This morning I was the speaker at a seminar on volunteer management. Yep, people paid money to hear me speak. You get me for free 🙂 It was a good session and lots of sharing and learning took place. I was riding the Metro back to my car reviewing the morning in my mind and it struck me just how many good people and groups are out there in the world.

The participants today represented people helping youth, feeding families, rescuing animals and providing health care to those who can’t afford it. I was speaking with one of the volunteer staff members registering people and she happened to be from Ireland (can’t get away from these folks). She was commenting on how generous Americans are as both individuals and corporations – generous with time, money and other resources.

That’s been my experience too – people are very generous. Glad to help when asked, glad to give when the mission moves them and glad to sacrifice when it can help someone else. The school system forces our middle and high school age kids to earn a certain number of service hours to graduate. What the program misses is teaching the kids to find their passion, because it is from that passion, that selfless service emerges.

These kids are doing whatever it takes to get the hours instead of learning to make a commitment or to try to find out what they are interested it. They are taught you get something when you do service. In their case, it is hours towards graduation. If you want them to become life-long contributors to their community, teach them how to identify their interest(s), locate groups that represent those interests and teach them that volunteering has rewards that aren’t always tangible at first.

As I was browsing through my IPod today, I saw “With a Little Help from my Friends.”  I think it is a fitting song for today. If you are interested in getting involved, check out http://www.volunteermatch.org to find something in your area.