People always ask me how I find the time to do all that I do. I tell them, "I just do." It isn’t really a matter of finding the time. If I feel that something needs to be done, then it gets done. I have had many volunteer opportunities. I can’t tell you where the time came from but I can tell you that I am never bored.

Like everyone else, I work, raise my family, play with my kids: I live life. But I also make the time to help when I can, however I can. It isn’t about the amount of time spent though. I look at volunteering as an investment. My efforts may be major or minimal, heart warming or heart wrenching, fruitless or fruitful but I always come away the better for it. There are lessons learned in every challenge that we face and I thrive on these lessons. You might say then that my volunteering is selfish in this respect. It may seem that way, but even so, this is not my initial intent, but rather a happy side effect.

Not too long ago I was volunteering one day a week at a parent resource center and toy library. I loved the interaction with other young parents and I was able to take my toddler with me. I helped parents to choose toys to borrow for their own children and to sign up for parenting classes. I learned a lot about my own parenting behaviors and can honestly say that the center helped me to be a better mother in the course of helping other parents to better themselves.

I soon learned that the center would have to close for lack of funds. Their grant was running out, and they needed a new source of funding. I knew that I had to do something to help. My career job at a local magazine had proven successful and had shown me that I could write well. So, when I was approached to write grant proposals for the center, I agreed. How hard could it be?

Well, I found out that it was indeed quite involved. There was a lot of research to be done and developing the proposals took a good deal of study and patience. Here though, is where I gained the most. I learned the art of following guidelines right down to the letter (an absolute must for writers), I learned to pay great attention to detail and I did learn patience. In the end it was well worth my investment of time and self. I secured many grants that supported the center for two more years. I was able to help bring parents specific programs that met their needs. I was able to secure the salary of the director. I was able to create the opportunity of having a resource center available to parents in our community.

I gained so much from the experience that I feel that I came away from it with so much more than I was able to bring to it. My sense of self was boosted, my confidence in my writing blossomed, and the craft of my writing improved greatly. I have also learned that I pay a lot more attention to guidelines and details than most writers do. So was it selfish of me to have volunteered my time in this way? Not entirely so, but I was not entirely selfless either. Therein lies one of the joys of volunteering. If a job can help someone else: that is great. If the job can help someone else, and yourself: that’s even better!