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Throughout most of my career, I have found time to volunteer because I believe the volunteering spirit makes us strong, respected professionals in an increasingly cynical world. Over the past several years, we have heard plenty about the loss of both family values and community values in America. Family values are developed through our individual and collective service to our friends, families and communities. As adults and parents, we should be modeling these behaviors to our children and other youth in an attempt to pass on these behaviors to the next generation because kids recognize good examples. John F. Kennedy was the first president in memory to say "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." In the 1980s, the volunteering spirit was promoted once again from the Oval Office by President George H.W. Bush through his "Thousand Points of Light" program which is still going strong today. In early 2009, the Obama family started promoting and providing community service to organizations like Habitat for Humanity and other organizations through a website (www.serve.gov) specifically dedicated to encouraging Americans to volunteer their time and energy. The volunteering spirit is non-partisan.
Why is it important to volunteer our time when we are already short on time, resources and energy? What can volunteering do for you and your community?
The answers are simple: Volunteering our time to organizations makes a positive and supportive difference in someone's life. It also makes us feel good about ourselves and our community. A philanthropic organization found that more than three quarters (79%) of volunteers said that their volunteer activities helped them with their interpersonal skills such as understanding people better, motivating others, and dealing with difficult situations. Just over two thirds (68%) of volunteers said that volunteering helped them to develop better communication skills and 63% reported increased knowledge about issues related to their volunteering. 63% of volunteers had increased self-esteem after their service. A study conducted by the Boy Scouts of America found that 90% of people who serve their communities found that they became "better citizens" after volunteering. More than 25% of volunteers in the survey found that volunteering relieved their stress and anxiety and allowed them to focus on the task at hand. 85% of volunteers found that volunteering added more fun to their lives.
If you think of volunteering as charity work, you could stand to refocus your thoughts. It is perfectly okay to want an exchange for your time and energy. Volunteering changes you and brings you closer to your community. None of us are products exclusively of our families, but instead, we are products of our communities of which our families are a part. Volunteering builds pride in your community and pride in yourself.
My first volunteer service started in high school as a sophomore. A group of us used to walk in the March of Dimes annual walks, raising thousands of dollars for sick babies that I will never know. It didn't matter to me that I would never see the benefits of my time because I knew I was making a difference in someone's life. Making a difference in my community feels as good now as it did back when I was in high school. Even as a high school student, I felt my confidence grow through volunteering. I am much older now and in some aspects, more jaded, but I still volunteer. While I don't have much personal time, I volunteer what I can at a no-kill animal shelter here in the Albuquerque area. I get to use some of my medical skills as I perform venipuncture for an HIV/AIDS awareness group that provides free and confidential testing and counseling to people in my community. The hours I spend volunteering for these groups are in addition to the many hours I spend volunteering for the AEIRS, my national community of interest.
AEIRS is my national community and I strongly believe in the professionalism and future of my chosen profession. I celebrate the courage and strength of those that have blazed a trail for me (and you) such as Polly Story who was recently featured in the ASRT Scanner, for example. Three profiles of people who volunteer their time or encourage their students to volunteer were featured in the October/November 2009 issue of the Scanner. Many other contributors to the radiologic sciences are members of AEIRS, past and present. We have seen awesome things come from this organization and I fully believe that the volunteers that help Carole South-Winter at the annual meetings, the committee chairs and members, the AEIRS liaisons, and the Board of Directors have much more to contribute to make this organization grow and flourish.
Don't just be a member: volunteer.
Volunteer your time to AEIRS and to your community by organizing a food drive or serving on a professional committee. Run for a seat on the Board, not for selfish reasons, but because you want to serve the national radiologic educator community while increasing your communication skills. Offer to serve on a committee so you can affect change in the organization while networking at the national level. Through your volunteering spirit, you can learn more about your community, increase your self-confidence, decrease your stress and most importantly, learn more about yourself.
James Murrell, MSRS, RT (R)(M)(QM)(CT) ARRT
AEIRS President