Page 14 - Book about Friendship and Future.Stories of Volunteers.
P. 14

Anna Orlova


                                                                                                                  General Director
                                                                                                                  KFC Corporate Charity Fund “Opening Horizons”

                                                                                                                     I Do Because I Can…


                                                                                                                     For me, volunteering has two sides, like a coin. Both are pos-
                                                                                                                  itive.
                                                                                                                     The first one is self-development. More often volunteering is
                                                                                                                  perceived as a kind deed for the receiver, nobody speaking about
                                                                                                                  the volunteers. And I also perceived the issue like that. 10 years
                                                                                                                  ago, at the charity fair where I took part in my first project. And
                                                                                                                  5 years ago, when I became a keen volunteer, I still perceived
                                                                                                                  it like that. And even 3 years ago, when I joined the Fund, hav-
                                                                                                                  ing worked for 10 years in the KFC Operations Department. And
                                                                                                                  only after 3 years in the Fund I saw that volunteering was chang-
                                                                                                                  ing the volunteers themselves. I felt that I have changed myself,
                                                                                                                  but did not realize that it was my volunteering that caused the
                                                                                                                  change. Volunteering is a highly effective self-improvement tool.
                                                                                                                  I was first astonished, observing how quickly the people, who
                                                                                                                  are doing something good and leading volunteer projects, grow
                                                                                                                  and develop. And now I keep telling everyone: “Would you like
                                                                                                                  to self-improve? Become a volunteer!”
                                                                                                                     No other activity will provide you with such a great opportu-
                                                                                                                  nity to develop your EQ , stress resilience, persuasiveness and
                                                                                                                  leadership.
                                                                                                                     If you learn to inspire the volunteers who are not restricted
                                                                                                                  by job descriptions and monetary benefits, you will find it much
                                                                                                                  easier to inspire your team. If you succeed in finding an approach
                                                                                                                  to a  tough lady in a  senior people home, then you will surely
                                                                                                                  manage a challenging guest. If you can arrange a volunteers’ visit
                                                                                                                  for 10 people working at various sites in different shifts and coor-
                                                                                                                  dinate that with the animal shelter, then you will easily manage
                                                                                                                  a shift in a restaurant. Having learnt to understand a teenager
                                                                                                                  from an orphanage you will see that you better understand your
                                                                                                                  peers. Your competencies will become more developed than be-
                                                                                                                  fore you tried all this.
                                                                                                                     Of course, only volunteering is not enough. Books, training,
                                                                                                                  on-line platforms and mentors are required as well. But it is vol-
                                                                                                                  unteering, the practice of sharing one’s warmth, heart and soul
                                                                                                                  gives an unbelievable impulse for development.
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