asking me " why its like that" , i was speechless and embarrassed but its also funny and hard not to laugh about it, it took me sometimes to finally able to explain to them that someday they will have it too and ect
me and my coworker cant stop laughing about it

[eskielover]

Most of my initial volunteer work was with my music...playing in groups that needed a flute.....it was my AA degree, but went on to accounting & computer science & music because a hobby. Volunteered as choir director for a year also until they could find someone who was more experienced.

Most of my volunteer work was not on a continuing basis, it was more like whenever they need someone or something done. I actually started my new life after I left my H 5 years ago in the volunteering mode. Very first thing I did after buying my farm was to volunteer at the KY horse park helping the Ky Dressage Assoc with their spring show, ring steward, runner....whatever they needed.....back in 2007.

Found horse in the town I moved to & through our back country horseman's group, I found lots of little jobs here & there that needed done, mostly with different horse shows....like scribing for the vet at a local short endurance event.

Then in 2010, the World Equestrian Games came to the KY horse part for the first time ever.....people from all over the world....& they needed more volunteers that was imaginable.....so I put my name in & ended up on the decoration crew that did all the floral work around all the cross country jumps & in many of the arena's for the vaulting, the para dressage, & then changed the floral from the cross country jumps to the obstacles for the driving event. I spent about 4 weeks volunteering for that most exciting event & was there almost every day of the 2 weeks of the actual games. Working on the floral work & also getting to wander around & get into see all the events because of being a volunteer. It would have been expensive to see all the things that I was able to see by being a volunteer part of the games & met some absolutely WONDERFUL people from all over the world & being surrounded by the most beautiful horses in the world....I was definitely IN HEAVEN.

That same group I volunteered with for the WEG, also the core group worked on the floral decorations for the ROLEX eventing show that's held at the KY horse park each year. That next April, I was planning on being a part of the group again.....I had enjoyed all the planting & working with flowers.....only problem, the end of Feb, I baled off a horse that had spooked & fractured my back.....couldn't life more than 5lbs......so volunteering that April was not a possibility. Before I knew that I had fractured my back, I had already signed up to volunteer. I ended up getting the sweetest get well care from the crew. I promised to be there the next year.....& this last April....I was definitely there & had a wonderful 2 weeks of volunteer work because we always start well before the show to get things in perfect order.

The lady that heads up that group ended up being head of the volunteer crew for the regional championship dressage show at the horse park a few weeks ago. She asked the crew that helps her with all the floral decorations to come & help with that.....so I spent 4 wonderful days at the horse park. Think I walked more in those 4 days than I had in the last 2 years as my volunteer position was mostly as a runner between all the judges in the 4 arenas & the place where they did all the score calculations. It was great getting back together with all the people I volunteered with before.......& of course, our next event planned is the Rolex show next April.

At church, volunteer work is on a as needed basis....helping with someone is sick or cleaning when the church needs it or before special events.

I would love to volunteer at one of the Ky horse park museums, but it's a 90 mile drive....& my gas allowance for the month with my gas guzzler truck doesn't allow for things like that with the tight budget I have to live on.

Of course, that gas guzzling truck is needed once in awhile also....like when Habitat for Humanity was in the process of moving their things to a new storage location......calling all trucks.....& or course, mine is always available.....for whoever needs something hauled of moved.

No real funny stories.....but for me, the excitement of the time I volunteered at the World Equestrian Games had to be the tops in my volunteer experience.....seeing some of the top riders & princes & people you would never see or come in contact with any other time in your life.

[kittycat97]

It so weird and awkward whenever i volunteer so most often i am the youngest. I don't know how to mix with them

[tokiwartooth]

Volunteering is awesome. I used to volunteer for the Love Jen Children's Cancer Fund and Joe DiMaggio's Children's Hospital, they were both very satisfying and my heart went out to those kids. Other good ones I volunteered for were Gilda's Club and the National Keratoconus Foundation. Kids causes are almost always great to volunteer for. When I was at a benefit dinner for the National Keratoconus Foundation there was a large buffet and I started eating this stuff, I had no idea what it was, and I was like wow this is really good. The lady behind me, an elderly woman, was like that is so good for you, I haven't seen a young person like you eat tripe in a long time. I was like what is tripe? She said oh it's the stomach of a cow or farm animal. I was like omg, I couldn't eat anymore of it and I thought I was going to throw up.

[kittycat97]

lol you shouldn't have asked her what the dish was.

[splitimage]

I used to volunteer on my psych hospital's telephone support line for 3 years until they shut it down. It's being reoppenned soon providing post discharge support to patients, and I'm hoping to go back to volunteering. I was the only person on the phone lines who was open about their MD Dx, and addition - but I wasn't the only one. Because I was open about it, I got asked to train new volunteers on what it was like to live with an addiction / mental illness. I inevitably had a few people come up to me at the end and whisper "me too".

If going back to my psych hospital's hotline doesn't work, once I'm done school, I'm going to try and volunteer with one of the city's distress lines. I like helping people in crisis, and I don't know I just feel more comfortable with it being over the phone.

splitimage

[kittycat97]

Will it give you a trigger?