Spirit of voluntarism,

I’ve been a little self absorbed over the past year with all the appointments for both of my children that have special needs that I forgot how good it feels to give back. .   Years ago,  I used to volunteer with Victim Services,  and would be on call to go to crime sites and assist victims of crime and circumstances. I had to give up this volunteering when I moved out of the area.  I also used to volunteer with a local soup kitchen once a month.      I volunteered for a number of years helping to organize and facilitate Sibling Workshops for siblings of children with special needs.   I stopped this volunteering after my eldest son received the diagnosis of Autism. 

  I used to volunteer with Autism Ontario with Chapter Leadership council for over 4 years and was a Special Education Advisory Committee Member for the Thames Valley District School Board for over 4 years.    I loved volunteering while I was doing it,  but tend to have to habit of overcommitting myself to projects,  which was the case with SEAC.  I ended up on 3 subcommittees,  and though I loved the work I found this became too much including the CLC duties,  and raising a family with 4 children, on top of working full time.   I really feel I allowed myself to get away from volunteering because I had lost sight of the true meaning of giving.   I felt in some way that I knew I had to start to accept help.   But is there any reason that one has to give up the spirit of voluntarism,  the spirit of Giving just because they need help themselves.   I also feel that though I never have believed people should volunteer in order to get rewarded,   I believe I lost sight of the built in rewards of volunteering.   I do think it is important however for leadership to recognize volunteers for their efforts.

I know I need to get back into the spirit of volunteering,  but need to do so in a balanced way.   I remember before I was working full time,  being on the Gala Committee helping to fundraise for the last Autism Ontario Gala. Like many of the things I used to commit myself to,   I gave this 110% and did an awesome job,  however there wasn’t much room for anything else,  especially closer to the Gala.   There is a Gala coming up in February,  and I want to volunteer to help contribute to its success in some way.   For a while everything I did,  lived,  breathed and talked had to do with Autism,  and I feel that my life is definitely more balanced now.  Enough so that I can allow myself the priveledge to start giving back again to Autism Ontario,  without feeling I am going to be swallowed up whole.  I know now,  and find it easier saying no and setting limits on what I can pheaibly do.  

What sparked my renewed enthusiasm for voluntarism was the simple act of making a decision to spend an hour or two,  contributing my 4 children,  1 support worker and myself to volunteer to help Autism Ontario move some items around in their office.   My children were awesome little workers and seemed to love helping out.   I used to think the fact that having 4 children,  2 with special needs meant that it would be very difficult for me to contribute anything,  at least in the daytime hours to help out.   Now I am challenging those ideas as my children grow older.   I want my children to know the meaning of “Giving back”  for all the help we have received past and present.  

The other thing that really renewed my spirit was the gracious attitude of one act by a wonderful Manager of our Local Autism Ontario Chapter.   She thanked our family by giving us a wonderful  gift.   I could never have anticipated such generosity,  and was utterly blown away by this act.    I had been wanting something like this gift for the past 3 years  but never seemed to be able to justify it or work it into our tight budget.   I always used to believe that the universe will find a way to reward those who are giving.  I had lost sight of this simple belief for a while,  but am thankful that I was re awakened to this simple truth. Our family plans to make a donation to Autism Ontario because of this thoughtfulness and generosity.