VOLUNTEERING TO BE A MULE DOESN'T HELP YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT

From FUTURE SHOW, 2009 ON AIR JUDGE WYLD SHOW - Radio Talk
Excerpt from show prep notes. On air content may have been more or less. Not journalistic or debate notes.

Volunteering to be a MULE:

Big companies have volunteering programs for painting playground equipment, or picking up trash, or sorting items donated, or even scooping elephant dirt at a zoo…. Just because an activity is being done for free does not qualify it as volunteer work. Being a mule is not the feel good, sleep well at night, volunteering. It is called being naïve and USED and MANIPULATED… just offering FREE services is NOT meaningful volunteering.

Meeting a elderly lady at her home and installing deadbolt locks as she stands and chats with you is volunteering. Providing that hug and that time chatting with her is volunteering. Going to a nursing home to chat and smile and laugh is called volunteering. Teaching and mentoring children one-to-one is volunteering. Handing out shoes to kids at an elementary school all day and helping them put them on to verify that they fit.

Are there some gray areas??? Sure there are… but look at the point being presented here. Look at it honestly… do some of both types of Volunteering… but keep them in perspective and make sure you do some touch and feel and contact volunteering. If the children are beside you and holding a paint brush with you, it’s more about being beside them than it is about the shiny paint the next day.

Sincerely, Judge Wyld