Volunteering: Helping Yourself While Helping Others

The benefits of volunteering are enormous to you, your family, and your community. The right match can help you find friends, reach out to the community and learn new skills. This week we held our annual fall Lifelong Learning Greeter Orientation. It is always a pleasure to see our volunteers come back after the long summer break eager and ready to volunteer for our lectures, courses and special events. 

One of the major benefits I feel that come from volunteering is that it protects your mental and physical health. It can provide a boost to your self-confidence, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. As a volunteer you are helping others and the community, which provides a natural sense of accomplishment. Your role as a volunteer can also give you a sense of pride and identity. The better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to have a positive view of your life.

At Lifelong Learning, we could not operate our lectures, courses or special event programs without our volunteers. With over 100 Lifelong Learning volunteers, who include our advisory board, committee members and greeters, we are grateful for the extra helping hands!

One of the best ways to make new friends and strengthen existing relationships at Lifelong Learning is to commit to a shared activity together-such as volunteering. This is a great way to meet new people, especially if you are new to an area. Volunteering also strengthens your ties to the program and broadens your support network, exposing you to people with common interests along with fun and fulfilling activities.

There are several perks to volunteering as a class greeter for Lifelong Learning. You must first:

• Become an LLS member. Annual membership costs $35 and offers many benefits. 
• Purchase and wear an LLS greeter shirt- an attractive, easy-care blue cotton polo shirt (see picture above). The shirt costs $23.

The benefits of becoming a greeter include:

• Attending the class at which you are greeting for free.
•  A free parking decal if you are greeting at a class that runs multiple weeks.

You’re giving us your valuable time, so it’s important that you enjoy and benefit from your volunteering experience. It’s important to make sure that your volunteer position is a good fit and to communicate with the people you’re working with here at Lifelong Learning.

If you are interested in volunteering with Lifelong Learning, please visit our website at www.llsjupiter.com and click on the icon Life at LLS.