Volunteering is Good for the Soul: a post from the archives

The following is an article that I wrote for an old coaching blog & a women business owners newsletter. As I realized that it CURRENTLY IS National Volunteer Week, I'll share it & maybe do an update.

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Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Volunteering is good for the soul. By Coach Meg Meyer
April 18-24 is National Volunteer Week, in the United States.

A brunette high school girl who has an extremely difficult time getting her thoughts to come out of her mouth and who frequently shies away from questions accordingly comes up to me at the end of a session and asks me to give her pointers on her resume. My heart sinks. Her words come out with a stutter, but she gets them out. And she sought
me out. It is little things like this, knowing that I am touching the life of a young adult, that keeps me volunteering.

I volunteer and do some work for Junior Achievement in addition to running my coaching business and writing articles for the various publications I lend my work to. Now, this isn't a sales pitch as to why you should volunteer for JA, though we'd be glad to have you.

The purpose of this article is to get you thinking about volunteering, if you haven't already. And to thank you profusely if you are already doing so.

Between September of 2002 and September of 2003 - 36,987 women and 26,805 men gave their time to volunteering. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that's an increase of 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively. Thank you, thank you, endlessly thank you! The world needs you, you marvelous creature!

The women business owners are so blessed with the ability to create business that I encourage us to lend that creativity to a worthy cause. I choose non-profits based on those that help kids, women, and encourage business and financial literacy. You can choose from any available in your own area, based on your belief, based on your history or on whatever criteria suits you.

In as little as a few hours time, you will be reminded how your contribution has helped the world.

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Meg Meyer is a success and communications coach who helps entrepreneurs and executives create a better business with less stress. Send in your business and life coaching questions to no@longer.active. Questions will be selected to be answered in an upcoming column. Submissions may be edited.