Finding Purpose Through Volunteering

The word purpose carries many connotations; it’s different for everyone. Personally, I am not sure if I have one singular purpose in my life. On the contrary, I know that I love spending my time volunteering for a variety of causes that I believe in. 

I remember one of the first times I did volunteer work. My mom answered a newspaper from my elementary school. It was calling for parents to get involved with a food pantry on campus. My mom, with her effervescent love for giving, quickly jumped in to get involved. Before we knew it, we were running a food pantry out of the elementary school closet. It was this experience that ignited one of my passion areas: eliminating food insecurity.

Flash forward over 10 years and I am now part of the Young Professionals Committee at my local food bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. Every day, the food bank provides 300,000 meals to those facing hunger in Central FL. This sort of full circle has warmed my heart, as part of my love for volunteering came from my experience helping at my elementary school’s food pantry.

Similarly, while studying at the University of Central Florida in 2019, I learned about Children Beyond Our Borders, Inc., a non-profit organization with a mission to improve the quality of life and provide sustainable access to education for students in the U.S. and Latin America. I quickly became involved in the University of Central Florida chapter of the organization, and then served in the non-profit’s volunteer internship program as an Operations Director for three years.

Getting to be a part of organizations such as these has truly filled my cup in many ways, and helped me feel connected to the world around me, myself, and my community. Given this, I often recommend volunteering to friends of mine who are looking to get involved with their community and meet new people.

If you are interested in volunteering but don’t know where to start, there are a multitude of different causes to donate time to, including fields such as education, mental health, hunger relief, animal support, housing services, natural disaster releif, and more.

These are just some examples of different types of volunteer opportunities. There are still many other ways to get involved in your community through volunteer work. For more volunteer ideas, check out websites like VolunteerMatch, Volunteer.gov, JustServe, GivePulse, Catchafire, Points of Light Engage, and Create the Good. 

If you are in high school or college, consider getting involved in volunteer opportunities on campus and in your community. Organizations such as Active Minds have middle, high school, and college chapters for students to get involved in and extend the work of the non-profit. Some organizations also have area-wide chapters, such as Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Wherever you decide to volunteer, I hope that you find a space that supports you, helps you connect to your community, allows you to enjoy the company of others of a liked mind, and maybe even helps you hone in on your purpose(s).