Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Volunteering: Mutually Beneficial for Community and Individual

Headshot of Dr. Mark Snyder
While volunteering offers many benefits to the helped community, it also has benefits for the volunteer. In a Southeast Missourian article titled, “Volunteering helps both the community and the volunteer,” the author shares how her experience as a child volunteering has shaped her family as both herself and children volunteer at a variety of organizations. Mark Snyder, PhD, a McKnight Presidential Chair in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, studies volunteering. Snyder shares that people that volunteer tend to come from households that value helping others. Leading by example matters and a key to continuing the values of volunteerism is generational volunteering.

Snyder’s research shows that one of the reasons that life-long volunteers continue to volunteer is the community bonds they have formed. Additionally, volunteering contributes to an overall sense of well-being and confidence. Volunteering builds community and in turn community bonds promote volunteerism.


Composed by Flora Pollack, communications assistant.