Being a volunteer will change your life

Between 2004 and 2006, Philadelphia had an average of 1.2 million volunteers who served 143.3 hours per year according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. With a population of over 1.4 million people living in Philadelphia, together with the hundreds of thousands that live outside the Philadelphia area, that’s not a great amount of people who volunteer.

Of those 1.2 million volunteers, 21.2 percent of them are between the ages of 16 and 24. Most colleges are now requiring courses that send their students to volunteer in community service; even some high schools now require community service for graduation. Yet what do people our age, whether in college or not, do beyond what is necessary in community service?

Over Christmas break, six Cabrini students, consisting of five Loquitur editors, along with many others, made the long trip down to New Orleans, La., to aid in building houses for Habitat for Humanity. After long hours traveling in a bus down to their site, showering in portable showers, sleeping on cots in rooms that fit up to thirty people, working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday, even slamming their hands with hammers, they all realized the importance of community service. In the beginning of the trip they had some things in common, though not many. However in the end they all had one big thing in common; they all wanted to go back. Each and every one of them found the time to raise money, collect cans and attend meetings in order to partake in the trip to New Orleans. For most people, they don’t think they don’t have the time to aid in community service. Not enough hours in the day is not an excuse to not help people in need. It seems as though when something tragic happens, such as the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina or New Orleans, that people come together and rally to help the people in need. Yet after a few weeks or even months, it dies down and the rate of volunteers decreases dramatically.

It shouldn’t take a tsunami, hurricane or a levy breaking resulting in flooding out a city to have people volunteer. There’s so many thing that could be done in our own city.

Between 2004 and 2006, 27.1 percent of all fundraising in Philadelphia was performed by selling items to raise money, and 19.2 percent went to collecting, preparing and distributing food.

There are so many different ways to get involved, and it shouldn’t take your SEM 300 class to make you volunteer. If distributing food at homeless shelters doesn’t seem appealing, then there are hundreds of kids who would love attention in Norristown. The Wolfington Center is a great place to find out how you are able to do your part around Philadelphia.

Jeannie Armbuster, who works in the Wolfington Center, is a wonderful contact for information on different service projects through Cabrini. The Cabrini College Habitat for Humanity House in Norristown has volunteer workdays on Feb. 15, April 2 and April 11.

Don’t let a tragedy be the only reason you volunteer; there are so many people in the world that need help. If you have the ability to do so, take advantage of it. If you ever need help in the future and wonder why people aren’t helping you, you’re going to wish you had done more when you could; and wish there were more people out there who volunteered.