If you think students spend all their spare time avoiding studying, going out with their mates and having a good time then you'd be right. Well our student bloggers do anyway. While they assure us they don't slack on the study, they've got a lot to answer for when it comes to enjoying themselves while volunteering.

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Monday Nov 03, 2008

Selfish Altruism?

On the 24^th October I completed the Spiderwalk – a 26 mile walk around the Sheffield area, starting at 9pm - along with other members of the Volunteering Committee. Its aim was to raise money for charity, although there seems to be some uncertainty as to which charity all the money is going to. Nonetheless money has been raised and the event was great fun, if a little gruelling.

The first 23 miles or so went absolutely fine as we wandered out of the city and into the quiet countryside of the Peak District. Generally we were all feeling good but then, with only 3 miles to go, my body started to tell me that it didn't like walking constantly for 7 hours, at a time when it was usually sleeping. This seemed to be the message most people were getting at this time and two of our group had to drop out with the end almost in sight.

 Thankfully the rest of us managed to keep going and for the second year in a row I was one of the last to cross the finish line! The event was organised by Sheffield Rag, and there are RAG (Raising And Giving) events held throughout the country – organised by students. (What is RAG?)

Aside from this I have had my first training session for my role as one of the publicity officers for the Sheffield Uni's Volunteering Committee. It's been quite interesting getting to grips with what they do and how all these committees work but I am still a relative newbie so hopefully I will be more informative later on in the year.

Two things we focused on were the under-represented groups in volunteering, and the image of volunteering. As a white male from a middle class background, I tend to be over-represented in things, but at Sheffield University volunteering females completely outnumber their opposite sex, especially where children are involved. I also had similar experiences whilst volunteering abroad over last summer. Maybe we are less charitable? More lazy? Or maybe we are worried about being labelled paedophiles if we volunteer with children?

Who knows, but some people have also begun to think that the image of volunteering is bad, and that the word 'volunteering' itself may have negative connotations. Working on the publicity for volunteering at the University I'd like to challenge some of these assumptions, but part of me wants to say that if you are really put off by the word 'volunteering' then yes - you probably shouldn't volunteer. I'm pretty selfish myself, so I am wary of claiming the moral high-ground here.

Recent volunteer opportunities at the Uni have been publicised under the title 'V!', and of course we can emphasise the skills that can be gained from volunteering and the affect it has on your CV – but surely it is primarily about helping something external from you? Can you volunteer to help yourself?

NfpSynergy – a specialist research consultancy for not-for-profit organisations - has lots to say about this in their report – The 21^st Century Volunteer.  

Posted by Harry ( 9:47 PM )
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