It’s a difficult time to be looking for work. Melanie knows. She’s been doing it, and trying to keep a positive attitude. Some days it is not so easy, but Melanie’s found the perfect antidote: volunteering.
“If you volunteer,” Melanie told me, “you have a reason to dress up a bit and get out of the house to socialize and be productive. It’s a break from job hunting while still being an opportunity to work… plus it helps to shape the week.”
So what is Melanie doing in her volunteer time? One place she volunteers is the Great Basin Community Food Coop. She has fun there. You can see from the video.
She also does service in the library of a local charter school, where she had previously been the librarian. When the school closed the position due to funding cuts, some people couldn’t believe Melanie would go back and do the work for free. She did, nonetheless. “I got to fill a niche, and I am appreciated there.” (more…)
Last Tuesday, Dilworth Middle School, in Sparks, Nevada, held a Career Day fair. It was a scavenger hunt. Each table had the answer to one of the questions the students needed to know. Nevada Volunteers was responsible for the answer to this question: Where does Nevada rank in volunteering?
Jo Ella, our Higher Education Initiative Coordinator, and Racheal, a member of our UNR Student Group, did a great job getting their attention—not only by helping them guess the answer, but by explaining how volunteering could help them. Though volunteering, they might discover what they like to do. Plus, it will give them something to put on a job application.
I was at the fair, too, watching the shy and not-so-shy students exploring potential futures with representatives from local businesses. I was curious. What types of volunteering would these 8th graders do? I waded into the crowd to find out. (more…)
Joyce is a nuts and bolts kind of gal, literally. She volunteers at the Truckee Meadows Habitat for Humanity Discount Supply Store, and she sorts, among other things, nuts and bolts. She’s a real fun person to be around, but she also is very pragmatic. She has some great advice for those looking for the perfect place to volunteer—shop around.
Joyce has always been a person who helps out, but while she was working and raising a family she lived with an ultra-tight schedule. When she retired, she didn’t want a schedule, so she was very careful not to jump into any regular volunteer commitment for the first year. She shopped around, doing random opportunities like one-day events with her friends. Joyce says, “I held back from commitment because I was afraid if I didn’t take the time to have an unscheduled life, I wouldn’t know how to retire.” It makes perfect sense, and that’s Joyce. She’s down-to-earth and practical. (more…)