If your company provides Volunteer Time Off (VTO), use it! VTO is a great benefit, you just have to decide how to use the hours.
As you can see on my LinkedIn profile, I have volunteered with many different organizations. Here are 4 quick ideas depending on the cause you are interested in:
- Volunteer on a local farm. There is a nonprofit in Atlanta called Concrete Jungle that runs a produce farm and harvests fruit from trees around the city. Everything gets donated to the Atlanta Food Bank.
- Walk dogs or play with cats at the animal shelter. This one might take a bit of training first, but most shelters would be happy to have you walk in the door and help with laundry on any given day. You can also sign up to help with events, transportation, photography, or marketing instead.
- Teach English to refugees. New American Pathways is an organization in Atlanta that paired me with a family that spoke Pashto and needed practice speaking English. I went over their house once a week for a year and we built a great relationship.
- Choose from a variety of volunteer shifts on the Hands On website. Most major cities have one; I’ve used Hands On in Atlanta and Hong Kong. This is a community calendar with volunteer shifts supporting a range of causes.
Now, does volunteering replace political advocacy, policy reform, and civic duty? No! Think of volunteering as a short-term solution that addresses the symptoms of a sick society, while political engagement is a long-term solution to influence government. We need both.
So clock those volunteer hours and take advantage of VTO if you have it! You can make your employer look good AND make the world a better place.
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