Community Service is when individuals work for free to help benefit the public or the community. While one might think that the receiver is the only one who benefits, volunteering can go beyond the receiver and influence the giver and other members of the community.

The person who takes part in Community Service immediately develops a variety of skills, including interpersonal skills. Community Service also develops an increase in social responsibility and has the positive view of giving back to your community.

According to www.ef.com, being a volunteer in Community Service is a great way to meet friends within the community. Community Service can also help the person doing the volunteer work financially by providing a way to earn scholarships or financial aid. “If you are eligible for a Federal Work Study job, the school will be delighted if you are interested in a community service job, especially if it involves working as a reading tutor for children or performing family literacy activities,” according to www.finaid.com.

Volunteering can also provide career experience. The website www.helpguide.org says, “In some fields, you can volunteer directly at an organization that does the kind of work you’re interested in. For example, if you’re interested in nursing, you could volunteer at a hospital or a nursing home.” Volunteer work might also expose participants to professional organizations or internships that could be beneficial in the future.

“Community service is important because it can go on your resume,” said Katia Castro Gonzalez.

Not only do the people doing and receiving the Community Service benefit, however, but so does the community. By providing labor for certain tasks, like building homes for Habitat for Humanity for instance, there is a direct financial benefit for the receiver, but it also means that there is a reduction in the homeless population, lessening the challenges put onto the local community to address that population. Property values are potentially increased, thereby benefiting the neighborhood.

Volunteering time, either doing paperwork or visiting patients, at a hospital or nursing home can help alleviate the work put on the staff at these locations, thereby allowing them to spend more quality time focused on their patients and avoiding some of the mundane tasks that can be done by teens.

Community Service may be a requirement or expectation, but it can also make people feel good. There are obvious benefits, when people feel successful or part of the community because they are participating in the act of Community Service, but there is also the benefit of seeing those results. People feel inspired to join in on the experience and a positive feeling can spread, like ripples in a pond. Community Service is not for the faint of heart, but it can be very uplifting and well worth the time and energy put into it.