Volunteering Really Does Make A Difference
In the past, I wasn’t always a big advocate of volunteering—I’m busy with my career, I’m an entrepreneur and a professional, and I saw volunteering as something that retired people did; people with time to spare. I was wrong.
Last year, my friend Sheila got me involved with Dress for Success, and I enjoyed it so much that I’ve continued to volunteer my time and professional skills to them twice a month. It has made me realize what a difference I can make in someone’s life by taking only a few hours out of my own life to help and share my abilities.
From an organizing and clarity point of view, volunteering also highlights how many things we do and don’t need in our lives—how little we can survive on. I have a lot of respect for the women that come through the door of DFS and are starting to get their lives back on track. It takes courage and determination to ask for and accept help from others. All kinds of wonderful companies and individuals donate gently used clothes and accessories to help these women put forward a professional appearance as they reenter the job market, and there are countless volunteers who sort through and organize all the donated items and help the DFS clients find what they need.
Usually when I am there, I am in the back helping process the fabulous donations that DFS receives, which brings me to my point. There are an amazing number of things donated, and of very good quality, for these women in need. The generous donations are wonderful, but I find myself asking why we have so many excess clothes to donate at all. Is it that we’re a consumer-based society with a habit of buying and and disposing of things quickly? If we buy less, we have less to dispose of, and so less clutter and mess in our lives. I’m very glad that DFS exists to help those who need it, and I’m glad to volunteer, but I am also resolving to keep the need-it, love-it, use-it rule in mind when I shop for clothes, and not cave in to just-want-it all the time.
If you want to get involved with Dress For Success, visit their website at www.dressforsuccess.org and check out the affiliate in your area.
