There's a saying... Whatever you do well. Never do for free.

I occassionally volunteer to help with events here in town - watch street barricades, hand out packets, direct participants to events, etc... always got a free tee-shirt. For many years I never even thought about buying a tee-shirt. Lol!

I have done a little volunteer work and it is rewarding.

On the fireworks, I like 'em BUT animals do not. The other problem is by the 4th it is pretty dry on the east side of WA State. Just since the 4th there have been several fires from sparks from boat trailers.
Most of the cities from Ronald to Ellensburg ban them in the city limits. County wide there is now a burn ban.
We can have all the fireworks we want at New Years. lol

I give blood rvery 10 weeks...

I think volunteering is important for community cohesion, support, and growth, and I think it's important for those who volunteer, to give a sense of purpose and to feed that part of the mind that's focused outwardly to provide some added perspective. Volunteerism was required where I attended college, and I was involved as the college banquet coordinator for four semesters, I coordinated part of two service trips and attended one (to a worker farm for people who were getting back on their feet), I was a tutor for math and writing, I was on the academic council for one year, and I helped out when the college hosted Special Olympics. After college, I didn't do a lot of volunteer work, but I was involved in helping the local chamber of commerce with some events and fundraising and did a few other little things for other groups. But work and life take over and it's easy to forget about volunteering. For a few years I thought about getting involved and donating my time again, but always felt too busy and too tired. But, as the Merovingian said in The Matrix, "if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?" So, last autumn the local resolution center advertised unique training for basic mediation plus parenting plan mediation — low cost (they had a grant for it, so instead of it costing each of us $1200 it was a nominal $100), locally held (so I didn't need to pay for lodging and significant travel), split up across three weekends (meaning I didn't need to take much time off work) — so I just figured this was the best opportunity I'd get and I jumped at it, and now I volunteer to mediate in typical magistrate matters as well as in creating custody and visitation plans for parents and other guardians. Since taking that training, I've also taken child support mediation training, so I'm certified to mediate child support agreements as well. In a couple of weeks, I'm taking a three-day training session to learn about leading relationship-building circles, which can be a building block for restorative justice mediation. I feel right now like I'm spending more time in training than mediating, but I'm hoping all of this training will help me get to the point where I can mediate more effectively and more frequently. If there aren't enough mediation cases available to make me feel like I'm doing it regularly enough, I may also pursue other volunteer opportunities, like the local literacy volunteers program.

I have done volunteering in the past, but an mot really wanting to do more, s the recipients who benefitted from the work did not seem to appreciate the efforts people were making on their behalf. If I do work for free I want to feel appreciated.

I personally feel that the small village/volunteer model leads to the happiest people.

That's an interesting comment about how this is not common in other countries. I do think that what our society is lacking, however, is a family bond that other societies find extremely important. They take care of their elderly in their homes instead of sending them off to nursing care. Children live with their families until they get married and are not thought of as a burden like they are here.

Maybe there is a relationship between societies that take care of their own not needing as much help from others (volunteer wise) as we do here. Thoughts?

If you have the will and have the time then yes by all means, go ahead !!

I am what I'd describe as a low-energy introvert and I am doing good to get through a full-time work day and have something left over to relate to my wife and stepson and our dogs and our neighbors. I have done a few hours of pro bono work for a nonprofit this year and that's about it. I foresee doing more such things somewhere past full SS retirement age, when I will likely, at the least, cut back my work hours some. That is 5 years in the future though.

My disability limits me to volunteer more than I want to.

I need to do more volunteering having been forced to retire. I never really thought about retirement before and since the stupid social security rules won't let you work (they are obviously afraid that I'll take a job away from someone else, but in 4 years it's ok), volunteering is all that's left. As an aside and this just hit me, people complain that fireworks disturb dogs etc. but many of those dog owners don't care that their dogs' incessant barking bothers humans. Especially since the fireworks displays are few and far between and their dog barks every day...

I actually won the 2008-2009 Army volunteer of the year award for Junior Enlisted. And I received the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. I’ve volunteered with some dog rescues for a little while. Well, animal rescues but it was mostly directed towards dogs. But all in all, I think volunteering is great if you have the time.

Coming from a communist society like China which believes in collectivism it makes sense that the idea of volunteering as a separate activity would seem strange to the professor doing the research. Volunteering services and giving charity are the other side of the capitalism society, it is part of the social contract that the elites provide funds and services for the majority of the people, partly out of altruism, partly out of a sense of superiority and mainly out of an instinct for self preservation. Recently that social contract has been broken by the elites and the work has fallen to the middle class which is also under siege and this is why society is collapsing along with the standard of living for all but a few. It's nothing new, it has happened many times throughout history and it usually ends badly for all concerned, particularly the elites.
You are lucky that you are on an island, I am living on my 4th island and the sense of independence and community is what makes them special.

I help people regularly, individually, and in ways and times of my own choosing. I have an aversion to being a supervised, faceless volunteer within a large organization.

Volunteering assists governments in washing their hands of various types of responsibilities whilst providing businesses and organisations with cheap labour.

It has exploded in the UK. Posts that were previously paid and secure employment have been erased and replaced with the volunteers.

90% of volunteering is exploitation.