Volunteer profile: Debbie & Planned Parenthood

Special thanks to Debbie for volunteering to be Volunteer Spark’s first volunteer profile.

Debbie works full-time at a non-profit and is the mother of a young son. Below, she shares about how she got started volunteering, her most memorable experiences, and why she thinks volunteering is important:

How she got started:

Fervently pro-choice, I had organized rallies and guest speakers in college, but never had worked in a clinic. I felt it was important to help out on the “front lines”, so to speak.

After graduating college and starting a full-time job, my first volunteering experience was at Planned Parenthood in Kansas City Missouri. I did general office work, helped with mailings, ran errands for full-time office staff.

Not only did I have to walk through some pretty aggressive and mean protesters to get inside, but I was pretty impressed with the grit of the medical and administrative staff who walked through those protesters everyday. They were yelled at by name, pelted with all sorts of things, called at home and berated. Plus, my heart melted for the women who bravely crossed through those protesters to receive health care.

Sadly, I’ve not volunteered in a clinic in a very long time. Today, I wouldn’t, given that I’m a single mother and just can’t afford to risk injury or worse. But, I’ve volunteered in political campaigns and look forward to getting my young son involved in the next campaign that moves me. He was too young to be involved in the last Presidential–but I have a feeling he will be walking precints with me in 2012. I’ve learned that I can make a difference. No, I wasn’t providing any sort of health care or counseling–but, the fact that I was there, willing to help (if even to straighten up the lobby), made me realize that even the smallest contribution counts and adds up to improving the experience for who you are serving. Also, I learned that writing checks is great, but showing up on the “front lines”–whether that be at a clinic, campaign, retirement home, school–can be more impactful. The human element of volunteering cannot be discounted.

Why people don’t volunteer, and why they should:

I think there are two big excuses. I can’t possibly make a difference, and I dont’ have the time. I suppose it’s like anything, right? If you want to do it, you will.

Number one reason to volunteer: People. We need to let others know we care, that we hear/see them, that we want to help. I think we’ve lost a sense of community in this country. We tend to compartimentalize issues and as a result we forget that the homeless or women who are abused or addicts or runaway kids or the jobless are human. It’s easy to ignore a statistic–much more difficult to ignore real people. The more we get out there and really see the problem and its human dimension, the more likely we’ll demand and get real change from our government.

I would tell them to think about an issue that is important to them, and then call an organization involved in that issue to see what they may need. It does the heart good, it expands one’s thinking, and it helps build community.

Ok, now you’ve got me all jazzed to get out there and volunteer. Thanks Nora for letting me answer these questions! It was a fun exercise–got me thinking about what is truly important!

 

 

What cause really matters to you?