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| Do I look like her? |
The first misconception is that people who volunteer / are willing to volunteer are wealthy - or at least they have enough money to support themselves without working.
Let me put this straight for you.
No. That is not the case.
I have met several volunteers out there who can hardly support themselves - but they volunteer.
I have me the odd old lady you is a low pensioner - she volunteers for her local religious centre.
I have met the lad who has just graduated from university - and he volunteers in the hope that he can get the experience and skills to find a paid job. He's going to be paying his student loan in the next 30 years of his life, and he is living on tesco value noodles.
I have met that lady who feeds the poor, and she is poor herself.
I have met a disabled man who has been volunteering with other disabled individuals and his disability allowance can hardly support him.
I have met low-paid, redundant people, and pensioners, who volunteer in politics, as they cannot stand such an expensive life.
I have met 'myself', who has been volunteering for years - even when I was unemployed. And yes, I ended up working as a freelancer because all my volunteering (15 years of it) did not help me land a single paid job!
Of course, there are plenty of volunteers out there who happen to do both: work, and volunteer.
Moral of the story: volunteering is not (only) for financially independent people.
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| Free time? You must be joking, right? |
The second misconception is time.
Free time does not equal unlimited volunteering and as I have mentioned before (post 2) volunteering can become an abuse if your boss asks you to volunteer for more time than you can afford.
This post started with a specific thought in mind, which I am going to share with you as an example. In is related to childfree living.
I recently had a chat with one of the other volunteers, who happens to be a pensioner, and volunteers her time for the local community, doing various things.
While we were at work, she asked me if I had any children, and when I told her I am childfree, she said:
'No kids? Then you must have plenty of free time. Why don't you also come and volunteer with us at the 'name of organisation here'? You know, we are desperate for volunteers on Mondays'.
I was left with my mouth wide open:
a) because the lady assumed that just because I have no kids I have way too much time in my hands
and b) just because I volunteer with one organisation, it doesn't mean that I should volunteer with every cause out there.
Then, I realised that the problem here is labelling:
Labelling the childfree as = too much free time
Labelling the volunteer as = he / she volunteers for life / is a professional volunteer
Very wrong indeed. Volunteers are not life-committed volunteers. They need to work and get paid too - and certainly they want to use their free time THE WAY THE WANT TO. They have a life outside of volunteering.
Childfree individuals have no unlimited free time. The do have some free time, maybe more time than a parent has (it always depends on who you are), but trust me, we are very busy indeed. Many of us work full-time, and the limited free time we have, we want to devote it to ourselves, our partners, our dream-chasing activities. Therefore, don't ask the childfree to volunteer if they don't want to.
No matter who you are, your free time is no exploitation material.
There you go.
I. said. it.
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