What is the value of volunteering?

There are all sorts of volunteer programs. Hospitals have them, as do social service agencies and non-profit organizations.

Most of my own personal experience has been with non-profits. The volunteers with whom I have worked have often expressed their feeling of satisfaction at being able to give back to the community or organization that provided support when they were in need. There has also been a consistent report that the act of giving of time and talent to assist such an entity, particularly one that has had an impact on the individual's well being or own personal development, has actually increased their own level of well-being and personal development!

That's been my experience and so I've come to the following conclusion:

Giving back what I have been given enriches what I have received.

As I begin my work with the RiverGanga Foundation I am noticing this phenomenon to an amazing degree. Of course, wonder and the sense of returning home have sweetened most everything about my involvement with John and Carla Sherman. I am a very fortunate man!

While some communities may have resources that may not be available to the individual, the RiverGanga community is unique. It's not trying to sell me a bill of goods. It's not even trying to convince me of anything. It's simply offering me what it has found to be the case: that the act of looking at yourself sets into motion a recovery process that nurtures sanity.

I could have chosen to devote all of my energy to my own personal path. But I have come to believe that the energy of community can have a much more profound affect on the current of human life than the efforts of the individual. Therefore I have chosen to work with John and Carla to further the amazing recovery and transformation that I've welcomed into my life. This is the way my life is supposed to be. I have searched long and hard for this sense of connection with my life. But it wasn't the searching that unlocked the door; it was the suggestion to "look at yourself" that turned the key, revealing what had always been there.

John speaks clearly about these things. Carla publishes his words for all to read and hear. John answers our questions patiently and with self-deprecating humor and understanding. He offers Open Houses and Worldwide Meetings and Online Intensives and Five-day Retreats. Meanwhile Carla works tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure these events run smoothly and to provide us with the accompanying resources we need to ensure our own recovery: podcasts, translations, transcriptions, videos, ebooks.

They offer us the Community Center, where we have the opportunity to share our own experiences and help each other in our recovery.

Have you investigated the website lately? Have you checked out the resources that can be purchased online at www.riverganga.org? Have you experienced the wealth of information and audio and video tools that are freely given to us in the video blogs and in the podcast?

Join me in helping the RiverGanga Foundation:

• If you've got some money, give it: http://www.riverganga.org/donations.html
  
  
• If you've got some time, talent or expertise, donate it by volunteering: http://www.riverganga.org/volunteers/index.html
  
  
• If you have any suggestions or comments you'd like to share with me, email me: billcorcoran@riverganga.org

 

Bill Corcoran – Cleveland, Ohio
Volunteer Coordinator
RiverGanga Foundation

All of our meetings and events are always free of charge. All are welcome, with no regard for religious and spiritual beliefs and practices or any other thing.

Although our events are free of charge, they are certainly not free of cost. The money needed for this work must come entirely from the generosity and compassion of those who, like us, have seen for themselves the immense good that can come from spreading this good news to all humanity.

Learn more about how you can help provide financial support for our work.