Benefits to community service
Benefits of Community Service – Community Engagement
Benefits of volunteering #1: Volunteering connects you to others
One of the better-known benefits of volunteering is the impact on the community. Unpaid volunteers are often the glue that holds a community together. Volunteering allows you to connect to your community and make it a better place. Even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference to the lives of people, animals, and organizations in need. And volunteering is a two-way street: It can benefit you and your family as much as the cause you choose to help. Dedicating your time as a volunteer helps you make new friends, expand your network, and boost your social skills.
Volunteering helps you make new friends and contacts
One of the best ways to make new friends and strengthen existing relationships is to commit to a shared activity together. Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, especially if you are new to an area. Volunteering also strengthens your ties to the community and broadens your support network, exposing you to people with common interests, neighborhood resources, and fun and fulfilling activities.
Volunteering increases your social and relationship skills
While some people are naturally outgoing, others are shy and have a hard time meeting new people. Volunteering gives you the opportunity to practice and develop your social skills, since you are meeting regularly with a group of people with common interests. Once you have momentum, it’s easier to branch out and make more friends and contacts.
Volunteering as a family
While it might be a challenge to coordinate everyone’s schedules, volunteering as a family has many worthwhile benefits. Children watch everything you do. By giving back to the community, you show them firsthand how volunteering makes a difference and how good it feels to help other people and animals and enact change. It’s also a valuable way for you to get to know organizations in the community and find resources and activities for your children and family.
Benefits of volunteering #2: Volunteering is good for your mind and body
Volunteering provides many benefits to both mental and physical health.
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Volunteering increases self-confidence.
Volunteering can provide a healthy boost to your self-confidence, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. You are doing good for 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. And the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to have a positive view of your life and future goals.
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Volunteering combats depression.
Reducing the risk of depression is another important benefit of volunteering. A key risk factor for depression is social isolation. Volunteering keeps you in regular contact with others and helps you develop a solid support system, which in turn protects you against stress and depression when you’re going through challenging times.
Working with pets and other animals has also been shown to improve mood and reduce stress and anxiety. -
Volunteering helps you stay physically healthy.
Volunteering is good for your health at any age, but it’s especially beneficial in older adults. Studies have found that those who volunteer have a lower mortality rate than those who do not, even when considering factors like the health of the participants. Volunteering has also been shown to lessen symptoms of chronic pain or heart disease.
I have limited mobility—can I still volunteer?
Whether due to a lack of transportation, time constraints, a disability or other reasons, many people prefer to volunteer via phone or computer. There are many projects where you can help. Writing and graphic design lends itself to working at home, and in today’s digital age many organizations might also need help with email and websites.
If you think home-based volunteering might be right for you, contact organizations you like and ask what some of the possibilities might be.
Some volunteer organizations may require you to attend an initial training or periodical meetings. You also want to make sure that you are getting enough social contact, and that the organization is available to support you should you have questions.
Volunteering: The happiness effect
Helping others kindles happiness, as many studies have demonstrated. When researchers at the London School of Economics examined the relationship between volunteering and measures of happiness in a large group of American adults, they found the more people volunteered, the happier they were, according to a study in Social Science and Medicine. Compared with people who never volunteered, the odds of being “very happy” rose 7% among those who volunteer monthly and 12% for people who volunteer every two to four weeks. Among weekly volunteers, 16% felt very happy—a hike in happiness comparable to having an income of $75,000–$100,000 versus $20,000, say the researchers.
Adapted with permission from Simple Changes, Big Rewards: A Practical, Easy Guide for Healthy, Happy Living, a special health report published by Harvard Health Publications.
Benefits of volunteering #3: Volunteering can advance your career
If you’re considering a new career, volunteering can help you get experience in your area of interest and meet people in the field. Even if you’re not planning on changing careers, volunteering gives you the opportunity to practice important skills used in the workplace, such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, project planning, task management, and organization. You might feel more comfortable stretching your wings at work once you’ve honed these skills in a volunteer position first.
Volunteering can provide career experience
Volunteering offers you the chance to try out a new career without making a long-term commitment. It is also a great way to gain experience in a new field. In some fields, you can volunteer directly at an organization that does the kind of work you’re interested in. For example, if you’re interested in nursing, you could volunteer at a hospital or a nursing home.
Your volunteer work might also expose you to professional organizations or internships that could be of benefit to your career.
Volunteering can teach you valuable job skills
Just because volunteer work is unpaid does not mean the skills you learn are basic. Many volunteering opportunities provide extensive training. For example, you could become an experienced crisis counselor while volunteering for a women’s shelter or a knowledgeable art historian while donating your time as a museum docent.
Volunteering can also help you build upon skills you already have and use them to benefit the greater community. For instance, if you hold a successful sales position, you raise awareness for your favorite cause as a volunteer advocate, while further developing and improving your public speaking, communication, and marketing skills.
When it comes to volunteering, passion and positivity are the only requirements
While learning new skills can be beneficial to many, it’s not a requirement for a fulfilling volunteer experience.
Bear in mind that the most valuable skills you can bring to any volunteer effort are compassion, an open mind, a willingness to do whatever is needed, and a positive attitude.
Benefits of volunteering #4: Volunteering brings fun and fulfillment to your life
Volunteering is a fun and easy way to explore your interests and passions. Doing volunteer work you find meaningful and interesting can be a relaxing, energizing escape from your day-to-day routine of work, school, or family commitments. Volunteering also provides you with renewed creativity, motivation, and vision that can carry over into your personal and professional life.
Many people volunteer in order to make time for hobbies outside of work as well. For instance, if you have a desk job and long to spend time outdoors, you might consider volunteering to help plant a community garden, walk dogs for an animal shelter, or help out at a children’s camp. (UC San Diego)
Here’s Why Community Service Is Important – Top 5 Benefits
Community service is one of the best ways to help benefit the public or give back to your community.
It does not only have positive effects on society, but it will bring benefits to your life and personal development. Why is community service important? If you have ever asked yourself this question, let’s consider some of the possible reasons.
Giving back and assisting others is the basis of community service or volunteering. Thus, it teaches us how significant it is to help the ones in need, the ones who are less fortunate than us. The importance of community service lies in the fact that it connects us to the community by improving it, and making it a better place for all of us to live in.
2. It Benefits Your Career ProspectsWhen you are thinking of changing or advancing your career, community service helps you gain experience and skills required for the professional turn you are considering taking. One of the community service benefits is that it provides you with the chance to improve skills important for a workplace, such as communication and organizational skills, teamwork, planning, problem-solving and task management.
Furthermore, people could first merely try out an attractive career through volunteering before leaping to a long-term commitment.
How does volunteering benefit the community? Volunteering or community service provides you with a perfect opportunity to become closer to the community you live in. Community service broadens your horizons by helping you understand the needs of the society and the population you are trying to help through the project you are volunteering on. Reading or hearing about issues is not quite the same as getting personally involved. It brings you closer to families and individuals in need, gives you firsthand experience and understanding of the conditions they are in.
4. Community Service Establishes Contacts and FriendshipsThe easiest way to make friends is through activities you perform together. Not only would you be helping the ones in need, but you would also be able to meet some other volunteers.
This benefit of community service is especially important if you are new in an area. After all, is there a better way to meet your neighbors and show them how eager you are to improve your community? In addition, you could invite your existing friends to do community service with you and through it, further strengthen your relationship and have fun at the same time.
Introverts sometimes have problems meeting people and making friends. Volunteering might help shy and quiet individuals with this issue as it offers lots of opportunities to meet and work with various people. Thus, it is a valuable experience for improving and practicing how to socialize in diverse surroundings. On the other hand, students are advised to do community service in order to get work-related knowledge and skills. At the same time, it increases their chances of getting a job since their community involvement creates good references for potential employers.
If you are looking for a possibility to help out the ones in need by improving your community, acquiring new knowledge and skills at the same time, consider performing community work. There are various volunteer opportunities to choose from depending on your time and preferences. From office work and answering emails and phone calls, through helping out in a store and thus raising funds, to building safe homes for whole families – let’s help our community be a better and safer place for all of us.
Article 24. Organization of public works \ ConsultantPlus
Article 24. Organization of public works
1. Employment service bodies organize paid public works in order to ensure temporary employment of the population.
(as amended by the Federal Law of August 22, 2004 N 122-FZ)
(see the text in the previous edition) work.
(paragraph introduced by Federal Law No. 175-FZ of 17.07.1999; as amended by Federal Law No. 8-FZ of 10.01.2003)
(see text in previous edition)
with the need for urgent elimination of the consequences of accidents, natural disasters, catastrophes and other emergency situations and requiring special training of employees, as well as their qualified and responsible actions in the shortest possible time.
(paragraph introduced by the Federal Law of 17.07.1999 N 175-FZ)
2. Citizens registered with the employment service in order to find suitable work, unemployed citizens have the right to participate in public works. The priority right to participate in public works is enjoyed by unemployed citizens who do not receive unemployment benefits, unemployed citizens registered with the employment service for more than six months.
Participation of citizens in public works is allowed only with their consent. When sending to public works, the state of health, age, professional and other individual characteristics of citizens are taken into account.
A fixed-term employment contract is concluded with persons wishing to participate in public works. A fixed-term employment contract on the participation of a citizen in public works may be terminated by him ahead of schedule when applying for a permanent or temporary job.
(clause 2 as amended by Federal Law No.
8-FZ dated 10.01.2003)
(see the text in the previous edition)
.
During the period of participation of unemployed citizens in public works, they retain the right to receive unemployment benefits (except for citizens participating in public works and specified in paragraph 3 of Article 4 of this Law).
(as amended by Federal Law No. 175-FZ of 17.07.1999)
(see the text in the previous edition)
4. Citizens employed in public works are subject to the legislation of the Russian Federation on labor and social insurance.
5. Financing of public works is carried out at the expense of the employers who carry out these works.
(as amended by the Federal Law of December 27, 2009 N 367-FZ)
(see the text in the previous edition)
During the period of participation in public works, temporary employment for unemployed citizens, minors aged 14 to 18 years financial support may be provided.
(Clause 5 as amended by Federal Law No.
122-FZ of August 22, 2004)
(see the text in the previous edition)
6. Requirements for the organization of public works are approved by the federal executive body authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation.
(Clause 6 as amended by Federal Law No. 219-FZ of June 28, 2021)
(see the text in the previous edition)
Only benefits await you from public works!
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03/26/2013
If you need to perform work of a temporary nature, you need additional workers to perform work that does not require special training, we suggest organizing public works at your enterprise.
Dear employers!
If you need to perform work of a temporary nature, you need additional workers to perform work that does not require special training, we suggest organizing public works at your enterprise.
Public work is a labor activity that has a socially useful orientation and is organized as additional social support for unemployed citizens looking for work. They are held at enterprises, institutions and organizations, regardless of ownership, under agreements concluded between the employment center and employers.
Participation in the organization of public works is very beneficial for employers!
First, you get the opportunity to perform the required amount of work by attracting temporary workers.
Secondly, it becomes possible to involve people in unskilled work, for which it is difficult to find a permanent employee.
Thirdly, public works allow reducing the costs of employers, as the employment service pays additional material support to participants in the work from the regional budget.
Fourthly, this type of activity allows you to select personnel for permanent work from citizens who have proven themselves in public works.
In order to organize public works, the employer must:
- conclude agreements with the Center for Public Works on joint activities in the organization of public works;
- to conclude a fixed-term employment contract with a citizen sent by the Employment Center in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation for the period of his participation in public works and submit a copy of it to the Kineshma Employment Center;
- to submit to the Central Public Health Commission information on the creation (allocation) of jobs for the organization of public and (or) temporary work.
Community service is not free work, as some people think.
Remuneration of labor of citizens employed in public works is made by the employer for the amount of work actually performed or hours worked in accordance with applicable standards and rates, but not lower than the minimum wage established by the current legislation of the Russian Federation. The organization has the right to establish additional payments to wages and provide social benefits and guarantees to participants in public works on an equal basis with other employees.
The Employment Center pays the unemployed, employed in public works, material support in the amount of the minimum unemployment benefit.
Employers should be aware that unemployed citizens for whom public work is not suitable, when employed, continue to be registered with the employment center and remain entitled to receive unemployment benefits.
The period of participation in public works is credited to the length of service with a corresponding entry in the work book.
