The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others. – M. Gandhi

Volunteering is an activity which is not paid for and where someone gives their time to help a not-for-profit organisation or an individual who they are not related to.

One of the most well-known benefits of volunteering is the impact on the community. It is the unpaid volunteers who are the glue that hold a community together. Volunteering connects you to your community and makes it a better place. Even helping to do the small tasks can make a real difference to the lives of people, animals, and organizations in need. Volunteering is a two-way street. It can benefit you and your family as well as the cause you choose to help. It helps you to make new friends, to expand your network, to boost your social skills, to strengthen your ties to the community and exposes you to people with common interests, neighbourhood resources, and fun and fulfilling activities.

It can be very hard to find time to volunteer in the busy lives that we lead today. But the benefits of volunteering are enormous. Volunteering offers paramount help to people in need, worthwhile causes, and the community, but the benefits can be even greater for you, the volunteer. The right match can help you in a number of ways right from finding friends, connecting with the community, learning new skills, to even advancing your career. Giving to others also helps to protect your mental and physical health. It can help in health issues like reducing stress, combating depression, keeping you mentally stimulated, and providing a sense of purpose. The more you volunteer, the more benefits you’ll experience. However, you don’t have to make a long-term commitment if you are volunteering or take a huge amount of time out of your busy day. Even giving in simple ways can help those in need and improve your health and happiness.

Each one of us wishes to do good work. We just don’t know WHAT and HOW to do it.

We at AURA have started the 100 hours Magic Community Project – Sau Ka Jadoo. It’s a community program where volunteers choose a space to create a learning impact in their community. They can choose an area of their interest and passion. All they need to do is give dedicated 2 hours every week to a proposed community of their choice for 10 months in a year. Like this every learner gets roughly 100 hours of structured learning time.

Volunteers usually face the following questions:

They lack the vision, direction, confidence and structure.

To overcome these hurdles a mentor from AURA guides & supports the volunteers. They help them to:      

This makes giving easy and fun.

If you are donating your valuable time, it’s important that you enjoy and benefit from your volunteering. So, make sure that your volunteer position is a good fit. You can do this by asking questions, by making sure you know what’s expected, by not being afraid to make a change and last but not the least by enjoying yourself.