Quotes & Sayings About Volunteering

It meant she considered relevancy before volunteering information. You can't teach people how to do that. — Penny Reid

The work-life balance is a harsh reality for so many women, who are forced every day to make impossible choices. Do they take their kids to the doctor ... and risk getting fired? Do they work weekends so they can afford to send their kids to better childcare ... even though it means even less time with their families? Do they take another shift at work, so they can pay for piano lessons for their kids ... even though it means they have to stop volunteering for the PTA? It just shouldn't be this difficult to raise healthy families. — Michelle Obama

True "volunteering," then, obeys no law, seeks no returns, pays no debts, plans no praise for yourself, nor proves your goodness — Walter Wangerin Jr.

Cary Taylor. Loving you isn't a character defect."
"Well, it's not very smart. I was such an asshole to him," he muttered, looking disgruntled. "He could do so much better."
"That isn't your decision to make for him."
"Someone needs to make it."
"And you're volunteering because you love him, too." My mouth curved. "Don't you think that sounds ass-backwards? — Sylvia Day

Our young immigrants have a lot to offer. They are motivated and hard-working, and in many cases have already contributed significantly to our society - by excelling in school, by volunteering in their communities, or by serving in the military. — Gerald Chertavian

Samantha Jennings sat next to him. Teachers thought Samantha was fantastic: always volunteering for stuff, neat uniform, glossed nails. She did all her diagrams with three different colored pens and covered her textbooks in wrapping paper so they looked extra smart. But — Robert Muchamore

There's almost always a church youth group at the soup kitchen. I have yet to see an atheists' youth group. Yeah, I know, religious people don't have a monopoly on doing good. I'm sure that there are many agnostics and atheists out there slinging mashed potatoes at other soup kitchens. I know the world is full of selfless secular gropus like Doctors without Borders. But I've got to say: It's a lot easier to do good if you put your faith in a book that requires you to do good. — A. J. Jacobs

Going to Africa was being able to take my volunteering and my passion for hospice one step further. — Torrey DeVitto

Boost Mobile RockCorps is providing the chance and motivation to get our youth interested in volunteering. I usually hear about older people volunteering, but this movement is something new that is encouraging the youth to become involved. It's really a chance for them to come together through caring more about their community, which is so important for these kids to learn early on. I think it's crucial to instill a sense of pride in the community and this is a great way for our youth to do that. — Fat Joe

Volunteering is a window into the passions of the soul. — Patrick Dixon

Young people, women especially, often worry about the safety of volunteering abroad. There are, of course, legitimate concerns about disease and violence, but mostly there is the exaggerated fear of the unknown - the mirror image of the nervousness that Africans or Indians feel when they travel to America for their studies. In reality, Americans and Europeans are usually treated hospitably in the developing world, and are much less likely to be robbed in an African village than in Paris or Rome. — Anonymous

Now, you might be saying, "Jessica, I am not crafty." I hear you. But I am not talking about crafts. I am talking about living out the God-given passions that are inside of us. Creativity isn't crafting; it is any original expression you pursue - running, playing music, gardening, sewing, cooking, and so on are all creative acts. Even activities like volunteering and throwing parties are creative pursuits because by giving of ourselves for others we are expressing ourselves in a meaningful way. Moreover, these are activities that inspire us in an indescribable way. And when we make room in our days to include them, we feel more alive and joyful. — Jessica N. Turner

My parents didn't really restrict my movement, so I got involved in the underground music scene and the activism scene; I was doing some volunteering in food relief. I spent a lot of time throughout the city in poor areas, even though my family lived in a wealthy area. — Jess Row

Your actions now, define possibilities. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I love to hang out with my friends and go to the movies. My mom and I are involved in the Mother/Daughter Organization - national charity work. Whenever I get free time, we volunteer. It's an organization so mothers and daughters can spend time together while volunteering. — Hailee Steinfeld

With or without horse slaughter, horse rescues need our help and support. That can involve financial donations, volunteering, or even donating items like brushes and blankets. Horse rescues operate with little money, so every little thing you can do to help goes a long way. — Bo Derek

I find that the critics of voluntary service are all too often those who are prepared to accept such services when they require them but deride them with cynicism and scepticism when they see others helping and being helped. — Eva Hart

There's a lot of pointing. A festival of pointing and at very close range to other people's eyes, given the width of the space. Also detracting from the exhibit's potential tranquility is the display cabinet of pinned specimens along one wall. I found this disturbing from the start. You don't see a whole lot of stuffed polar bears in the polar bear exhibit at the zoo, for instance. And butterflies have phenomenal vision so it's not like they can't see the mass crucifixion in their midst. I was offended on behalf of the butterflies and thus pleased with my offense. Let the empathizing begin! This volunteering thing was working already. I am a good person, hear me give! — Sloane Crosley

Volunteering also honours the sort of work your spouse is obliged to do if you choose cheerfully to do it for him or her. It abolished distinctions and degrees of value. All work is valuable in the house where no work is held in contempt, and where love is not kept in hiding. — Walter Wangerin Jr.

Volunteering to help others is the right thing to do, and it also boosts personal happiness; a review of research by the Corporation for National and Community Service shows that those who aid the causes they value tend to be happier and in better health. They show fewer signs of physical and mental aging. And it's not just that helpful people also tend to be healthier and happier; helping others causes happiness. "Be selfless, if only for selfish reasons," as one of my happiness paradoxes holds. About one-quarter of Americans volunteer, and of those, a third volunteer for more than a hundred hours each year. — Gretchen Rubin

To know that once you decide to look at life outside of the narrow limits of just your world and start to understand that you can make a difference in very simple ways - in volunteering and all the way up to bigger world problems. — Susan Sarandon

He never asked me what I thought, and I never told him what I thought, because in my view that's the way a journalist ought to behave. You ought not to be going around to people volunteering your feelings. That's daily journalism. — Janet Malcolm

More young people are volunteering than ever before. More people are including service to others on their busy lives' to do list. The promise of America is embedded deep in our DNA, calling us to a much less shallow search for happiness and meaning. — Arianna Huffington

I want to see that our older people still feel useful, and our younger people feel engaged in our wider society, and I want to feel that we can bond people from disparate backgrounds, ages and communities together in a greater project, which they get engaged in for the sake of others. Volunteering, in all sorts of ways, seems to me likely to be able to achieve some of that — Julia Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger

and volunteering in the community. Mind, body, and spirit, the cadets were told. Over and — Louise Penny

Who's Matthews?" Zack asked.
"The tall blond one you keep calling Junior," Anthony said. "Stop doing that, by the way. It annoys him. Anyway, he's young, strong, and he's got 20/20 vision. Happy?"
"No." Zack searched for a good reason why. "He's young. He's new. He doesn't know..."
"Great," Anthony said, a savage edge creeping into his voice. "You want somebody not too old, not too young, who knows. That leaves us with a middle-aged cop with experience. The only one of those is you. Are you volunteering? — Jennifer Crusie

Volunteering is an act of heroism on a grand scale. And it matters profoundly. It does more than help people beat the odds; it changes the odds. — William J. Clinton

Each year, I pick something new to learn. One year, it was learning how to knit, and I got 'The Sweethearts' Knitting Club' out of the experience. Another year, it was to volunteer at the local domestic abuse shelter, and I ended up volunteering there for three years. — Lori Wilde

Helping others carries its own rewards, the first of which is a return to humanity. — Richard Paul Evans

Jesse: " Hey Rose, welcome back. Still breaking hearts?"
Rose: " Are you volunteering? — Richelle Mead

May God give you overflowing grace for every good work. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Imagine! People are not volunteering to go to foreign countries and die the way they used to! Imagine that! — Michael Badnarik

No one sighs regretfully on his deathbed and says, "I can't believe I wasted all that time with my wife and kids," "volunteering at the soup kitchen," or "growing in my spirituality." No one ever says, "I should have spent more time watching TV and playing Angry Birds on my phone." In my own life, nothing has given my life more meaning and satisfaction than my Catholic faith and the love of my — Arthur C. Brooks

She keeps herself busy by hitting the gym, meditating, and volunteering at the local women's shelter. And at first, Julie's writing schedule is sporadic as she takes the time necessary to grieve over her lost relationship. But she realizes she feels best when she dedicates most of her time and energy to her novel. — Sheri Fink

The reality is that doing good unto others actually does more good for you. — Richelle E. Goodrich

Paul Revere earned his living as a silversmith. But what do we remember him for? His volunteer work. All activism is volunteering in that it's done above and beyond earning a living and deals with what people really care passionately about. Remember, no one gets paid to rebel. All revolutions start with volunteers. — Susan J. Ellis

Volunteering has been undervalued in Britain for a long time. Often it has been seen as a kind of cut-price, amateur version of work that would be better done by the state. When politicians speak about it, people hear in the background the sound of budgets being cut. — Jonathan Sacks

If something is important enough to you that you feel the urge to donate your money or time to it, I think it's best to try to express that form of giving through your career, not just as something you do on the side. If you enjoy your volunteering and charitable activities more than your career, it means your career is in serious need of an upgrade. In my opinion your career should be your best outlet for giving. — Steve Pavlina

No State government has the right to make war, raise armies, or conclude treaties of peace. These rights," he said, were "expressly conferred upon the Confederate Government." Far from the draft being unconstitutional, he felt that "the volunteering system . . . was extra-constitutional, if not unconstitutional. — Frank E. Vandiver

I've always thought of myself as a role model even before being a 'celebrity.' I've always been doing charity work and volunteering in the community since I was 8, so when you do that, I think you just assume that role when you put yourself out there. — Eva Longoria

Meandering cows, tenacious bicyclers, belching taxis, rickshaws, fearless pedestrians and the occasional mobile 'cigarette and sweets' stand all fought our taxi for room on the narrow two-lane road turned local byway. — Jennifer S. Alderson

Young people often aren't in a position to write checks to charities. But there are two things they can do that are invaluable. One is volunteering, especially mentoring other young people with reading, math or help thinking about college. Through iMentor, one can even mentor people online. — Nicholas Kristof

Make A Difference Day is a great way to introduce kids to the rewards of volunteering. It's fun, it's focused and it's empowering to know that millions are motivated to do the same. — Kate Snow

Volunteering's an early and strong indication that you're not suited, he said. — China Mieville

Walk your own path and be yourself — Joanne Nussbaum

Opportunities to make plans together became virtually nonexistent, and it was in desperation that Harry, Ron, and Hermione took to volunteering to feed the chickens just to escape the overcrowded house. — J.K. Rowling

I firmly believe that volunteering is good for our society and brings communities together. It's a fantastic opportunity to get involved in your local community, to meet new people and to gain a sense of pride and achievement. — Boris Johnson

The more we give, the more we are blessed to keep giving. — Lailah Gifty Akita

At 16, I dropped out of school and spent five years working as a bicycle mechanic and volunteering in a Trauma Centre before ultimately deciding to go to university. — Philipp Meyer

I'm not really volunteering for no family films. I really like the sweet spot of being able to be edgy and controversial. — Romany Malco

Linnie. And this Winnie." They wore identical smiles, their bright black eyes sparked with curiosity. "Are you the doctor?"
"No, I'm just volunteering."
"I knowed that, too." Winnie gave her an exaggerated shake of the head. "Girls is never the doctor. They's the nurses."
"Oh no, what about Dr. Clare? Huh? The lady doctor who took care of Grammy in the hospital when she broke her hip bone?" Linnie asked.
"Yeah, but she was a white lady. They can be doctors." Winnie looked at Lucy. "Right? There are white lady doctors. I seen 'em."
Lucy felt her eyes go wide. Were there children who still believed your gender or color dictated your career? "There are white lady doctors, black lady doctors, white man doctors, black man doctors."
They stared at her.
She thought for a moment. "And there are white man nurses and black man nurses, too."
"Now you're just bein' silly," Linnie said and let out a laugh. — Mary Jane Hathaway

If walking into the responsibility of caring for eighteen children was difficult, walking out on that responsibility was almost impossible. The children had become a constant presence, little spinning tops that splattered joy onto everyone they bumped into. — Conor Grennan

When I was volunteering with Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston in 2005, I first started thinking about the whole phenomenon of grace under pressure. — Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Like many people with a bold fondness for volunteering intimate information, anything that suggested a direct question, a pinning-down, put her on guard. — Truman Capote

Buchenwald and Dachau had knocked him crooked, and he'd never been really straight afterward. Yet he had done his best in small ways - volunteering in the city's soup kitchen, working with kids from homes that were poor, broken, or both - to straighten some things. He still thought things like that mattered; even two bits in a bum's upturned hat mattered. — Stephen King

I ended up in the back seat of a chicken truck's cab heading through beautiful scenery and disastrous roads to my hotel. About an hour later, we stopped to sell a few hundred of the chickens to a butcher shop. — Jennifer S. Alderson

The basis of your religion is injustice. The Son of God the pure, the immaculate, the innocent, is sacrificed for the guilty. This proves his heroism, but no more does away with man's sin than a school boy's volunteering to be flogged for another would exculpate a dunce from negligence. — Lord Byron

Spending hours stressed out in front of the TV isn't the same as volunteering or donating. Feeling a high level of personal distress makes people feel agitated and emotionally drained, to the point that they lack the energy or detachment to help - or the energy to manage themselves. — Gretchen Rubin

She wondered if it counted as being good if you did the good thing for purely selfish reasons. Probably not, but who cared. What was important was what you did, not how you felt. — Emily Gould

Whatever is within your limit, do it to lift the souls of humankind. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I started volunteering at an animal shelter, and little by little, my life started getting better. I think that is the secret. It is just being on a mission that is something bigger than me and it's thankless. You do that because it is thankless, and I am not looking for anybody to say, 'Thanks' and 'You are great!' — William McNamara

No matter what your politics is, we ought to be thanking people for volunteering. — George W. Bush

In the real world, I see conservatives volunteering at adoption agencies, at churches, at bake sales and the local American Legion Post while the only charity a progressive sends is a smug sermon on fair share and what fairness is. — Allen West

That means anyone can serve the Earth, humankind and all life by spending time (every day, once a week, once a month), alone or in groups, concentrating their prodigious energies to help others. This can be accomplished through chanting, meditating, drumming, visualizing or whatever serves best. And while doing good deeds (volunteering, being active for affirmative change) is important, purposefully manifesting through positive, concentrated intention is vital to this transition. — Laurie Johnson

Volunteering is a great way to look outside your own problems. Giving back to makes you happier by both giving you a sense of purpose and helping to put your problems in perspective. — Karen Salmansohn

In the military, I learned that 'leadership' means raising your hand and volunteering for the tough, important assignments. — Tulsi Gabbard

Tania, I was spellbound by you from the first moment I saw you. There I was, living my dissolute life, and war had just started. My entire base was in disarray, people were running around, closing accounts, taking money out, grabbing food out of stores, buying up the entire Gostiny Dvor, volunteering for the army, sending their kids to camp - " He broke off. "And in the middle of my chaos, there was you!" Alexander whispered passionately. "You were sitting alone on this bench, impossibly young, breathtakingly blonde and lovely, and you were eating ice cream with such abandon, such pleasure, such mystical delight that I could not believe my eyes. As if there were nothing else in the world on that summer Sunday. — Paullina Simons

Guess what? I have flaws. What are they? Oh I donno, I sing in the shower? Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering. Occasionally I'll hit somebody with my car. So sue me
no, don't sue me. That is opposite the point I'm trying to make. — Michael Scott

Volunteering is also now more crucial than ever in helping people find work. — Boris Johnson

Sometimes self-assertiveness is manifested through volunteering an idea or paying a compliment; sometimes through a polite silence that signals nonagreement; sometimes by refusing to smile at a tasteless joke. — Nathaniel Branden

Biffy said, off the cuff, "Or we could find a replacement queen."
"Volunteering for the position?"
"Why, Professor, is that wittiness I detect?"
"Only for you."
"Charmer." Biffy tapped him on the arm playfully. — Gail Carriger

I always begin with a source of inspiration that comes from nature. The story comes from my research, volunteering, and meeting the people involved in that story world. I am an intuitive writer and an image, sound, experience can all inspire a scene or a plot twist! — Mary Alice Monroe

Don't test God and make some tests for him. That doesn't make any sense. Besides that he can do anything, above everything you could ask. He wants your heart to be real. He wants a volunteering lover. That's why he gives you a choice. He can tell a tree to grow and it will grow. But it's up to you to decide whether you obey him or not, he gave you a will. Even though he didn't give a tree a will, he gave you a will. And he says: "I want you to grow, will you grow? I want you to love me, will you love me? Like I love you, I love you so much." — Lacey Mosley

When you say 'I want to fit in,' you are essentially volunteering yourself as a victim, and when the thing you want to fit in with is 'society' - well, as 'society' is just another word for government, you're basically begging the government to control you and use you as it wishes for its nefarious purposes, which can be pretty damn nefarious, if 'nefarious' means what I believe it does. — Frank Portman

We gave away most of our belongings. Interestingly, the more we gave away, the better we felt. Happiness researchers call this a 'helper's high,' in which helping others through volunteering or giving reduces stress and releases endorphins. — Tammy Strobel

Sin is not just the wrong stuff we do; it's the good we don't do. It's the starving children we don't want to look at, the volunteering we avoid, the poor we don't want to serve, and the money we don't want to give. — John Ortberg

Life is inter-dependence and co-dependence. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Hey Rose, welcome back. You still breaking hearts?"
"Are you volunteering?"
His grin widened." Let's hang out sometime and find out. If you ever get parole. — Richelle Mead

Volunteering is so pervasive it's invisible. We take for granted all the things that have been pioneered by concerned, active volunteers. — Susan J. Ellis

My old man says when it's time to be counted, the important thing is to be man enough to stand up. — Robert A. Heinlein

Whether it was by someone volunteering to be an extra in our show, or part of the crew, or someone buying a DVD at a convention, or a superfan who tattooed our characters' faces on her calf, my career has been built fan by fan. I wouldn't trade that relationship, or collection of dolls of myself, for all the money and fame in the world. — Felicia Day

We can get the task done without being paid. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Many times we let the fact that other people are involved cloud our judgment, instead of focusing on what we need personally. At work, we say yes to projects when our plates are already too full. At home, we say yes to our kids when it is not necessary. We say yes to school parties and PTA commitments. We say yes to volunteering at church. And each time we say yes because we want to please someone else, we are negatively impacting ourselves. I — Jessica N. Turner

Do everything with love. — Lailah Gifty Akita

If addiction is a disease, how do you first catch it? I mean, if you've never tried a single sodding drug in the first place, how could you become addicted? You couldn't. It wouldn't be possible. You are making a choice that first time. You are volunteering for the addiction. You know it's wrong and self-destructive but you do it anyway. — Belinda Jones

For a few unfortunate kids, winter did not spell the end of the school year. There were the so-called voluntary winter courses. No kid I knew ever volunteered to go to these classes; parents, of course, did the volunteering for them. — Khaled Hosseini

Life must not be lived only to make money. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Putting forward your positive energy connects you back to basic human values which we all share. Good Deeds Day shows that no matter the size of the gesture, a smile that brightens someone else's day or volunteering in your community, we can all take active part in making a difference. — Shari Arison

Throughout my life, I've seen the difference that volunteering efforts can make in people's lives. I know the personal value of service as a local volunteer. — Jimmy Carter

I can remember my sister and me volunteering for Nixon. My parents liked him. I liked my parents. So I figured he was good. — Douglas McGrath

Being charitable provides a boost to your psyche that is tough to replicate in any other way. But note that although any charity will happily take your money, you can give in other ways and still reap the same happiness reward. Volunteering and donating your old or unused belongings have the same result. — Jean Chatzky

You volunteering to play Big Gulp?

~Wraith — Larissa Ione

Volunteering abroad is a powerful force for change but only if you choose the right project. — Volunteer 4 Africa

When you tend to another's dying embers, you find both warmth and an increase in the glow of your own fire. — Richelle E. Goodrich

That churchgoers do the lion's share of the charitable work in our communities is simply untrue. They get credit for it because they do a better job of tying the good works they do to their creed. But according to a 1998 study, 82% of volunteerism by churchgoers falls under the rubric of "church maintenance" activities
volunteerism entirely within, and for the benefit of, the church building and immediate church community. As a result of this siphoning of volunteer energy into the care and feeding of churches themselves, most of the volunteering that happens out in the larger community
from AIDS hospices to food shelves to international aid workers to those feeding the hungry and housing the homeless and caring for the elderly
comes from the category of "unchurched" volunteers. — Dale McGowan

Without the political parties and the volunteering work of their members day in, day out, we would have a very different sort of politics and society. — David Blunkett

I devote my life in service of humanity. — Lailah Gifty Akita

You don't see many of these white anti-abortion women volunteering to have any black fetuses transplanted into their uterus's, do you? No, you don't see them adopting a whole lot of crack babies, do you? No, that might be something Christ would do. — George Carlin

Learning is available at the library for free; under a tree with a dog-eared paperback; at a job with a boss who gives you responsibility and mentorship; while traveling; while leading a cause, movement, or charity; while writing a novel or composing a poem or crafting a song; while interning, apprenticing, or volunteering; while playing a sport or immersing yourself in a language; while starting a business; and now, while watching a TED talk or taking a Khan Academy class ... — Michael Ellsberg

The value in volunteering - and you need to appeal to this, not money - is helping people discover who they are and experience the joy of living out the giftedness that God has given them. When we are worshiping God and serving God, we experience a great amount of joy as we minister by the Spirit. — Matt Perman