Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
VOLUNTEERING
IN AMERICA
Candidat:Burlacu Ana-Maria
Profesor Coordonator: endruc Ana-Maria
2017
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Argument
Anyone can say that is sad and unfulfilled, but no one can say that there isnt someone in need of
our help. I would like to live in a society where everybody cares for others needs and the
selfishness to become just a taboo. I think it is naturally to be affected when you see a human
being suffering and to have the desire to make something for her\him. For me, volunteering is
not just free work or an opportunity to travel for free but is an act of humanity.
You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what
you give.
Winston Churchill
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Introduction
Volunteering give you an opportunity to change peoples lives, including your own. It give you
the satisfaction of playing a role in someone elses life, helping people who may not be able to
help themselves. Volunteering is a way of giving back to your community while developing
important social skills, and gaining valuable work experience all at the same time.
In the United States, just about everyone, at one time or another, has been a volunteer. On any
given day, millions of Americans give of their time and talents to benefit their communities
through volunteer service. Volunteering is so pervasive in the United States that can be observed
daily in almost every life aspect.
In a typical year, about one-fifth of the American population, more than 62 million people, serve
as volunteers, according to U.S. government statistics. They contribute more than 8 billion hours
of service to local and national groups, valued conservatively at $173 billion.
The roots of U.S. volunteerism are far reaching and deep. Americans have been banding together
to help one another since colonial times. The settlers of the new American colonies all had the
same priority: survival. Physically, the land was a wilderness, and socially most familiar
organizational structures were missing. Cooperation meant frequently the difference between life
and death.
Neighboring farmers combined efforts to clear land, build houses and barns, and harvest crops.
Quilting parties and spinning bees were common occurrences, as were whangs, gatherings of
women who helped each other with annual housecleaning. Church buildings were built by
volunteers, and town records are rife with references to donations of land, materials and money,
all given voluntarily so that each community could have its own place of worship. Volunteer
efforts by both men and women were called changing works.
As the first settlements became small cities, new ways of voluntary action evolved. Early street
lighting was a shared responsibility of homeowners who rotated the hanging of lanterns at their
front gates. Sunday schools were started so that poor children, working at jobs for six days a
week, could be taught to read on their single day off, from the Bible.
As early as the 1600s, colonists formed citizen fire brigades to combat fires in Boston,
Philadelphia and New Amsterdam (later New York), and in 1736 Benjamin Franklin formally
organized Philadelphia volunteer fire company, consisting of thirty volunteers who equipped
themselves with leather buckets and bags and baskets. The concept quickly spread throughout
the colonies and persists today, when more than 70 percent of firefighters in the United States are
volunteers.
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Who needs volunteering?
In each country, there are many problemes about eaquality between people . This problem is
found even in the USA. In most cases volunteers are trying to do something about it. The areas in
which volunteers work are many. From emotional work with ill people, till physics work to build
houses for homeless people. I will continue to present the most important fields about volunteers
work in America.
1. HOMELESNESS
Housing represents the fundamental base-
solution to the problem of homelessness. The
lack of affordable housing and the limited scale
of housing assistance programs contribute to the
current housing crisis and to homelessness. This
deficit of affordable housing has led to high rent
burdens, overcrowding, and substandard housing,
which has not only forced many people to
become homeless but has also put a growing
number of people at risk of becoming homeless.
The National Coalition for the Homeless and others urge Congress to include money for
homelessness prevention and re-housing in any legislative response to the foreclosure crisis, and
are also seeking to pass legislation that would help renters living in foreclosed properties to
remain in their homes or transition smoothly to new housing. This is in response to:
One-third of poor renter households are receiving a housing subsidy from the federal, state, or
local government.
A majority of local and state homeless coalitions are witnessing an increase in homelessness in
the wake of the 2007 foreclosure crisis.
Research conducted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed that renters make
up 40% of the households facing foreclosure and rental properties constitute an estimated 20% of
all foreclosures.
A survey of 24 cities showed that people remain homeless an average of seven months, however,
87% of cities reported that the length of time people are homeless has increased in recent years.
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In 2014, a survey of cities by the US Conference of Mayors showed that 48% of cities reported
an increase in homelessness, 39% showed a decrease, and 13% stayed the same.
In 2013 the average renter earned an hourly wage of $14.32, however, the housing wage is
$18.75, exceeding average wages by $4.50 an hour.
According to HUD, Five states, California (22%), New York (13%), Florida (8%), Texas (5%),
and Massachusetts (3%), accounted for more than half of the homeless population in the United
States in 2013.
2. IMMIGRANTS
Immigration had been both a boon and a curse for the United States. While on the one hand, the
country has seen its rich culture and civilization being shaped
out by talented, ambitious, and hard-working people from
around the world, but on the other hand, illegal and disruptive
elements have endangered the national security. Here a brief
focus can be made on major challenges posed by immigration
problems USA .
Illegal Immigration:
Drug smuggling;
Identity theft;
Immigration on false visas from countries with which the USA has no automatic visa
agreements.
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The successive administrations in the USA has been perturbed by the increasing flow of illegal
immigration into the US more after the 9/11 attacks. Various legislations (Please refer to
Immigration Law in USA and Immigration Reform USA , Index 1, Topics 7 and 9 ) have been
passed to solve the issue of illegal immigration (sometimes negative while sometimes
affirmative). In 1990 the Congress had appointed the Commission on Immigration Reform
(dissolved in 1997) to review the nation's policies and laws and to recommend changes. Debates
have engulfed the American society as to whether immigration has really helped or harmed the
US; while the economics of illegal immigration has evolved to be a highly contentious issue.
Despite all of this, the issue of illegal immigration and immigration problems in the USA are far
from being resolved fully and finally.
3. DRUG ADDICTION
Drug addiction help is commonly sought when an individual realizes the drug they are using has
power over their life. Addiction is defined as a
chronic, often relapsing brain disease characterized
by compulsive drug use. The initial decision to take
drugs, for most people is freewill, whether
experimenting recreationally or having been
prescribed medication for any number of symptoms.
While some people will never display negative
responses, others will find themselves, over a period
of time, relying on the effects produced by the drug.
Seeking help with drug addiction is a pro-active step toward taking back control of ones life.
Drug use reported in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for 2010 is as follows:
* 22.6 million people, or 8.9 % of the total USA population, over 12 years of age were current or
former drug users.
* 20.2 million people over age of 18 are current illicit drug users.
* Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal substance. 17.4 million people are reported to be
past-month users.
* 1.5 million people are current users of cocaine. This represents 0.6% of the population.
* 1.2 million people are past-month users of hallucinogens with nearly 700,000 having used
ecstasy.
* 7 million people reported to used prescription medications for non-medical use in 2010.
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* There was a reported decrease in past-month methamphetamine users with 353,000 the
reported number.
* 17.5% of all reported drug users are unemployed, 8.4% are employed fulltime and 11.2% are
employed part time. This reveals that 65.5% of all current drug users are employed in some
capacity.
* 10.6 million persons reported driving while under the influence of drugs.
4. CANCER
What health condition concerns Americans the most? Cancer -- more so than obesity,
neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and even infectious diseases, such as Zika, Ebola and
HIV/AIDS. CNN
Among US women, breast cancer is the most common cancer, the second most common cause of
death from cancer, and a leading cause of premature mortality from cancer in women as
measured by average and total years of life lost. The ACS estimates that there will be 246,660
cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in US women and 40,450 deaths during 2016. After a
period of declining age-adjusted breast cancer incidence rates (1999-2004), overall breast cancer
incidence rates have been stable (2004-2012). Age-adjusted breast cancer mortality rates have
declined since 1989 and declined by about 1.9% per year over the period from 1998 to 2012.
The ACS guideline for breast cancer screening in average-risk women was updated in 2015and
represents the first guideline to follow the new process for ACS guideline development and
update established in 2011. The ACS organized an interdisciplinary Guideline Development
Group (GDG) consisting of nonspecialist experts to consider the evidence and develop or update
its screening guidelines. The last previous update of the ACS guideline for breast cancer
screening in average-risk women was in 2003, and the screening guideline for women at very
high risk was last updated in 2007. For this update, ACS chose to focus on a broad definition of
average-risk women, which the GDG considered to be those women without a personal history
of breast cancer, a confirmed or suspected genetic mutation known to increase risk of breast
cancer or a history of previous radiotherapy to the chest at a young age. An update of the ACS
breast cancer screening guideline for women at higher than average risk will be undertaken in
2016.
Unfortunatly, this are not all social problems in America. I will remaind you about abandonated
children, old people without families and children whithout chance to education. But,
volunterees are not usefull just in this cases, they often are activ in cultural events organization
or in environtmental events. Therefor, the people and the environtment need volunteers. A
country who has volunteers is rich because voluntearing involve free work and often they do
things that other people who are paid do not. Who needs volunteers? This world.
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Examples of volunteer comunity
I have seen Americans making great and sincere sacrifices for the key common good and a
hundred times I have noticed that, when needs be, they almost always gave each other faithful
support.Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835
We also work to infuse com-pas-sion into society at large, through lec-tures, art and other
cul-tural ini-tia-tives, because we affirm the cen-tral place of the human person in all social,
polit-ical, eco-nomic and cul-tural life. The International Center for a Culture of Compassion
(ICCC) was founded in 2007 to sup-port this world-wide effort. With a spe-cial con-sul-ta-tive
status at the UN, Hearts Home works closely with ECOSOC in its efforts to promote human
dig-nity.
Hearts Home consists of small centers that provide companionship and one-on-one sup-port
to dis-ad-van-taged and socially iso-lated indi-vid-uals, espe-cially to chil-dren.
Hearts Home volunteers base their mission on the three following pillars: compassion,
com-mu-nity and prayer. They strive to:
Form personal relationships with the most suffering and isolated in deprived areas: orphanages,
jails, nursing homes
Welcome anyone knocking at the door and organize a wide range of cultural and educational
activities.
Act as a link between the people in need and the appropriate resources such as public assistance
and rehabilitation centers.
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2. FRIENDS OF MEL
Mel Simmons exuded life.
She brought her energy
into every room she ever
entered, every life she ever
touched. Mel loved people
and took them as they
were, on their terms. Mel
was diagnosed in 2000
with breast cancer. Her
initial biopsy showed 24
nodes positive for breast
cancer. Mel entered every
drug protocol offered which resulted in her having to take a year off from work, leaving her both
physically and financially drained but never without her legendary humor and spirit. As a 38
year Boston based flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, Mel had many colleagues who would
bring Mel handfuls of colorful bracelets from abroad. Mel loved them and delighted in giving
them away to hospital staff and patients. Patients arrived for chemotherapy treatments to find
beautiful bracelet gifts from Mel on their chair.
Shortly after Mel passed away, those who received the bracelets as gifts began wearing them in
her honor. Mels Bracelet has become an icon for friendship, support, love, community and
solidarity that started with one person and has grown to include many other peoples touching
stories. A group of her friends decided to offer the bracelets for a donation to fund the research
and support that helped Mel survive for five years after her diagnosis. In just one year, Mels
friends raised $1,000,000 and donated the funds to the Massachusetts General Cancer Center in
her honor. The Friends of Mel Foundation continues to grow.
At the American Diabetes Association, we are dedicated to changing the future of diabetes by
spearheading a national movement that invites people to help confront and fight diabetes. Our
ultimate goal is to Stop Diabetes once and for all.
We cannot achieve this goal alone. Your dedication and passion are critical to strengthening our
movement and realizing our mission: to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all
people affected by diabetes.
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Your involvement as an American Diabetes Association volunteer whether on a local or
national level will help us expand our community outreach and impact, inspire healthy living,
intensify our advocacy efforts, raise critical dollars to fund our mission, and uphold our
reputation as the moving force and trusted leader in the diabetes community.
Volunteers For Peace is a non-profit organization, founded in 1982, that offers placement in over
3,000 voluntary service projects in more than 100 countries. Each year we provide almost 1,000
volunteers with invaluable opportunities to strengthen their ability to communicate in diverse
groups, explore grassroots leadership opportunities, and build cultural understanding and
connections around the world.
VFP offers service projects that arise from a grassroots, community based need for adults, teens,
seniors, families and groups. Volunteers can choose between Short-Term Projects (Also known
as Workcamps) where volunteers from 4 or more countries come together for a 2-3 week service
project, or Individual Service Adventures & Gap Year Projects (Also known as Medium Term or
Permanent Projects) involve working with VFP to create a personalized 2-week to 1-year
experience.
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Benefits of being volunteer
In order with the law of atraction when you give something you receive something back. When
we talk about voluntearing this law is more
than true.When you are volunteer, firstly
you are volunteer for yourself.
There are so many beneficial ways of getting involved in and giving back to your community.
Not only is volunteering a rewarding experience, but it helps teenagers reputations. By giving
up a few hours of your day to clean up the local community park, you may bring a lifetime of
happiness in some childs life. Or provide shelter and warmth to a family who lives on the streets
by volunteering to help in building them a home. Why not spend a little time helping others,
because in the end, what goes around comes around.
Volunteering offers vital help to people in need, worthwhile causes, and the community, but the
benefits can be even greater for you, the volunteer. Volunteering and helping others can help you
reduce stress, combat depression, keep you mentally stimulated, and provide a sense of purpose.
While its true that the more you volunteer, the more benefits youll experience, volunteering
doesnt have to involve a long-term commitment or take a huge amount of time out of your busy
day. Giving in even simple ways can help others those in need and improve your health and
happiness.
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After a long documentaition I find out four ways of benefits after voluntearing work:
One of the better-known benefits of volunteering is the impact on the community. Volunteering
allows you to connect to your community and make it a better place. Even helping out with the
smallest tasks can make a real diference to the lives of people, animals, and organizations in
need. And volunteering is a two-way street: It can benefit you and your family as much as the
cause you choose to help. Dedicating your time as a volunteer helps you make new friends,
expand your network, and boost your social skills.
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While some people are naturally outgoing, others are shy and have a hard time meeting new
people. Volunteering gives you the opportunity to practice and develop your social skills, since
you are meeting regularly with a group of people with common interests. Once you have
momentum, its easier to branch out and make more friends and contacts.
Volunteering helps counteract the effects of stress, anger, and anxiety. The social contact aspect
of helping and working with others can have a profound effect on your psychological overall
well-being. Nothing relieves stress better than a meaningful connection to another
person. Working with pats and other animals has also been shown to improve mood and reduce
stress and anxiety.
Volunteering combats depression. Volunteering keeps you in regular contact with others and
helps you develop a solid support system, which in turn protects you against depression.
Volunteering makes you happy. By measuring hormones and brain activity, researchers have
discovered that being helpful to others delivers immense pleasure. Human beings are hard-wired
to give to others. The more we give, the happier we feel.
Volunteering increases self-confidence. You are doing good for others and the community,
which provides a natural sense of accomplishment. Your role as a volunteer can also give you a
sense of pride and identity. And the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to
have a positive view of your life and future goals.
Volunteering provides a sense of purpose. Older adults, especially those who have retired or
lost a spouse, can find new meaning and direction in their lives by helping others. Whatever your
age or life situation, volunteering can help take your mind off your own worries, keep you
mentally stimulated, and add more zest to your life.
Volunteering helps you stay physically healthy. Studies have found that those who volunteer
have a lower mortality rate than those who do not. Older volunteers tend to walk more, find it
easier to cope with everyday tasks, are less likely to develop high blood pressure, and have better
thinking skills. Volunteering can also lessen symptoms of chronic pain and reduce the risk of
heart disease.
People with disabilities or chronic health conditions can still benefit greatly from volunteering.
In fact, research has shown that adults with disabilities or health conditions ranging from hearing
and vision loss to heart disease, diabetes or digestive disorders all show improvement after
volunteering.
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If youre considering a new career, volunteering can help you get experience in your area of
interest and meet people in the field. Even if youre not planning on changing careers,
volunteering gives you the opportunity to practice important skills used in the workplace, such as
teamwork, communication, problem solving, project planning, task management, and
organization. You might feel more comfortable stretching your wings at work once youve honed
these skills in a volunteer position first.
Just because volunteer work is unpaid does not mean the skills you learn are basic. Many
volunteering opportunities provide extensive training. For example, you could become an
experienced crisis counselor while volunteering for a womens shelter or a knowledgeable art
historian while donating your time as a museum docent.
Volunteering can also help you build upon skills you already have and use them to benefit the
greater community. For instance, if you hold a successful sales position, you raise awareness for
your favorite cause as a volunteer advocate, while further developing and improving your public
speaking, communication, and marketing skills.
Benefit 4: Volunteering brings fun and fulfillment to your life and free travels
As volunteer you have the opportunity to travel for free and to Volunteering is a fun and easy
way to explore your interests and passions. Doing volunteer work you find meaningful and
interesting can be a relaxing, energizing escape from your day-to-day routine of work, school, or
family commitments. Volunteering also provides you with renewed creativity, motivation, and
vision that can carry over into your personal and professional life.
Many people volunteer in order to make time for hobbies outside of work as well. For instance,
if you have a desk job and long to spend time outdoors, you might consider volunteering to help
plant a community garden, walk dogs for an animal shelter, or help out at a children's camp.
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Volunteer feedback
"I think this is a perfect opportunity to get out and help a group of people who
have been through so much, and to live in a very different environment. I have
a much greater understanding of disabled persons, and an appreciation of how
life lived simply can be just as exciting. Anyone who has spent time with Nicu
will know the excitement that comes when he visits the local shop." Tim
Buchanan, Dunedin, New Zealand-Romania Volunteer
"I have volunteered twice for GVN and both times I found that GVN did the
ground work necessary for me to go into a remote area so I could safely do the
work I volunteered for. You go with a feeling of security that you're not out
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there alone. Yes, physically you may be but GVN is not far away! After I retired, I use to travel
as a backpacker for months at-a-time. Since I've found GVN, I now get to travel and experience
something better. Thank you for the opportunities you have provided me with. I plan on working
as a volunteer as long as life allows me to."Sami Buisson-Daniel, Pennsylvania, United States-
Kenya Volunteer
Final considerations
Volunteering proved important in more aspect of life. From personal experience between people
till an influence in social life. All volunteers I met when I was volunteering or those volunteers
that I read about said that they made friends and get wonderful life experience, all thanks to
volunteering.
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In conclusion, volunteers are people who care about the well-being of their community. Some of
them do not have much , but are willing to share what they've got with others. In other words,
they are important part of our lives. Some of us may not had the opportunity of interacting with
one. But I know for a fact, that they have change the lives of many. They have helped
theirfriends overcome a family loss, or the neighbors with their kids, and even that estranger
laying in the hospital bed.
Bibliography
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Contents
Argument ............................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 3
Who needs volunteering? ....................................................................................... 4
1. HOMELESNESS .............................................................................................................................. 4
2. IMMIGRANTS ................................................................................................................................. 5
3. DRUG ADDICTION ........................................................................................................................ 6
4. CANCER .............................................................................................................................................. 7
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