Volunteering is not a means for your own self actualization. Volunteering is not supposed to be a chore, or a requirement, or a box to check, and the culture we’ve created that treats it that way is honestly disheartening. By which I mean, watching people make low effort, frankly awful bookmarks (that will be sent to schools that can’t afford libraries for their students, along with books) while laughing about how their art skills are so bad, they messed up, their work looks awful— but it’s fine because “they’ll just be glad to get bookmarks, so it doesn’t really matter anyway” makes me want to throw up. You don’t care who “they” are? You don’t care that this is going to a real person? Give treating people as people regardless of their economic situation a try. Maybe have a little empathy. Because all you seem to have is pity.

I’d like to say that pity has never been the point of volunteering, but that’s not true. The beginnings of volunteering as we know it came from the philanthropic elite of the post-Industrial Revolution, who used all the money they had accumulated by abusing and repressing the laboring class to start charities and orphanages. We haven’t moved far from that today: the way that we think about charity is extremely based on economic status. This is seen in “voluntourism,” in which people from Western, industrialized countries take it upon themselves to play benevolent god to developing nations. The problem is, this often comes with a complete lack of respect or understanding for the culture or actual people who live there (empathy), and only with a “poor you” mindset (pity). 

In students who aren’t traveling worldwide, this more often manifests in a disconnect between the “giving” and “receiving” ends. Volunteering has stopped being about mutual aid and community and instead reinforces division between people. I’ve worked with programs who reassure their volunteers that they can make these care packages from their own home, or a convenient meeting spot (perhaps by a park, or a place to get lunch afterwards), and the packages will then be picked up and shipped off to their intended destination— the people that they’re actually helping are no more than a vague vision of blurry faces, even though they might live in your own neighborhood. I’m sorry, but there is no care in those packages. It has been replaced by the superiority of a sanitized good deed.

I volunteer at an art studio— a place I’ve been going a few times a month for the past year. This place has genuinely come to mean everything to me. Volunteers get to work with children who come to the studio for access to every art medium you can think of, along with lessons on gratitude, and acceptance, and self love, and more. I love these kids with all my heart. When I was their age, this place would have meant just as much to me as it does today— I was a creative child who has now become an equally creative teenager. The point being, I get the same joy out of being there with the kids as they do being there with the volunteers. It’s not about who’s “giving” or “receiving.” I don’t feel like they’re lesser than I am; we’re both parts of a community where we exist together. That’s what finding your place feels like. That’s how it should feel to volunteer. 

None of this to say that I discourage volunteering in any form. Because at the end of the day, everything we can do for each other counts in some way. Sometimes, there needs to be a multi-step process to gather and transport things like care packages and bookmarks and donations, and that’s okay. That’s great, actually, because that means you’re a part of something bigger than yourself, which is the point of volunteering. It’s not the product or system that matters. It’s the intent behind what you’re doing and the care that you put into doing it.

But in a perfect world, volunteering would be about community, empathy, and doing your part in something about which you’re truly passionate. You can’t fix everything— you’ll paralyze yourself with indecision trying. But you shouldn’t care about nothing, either. Volunteering, charity, philanthropy— whatever form it takes- it’s not about you. It’s not about how many hours you do, or what college you get into because of it. It’s about what you love.