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Health & Fitness

Community Service: Not Just for Celebrity Convicts

Volunteers help make our community strong & there are also many personal benefits that you should explore too!


It’s very easy to take the community that we live in for granted. People and societies have long depended on each other and I often wonder if some of our traditional values are being disregarded for commercialism and globalization. Volunteering is about helping others and having a positive impact on people’s lives in their community. As a volunteer, you have the opportunity to return to society some of the benefits that society has given to you. Likewise, volunteers help save community resources so more money can be spent on other needed improvements. One other common belief is that volunteering is simply an act of altruism and selflessness. However, many people find that community service may be an exchange of benefits. Let's explore that concept further.

The entire list of personal benefits is too long to discuss or list, but here are a few worth considering. As a volunteer you can learn new skills or use your existing skills in some pretty cool new ways. Learn more about yourself and your talents; you may stumble on an interest that motivates your life in a whole new way. I have a very demanding job and one personal benefit is stress reduction. Spending an hour or so in the middle of my hectic business day (doing simple volunteer work) often helps reduce tension and improves my mood considerably. Regardless of your age or career level, working as a volunteer in the community will also introduce you to interesting new people and different professions!

Being a part of a volunteer effort in your community can also boost your career options. Many employers would rather recruit a candidate with volunteer experience over a person without any experience at all. Similarity, some employers also believe that community service can benefit their company from the new skills you will learn. Likewise, some employers (like mine) may also match your volunteer hours with a grant for the organization that you support. You will surely find that community service is also an excellent way to network with others; both professionally and personally.

Regardless of your passion and no matter how you get involved, volunteering will offer ways to have a real and lasting impact on both you and our community! Most everyone will probably agree that Ankeny is a great community, but there's allot of great volunteers that help make it a great place to live and work too!

Find a worthy cause that you want to support and then get involved. You will find that you look forward to the time that you can pitch-in and lend a hand! There are many volunteer opportunities right here in the Ankeny community. Here's a quick list (in no particular order), please add a comment if you know of others!

Ankeny Patch's Volunteer Page
City of Ankeny: Adopt a Flowerbed
On With Life
Animal Rescue League of Iowa
City of Ankeny: Ankeny Garden Club
Goodwill Industries of Central Iowa
City of Ankeny: Kirkendall Public Library
Ankeny Public Schools Volunteer
Ankeny Art Center
Ankeny Community Theatre
Ankeny Thrift Store
Chamber of Commerce: Ankeny Summerfest
Iowa DNR
Saylorville Lake Volunteer Program
VolunteerMatch Search(Ankeny)

"Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It's important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It's the way in which we ourselves grow and develop."
-Dr. Dorothy I. Height



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