Why Volunteer with Indivisible Asheville/WNC?

Most of us can easily spitball a few things that “volunteering” does to benefit society. We think of the ways volunteers fill in the gaps: they serve as a kind of mortar to keep things standing upright despite a scarcity of resources.

Volunteer passion and sweat equity is even considered a “match” in project grant proposals.

Placing a dollar sign on volunteer time does help organizations paint the full picture of their need. Many of our favorite charities and programs are literally balanced on the backs of volunteers in this way. The need—no matter the cause—is greater than what can be met by money alone.

Yet monetizing volunteer time just doesn’t feel right. It greatly underestimates the humanity and beauty volunteers bring to the world…..and it doesn’t touch on the gifts we bring ourselves through contributing our time and talents to something bigger than ourselves. When we volunteer, we expand our social networks around important causes; we often gain valuable work experience; we build on the “soft” skills of working with a team, learning new skills, and building confidence.

Especially in these times, volunteering also helps mitigate feelings of anxiety, helplessness and despair. There’s even evidence to suggest that the benefits of volunteering multiply and spill over into the rest of life. According to a study by the London School of Economics, there’s a direct correlation between increased volunteer time and higher reported feelings of well-being.

Here at Indivisible Asheville/WNC, everything we do is run entirely on volunteer energy. This website, the article you’re reading, the action alerts you respond to, the newsletters and social media posts and videos that keep you informed, all of this is produced by volunteers. From monitoring legislation to creating events, registering voters to supporting immigrants, applying for grants and paying the bills, all of our work is volunteer work.

We periodically post specific volunteer needs, and we know that the organization will continue to grow and thrive to the extent that volunteers step up to fill these needs and to lead the way with new initiatives.

We continue to be amazed by what it means to volunteer around deeply held social values. And as we shape and move those values forward to a post-Trump world, we recognize that the only way to do that effectively is to do it together, with sleeves rolled up.

One way to celebrate those ideals is to celebrate the volunteers who are putting them into action. From time to time, we’ll share a profile of one of our volunteers and the important work they do, often behind the scenes. Our first featured volunteer is Rob Campbell, leader of our Communications Team. We hope reading about Rob and his work with us will inspire you to explore and expand your own volunteer journey!

Note: If you’re interested in getting involved with Indivisible Asheville/WNC but aren’t sure where to start, a good first step is to drop by one of our informal monthly social events, Beer & Politics, which is held on the second Thursday of every month. You can find all of our upcoming events on the website calendar here.