Page 151 - Book about Friendship and Future.Stories of Volunteers.

Veronika Ivashkina

Volunteer of the Charity Project “Generation Choice”
Leninsk-Kuznetsky

No Doubts – It Is Worth to Be a Volunteer!

I became a volunteer of the charity project “Generation
Choice” not from the very start. I believe that one should go in
for volunteering only if one wishes it and feels ready inside, then
it will be beneficial for everyone. Already before the project I was
observing the people who cared – the volunteers – and I admired
their human traits. But when my friends and peers – the volun-
teers of the KFC Corporate Charity Fund “Opening Horizons” – in-
vited me to visit teenagers in an orphanage together with them,
frankly speaking, I experienced great doubts. I was haunted by
the questions: “Do they need us? Will the kids like me? What if
these kids are not at all interested in that?”
When I first came to see the guys with a team of volunteers,
I understood that we were welcome there, when I saw their joy-
ful faces and heard their question, “What kind of game do we
have today?” So, all my doubts and fears were completely dis-
solved almost immediately, and I feel sorry that I have not taken
this step earlier.
Now, while teaching the kids to master new skills, I am also
self-improving. And every time after I visit an orphanage, I feel
some magic happening in me: I experience a cheerful mood and
high spirits. I think this happens because I get transparent emo-
tions and sincerity from the kids and see their real joy while we
are communicating. Earlier, I was spending my free sitting at
home in front of a PC, idly reading the news. After starting to vol-
unteer I learnt that one can enjoy free time and rest while making
this world a little better and kinder.
It is great to be a volunteer because you feel part of some-
thing important, feel useful and engaged in a big deed.