How Volunteering Touched my Writing
Life changed with the Corona Virus. Lockdown brought isolation and loneliness. The vulnerable and elderly were forced to stay at home, people were furloughed, young adults faced with an inconceivable new world. The need for volunteers became paramount to help with isolation, mental illness and basic needs such as providing food and medicine. For several years neuroscientists have insisted that an altruistic act brings personal growth, a sense of well-being, a reduction in stress and depression. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle the essence of life is “to serve others and do good,” and it seems an increasing number of us are starting to wake up and see why volunteering is important.
Working full time for many years, I had spent several years on a project which seemed to be going nowhere. I was drifting and needed some focus, some purpose to my life. I joined JVN as a mentor on a supported volunteer programme, recruiting mentors to support mentees from the Barnet Well-being Hub and Jewish organisations such as Jami, Work Avenue and Resource. I quickly observed how volunteering brought a sense of connection to the mentors, a fulfilment in helping someone else discover their own sense of purpose in finding a volunteer role.
According to one of the mentors on the programme, Melanie, “volunteering transforms negative rumination into positive action. I feel I can try a new skill without feeling threatened. I feel fulfilled, with a sense of achievement.” Another mentor, Robert, told me, “I put my head on the pillow at night fulfilled from the day’s volunteering.”
As the Supported Volunteer programme was put on hold during the crisis, I decided to sign up for another volunteer role. Through JVN, I became a befriender with Gift and was assigned two “friends”, Mira and Geraldine. I have got to know Mira over the past weeks. She went into lockdown at the beginning of March. At first, she didn’t mind the isolation, but after three weeks she needed someone to talk to. Mira contacted Gift and I became her “befriender”. Although we haven’t sat together or had a cup of tea, I look forward to our chats and know it means a lot to her that someone is there at the end of the phone, or at the bottom of the garden path to break up the endless minutes and provide essential supplies.
Being able to speak to Mira and Geraldine regularly, popping to the chemist for prescriptions and dropping round food and water was not a chore but a huge pleasure and privilege. With little family around Befrienders are a lifeline to those who are shielding and vulnerable. Being part of that lifeline was an honour and gave me a sense of purpose during the weeks of lockdown.
The number of people who applied to JVN during the Corona virus has been overwhelming. They have distributed food parcels all over London, chatted to the lonely and elderly, delivered prescriptions and helped children with homework and reading via zoom classes. I have come to understand that in volunteering, by giving to someone else you receive much satisfaction, fulfilment and joy. As Sophocles said, “To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task.”
Part of an article published in the Jewish Chronicle June 2020