Helping people through volunteering isn’t supposed to be fun – is it?
Yesterday I volunteered with some of my fellow Hampstead, Hendon, and Golders Green Rotaract members at the Hampstead Christmas Festival. Rotaract is a Rotary programme for people aged 18 – 30 years old who want to meet new people, learn new skills, and help their local community.
When we arrived at the Hampstead Christmas Festival we had no idea what we would be asked to do. It was a cold, dark, rainy day and my feet were wet within minutes of getting there!
Just a few days before we had met some past members of our club (it’s been running since the ’70’s!) who told us about volunteering at Live Aid and how they met and got a photo with Bono! I knew Jonathan Ross, Dynamo, and Barbara Windsor would be at the event to turn the Christmas lights on, so I was hoping to catch a glimpse of them. We did more than that..
With Barbara Windsor!
With Jonathan Ross!
Our role at the Festival was to stand behind the stage and make sure no unauthorised people got on during the show. I’m pleased to say we managed to do this successfully! We also were able to hear the Chicken Shed Theatre group and Angel Blue singing – both were brilliant.
But, volunteering isn’t supposed to be fun, is it? It is supposed to be a selfless act which you do for others, so the fact that you don’t enjoy it doesn’t matter, right?
Volunteering IS supposed to be fun! It might not always involve meeting celebrities or doing something new and exciting, but it can always be fun. And volunteering isn’t necessarily a selfless act – you can learn and develop skills, try new things, and meet lots of new and interesting people by doing it.
We gave up our time to help out at the Hampstead Christmas Festival, despite the bad weather, with no idea of what our role would be. We were given an important job, but we also helped in other ways (e.g getting more chairs for the stage when required).
We spent our Sunday afternoon volunteering, and we had a great time!
Get in touch – I’d love to hear your fun volunteering stories, please come over to our Facebook or Twitter page to share them with me 🙂
