Since April is National Volunteer Month,, I am writing simply to say how much I love volunteering at the Amherst Survival Center. I have served lunch there once a week for the past three years, and it has been nothing short of life-changing.
I love getting to know more of my community. I love the brilliant, complicated, friendly people who visit the center, as well as the volunteers and staff who work there. I love the work itself, the opportunity to serve. I love the friends I’ve made.
To be clear, I don’t believe in altruism: I volunteer because I like it, because it makes me feel good, because it is humbling. I volunteer because the lunch guests treat me like the sparkling version of myself I most want to be. I volunteer because even when the people I serve are grumpy, or when I am, I have an opportunity to stretch and grow — to become more compassionate, more patient.
Honestly, some weeks I feel too busy to go, but I go anyway — and then, when I’m leaving, I think: “Thank goodness I came here today! This was just what I needed.”
Maybe volunteering can’t fit into your life right now — I get that, I do. Or you are serving your community already, or in a different way But if you can fit in a shift at the Amherst Survival Center, I hope you will. We laugh a lot, the food is good and the company is great. Join us.
Catherine Newman
Amherst