Written by Edgar Luna

Not sure how many of you have had the chance to be  a volunteer and to be able  to help in one or several of the many organizations that are out there asking for help. I have an experience that I would like to share about being a volunteer.

Since I was very young I had a very good role model at home, which was my mom that dedicated a good part of her life as a  volunteer at our church. She was a Sunday school coordinator and helped with many events to raise money to grow our community. During more than 30 years gave her time to help develop children and the people that were teaching them. She still gives her time to raise money for church by leading cookouts and any event that will help grow the community where she lives. 

As I became more of an adult , had kids and started to get more into a dad mode with dad things, I found an opportunity to volunteer.

First of all, my wife at some point could only work as a volunteer and her opportunity was through the YMCA, that is where she started her current career by donating her time to teach children how to swim and also maintaining the pool. 

During that time she had the opportunity to learn English through all the children that she would teach and that would help her communicate better and become more comfortable with a language that she knew very little of. 

As she got more involved within the organization she started to tell me about the volunteer opportunities and that they needed people willing to donate their time to help the community.

Like I said before there are many places that need help and my calling to volunteer came through that same organization using sports as the vehicle to share my experience with others.

At first I did not think I was that person that could contribute as a volunteer, I did not think there was anything special that I could teach or offer.

However as my children started to be active in sports and I went to the parents meetings and heard that question that they would always ask:

Would you like to be a volunteer?

I was intrigued but I did not know how it would work, I also thought that I would not have time because I had to work, I was always busy and would not be able to commit to the time, so I did not volunteer.

I did not become a coach that first season but I was still investing time by  taking my kids to all the practices and games, and as I did this I started to think “I can do this” . I am already here for all practices and games so I might as well commit to being a volunteer.

So next season I volunteered and went through the process to become a YMCA basketball coach, sticking to what I knew which was basketball and started coaching 3 and 4 year old’s.

As I started to get involved and actually did the work of setting up a practice schedule, finding a place to practice, setting up team meetings with parents, preparing practices and many other things, even though it was a time consuming effort, I really enjoyed it.

As I got more comfortable I saw there was a need for coaches in other sports like soccer, flag football, volleyball and baseball, so I started volunteering on all sports year round.

That meant 8 weeks of one sport at a time , one week break and another 8 weeks of another sport  that way all year round.

I did this and always tried to have 2 teams because there was a need and I had kids at different age levels. Next thing I knew I had coached for 10 years of my life which felt like it was a very short time.

During that time there were so many great memories and I got to meet wonderful people, from the children, to parents, to their families and friends that would go support them. 

One of the greatest feelings is when you bump into a person and they say “hey coach” and you know it is someone you impacted positively.

Also I had some parents approach me that started to coach because I had inspired them to volunteer and give back to their communities.

Through volunteering I had an opportunity to share my passion for sports and what that philosophy has taught me: hard work, team work, accountability, discipline and resiliency which I was sharing with children and parents.

I can only say that volunteering it is a beautiful experience of sharing what you know with the world.

And even though I was not an expert, I tried to give my best and learn from my kids and parents as well as from the many people around me.

I have found that the act of volunteering brings so much joy to life, just knowing that you are helping someone in need fills your heart with tremendous amounts of joy.

I share my experience with volunteering and maybe inspire someone to find something that you are passionate about , and make some time to share with someone in need.  

That need could be anything and you might be that one person that is able to share and inspire.

I find that if you are struggling in life and feel you can’t find your calling,  I recommend that you find a place to volunteer. 

Maybe start small, maybe an hour or a little more. But start somewhere where you can get those initial sensations of helping someone and you will see how things in life get clearer and much more significant.

Find something that you know and are passionate about and share it.

Believe me that the gift of giving will not be from you to the persons you are helping, it will be from those persons you are helping to you.

E.Luna