Volunteer Work free essay sample

Volunteering is an act whereby a person gives out personal time to do something good without gaining any financial rewards. This is ‘classical’ meaning which has changed by social transformations into new volunteering in recent years. The volunteers now have specific expectations and also volunteering has become project orientated ( Rehberg, 2005). METHODS FINDINGS The purpose of the study was to find why Australians do volunteering and three themes were found and these are volunteering, family and costs or rewards. Volunteering The participants were asked what the volunteer work means and majority said it means giving up personal time in order to help without gaining any benefits: Giving up my time to help others less fortunate than myself. (Ken) To me volunteer work is work that you do that you are not paid for and that benefits others, the problem is that I don’t think volunteer work is valued enough. For instance, a friend of mine worked in a community centre for over 20 years. (Phoebe) All of them did not just know the meaning of volunteering; they have actually done some sort of volunteering: Yes I have been volunteering for the past five years at a nursing home. (Mary) When I was much younger I used to help organize the church Saturday Night Socials that we put on for the younger members of the parish. (Fredrick) The study found the typical volunteers are people who have time,and can avoid to work without pay and most of all are with community-minded spirit are and generous: Well, as I said, someone with a community-minded spirit and plenty of spare time. I don’t know of any people who do volunteer work who are working full-time. What with kids and commitments, there just isn’t enough time if you’re working. ( Fredrick) They are passionate about a cause and devote all their spare time to it. They are selfless, generous hearted, hardworking with a tad bit of martyr going on I think. Not someone like me! (Grace) Probably someone who has time and is financially secure enough that they can work without making money. One typical worker is probably the older woman in her 60-70s. Some people do volunteering due to connection to the project or even due to that their family has volunteer in the cause: Where I volunteer there are many women like me who had relatives (my Mum was there) at the nursing home and visited regular†¦When their relatives passed away they continued coming to help out, maybe just to keep in touch. (Mary) You often hear about people who have had an illness or lost a child or whatever, they end-up volunteering for a related cause. (Mary) Often volunteers are connected in some way to their cause – through a family connection( Bernadatte) The study also found that most of people who do international volunteering are young people and so many of them are found to be exceptional, passionate and amazing to be doing this: Helping others in a different country must be an amazing feeling and Louise must be an exceptional person to do this type of work. ( Ken) I think it is great to see young people helping out in these poor countries. ( Mary) Louise clearly has a passion for conservation having traveled internationally. Time In order to volunteer someone has to has time to do so. Some of the volunteers are retired people who are looking to feel the time an still see the volunteering as sort of work : I guess most people who volunteer are retired and have the time to spend on it. (Mary) You thoughts about Katie and her volunteer work? I don’t want to be rude, but she looks like someone who is â€Å"in retirement. What takes most time, how much time spend on work, family ,leisure etc†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦? But no, I guess I see my volunteer work as work. And I suppose you need to have a bit of spare time too – you can’t really dedicate a lot of time to volunteer work if you don’t have it in the first place. ( Fredrick) There is worry about the sustainability of the projects done in developing countries by international volunteers when they leave: It depends on whether the project is going to be sustainable when she leaves, from the photo she seems to be involved with the community, but I guess she won’t be living there for a long time so whatever she is doing needs to be making a difference after she’s gone. Also the study find out that some of the people are wondering if the volunteers can use the money speeding for international volunteering for the communities in their countries, like helping in local church among others : You have to wonder if she could be more useful spending the money and time that got her to Sri Lanka on helping communities here? I spend about a day a week running the community crafts group, a day every second week I volunteer for the Tourist Welcome centre, and also about a day a week representing consumers and carers on various Mental Health committees. In an average week I spend about 12 hours looking after injured wildlife(Bernadette) Costs or Rewards or Motivator As said that volunteering is unpaid work most people believe they can get their rewards by being shown appreciation, recognition and even small gestures: The most important thing I think volunteers should be offered is recognition, there is such a materialistic focus in our society that volunteer work isn’t valued at all, its seem as somehow lesser than the work people get paid for which I think it is wrong, volunteers should be valued more precisely because they are not getting paid for working. You don’t volunteer to be thanked, but it is good to know that your effort is acknowledged and appreciated. You need to know you actually did something. (Anna) For example, I got a lovely letter last week from the sister of a gentleman who has been shuffled between the Townsville hospital and the police cells because noone would take responsibility and get him the help he needed. (Bernadette) The issue of costs was discussed and it was found that in case of the small costs like petrol prices there should deduction from tax, or the organization should refund the costs or sometimes the volunteer can seek sponsorship: Out-of-pocket expenses for volunteers can add up particularly petrol prices these days. Maybe volunteer work could be seen as paid work by the government and petrol and other expenses could be claimed via taxes rather than out of the organisation’s ‘kitty’(Ken) Maybe if you’re a registered volunteer you should have concessions for things like transport. (Mary) But then volunteers can often take part in getting sponsorships etc.. to assist with costs or travel. (Grace) DISCUSSION References Rehberg, W. (2005). Altruistic Individualists: Motivations for International Volunteering Among Young Adults in Switzerland. Voluntas: International Journal Of Voluntary Nonprofit Organizations, 16(2), 109-122. doi:10. 1007/s11266-005-5693-5