Volunteer Work

The little free time that I have I usually spend volunteering at my parish. I first started volunteering the summer before my freshman year of high school simply because it was required that I complete a certain number of service hours every year. I'll be honest and say that I didn't necessarily like it at first. I thought there were better things I could be doing with my time and that there was no reason for us to need to do so many hours of volunteer work. I didn't find it to be any fun. However, after helping out in a few events at my parish, I started to meet more and more people who were really passionate about the service work we were doing. Slowly but surely, I also started to find a purpose behind the work I did and started to do way more hours than the requirement for that year. 

Fast forward almost five years, and I'm now a part of the Hispanic Ministry Committee at my parish. Now, I volunteer for pretty much anything and everything I have time for. I've helped plan and run fundraisers, aided in religious education classes, been part of a teen leaders group for a retreat, have helped direct the yearly Passion play, and so much more. My friends and family often question me on why I spend so much time doing service work, especially now that I don't have it as a requirement. My answer is that I truly enjoy spending my time doing things that will benefit the community that surrounds me. Volunteering has also brought so many incredible people and great opportunities into my life that it's impossible to not enjoy it. So, I plan to continue this service work as long as I possibly can.