Do you know the top 10 reasons to become a volunteer for Medical Advocacy & Outreach (MAO)?
#10: It is good for you.
Volunteering provides physical and mental rewards. It:
- Reduces stress: Experts report that when you focus on someone other than yourself, it interrupts usual tension-producing patterns.
- Makes you healthier: Moods and emotions, like optimism, joy, and control over one’s fate, strengthen the immune system.
#9: It saves resources.
Volunteering provides valuable community services so more money can be spent on care and education initiatives. As a not-for-profit organization, MAO relies on government and private grants as well as earned revenue streams derived from insurances and service fees. Keeping fees low is critical to our guaranteeing services can be extended to anyone in need.
The estimated value of a volunteer’s time in Alabama in 2016 was calculated at $22.28 per hour based on reports from the Independent Sector, a national service organization.
#8: Volunteers gain professional experience.
You can test out a career.
#7: It brings people together.
As a volunteer you assist in:
- Uniting people from diverse backgrounds to work toward a common goal.
- Building camaraderie and teamwork.
#6: It promotes personal growth and self-esteem.
Understanding community needs helps foster empathy and self-efficacy.
#5: Volunteering strengthens your community.
As a volunteer you help:
- Support families.
- Improve health education in schools and community settings.
- Support the development of services for people today and for future generations.
- Strengthen the local economy by helping services that put people back in control of their lives.
#4: You learn a lot.
Volunteers learn things like these:
- Self: Volunteers discover hidden talents that may change views about self-worth.
- Government: Through working with MAO, a local non-profit organization, volunteers learn about the interaction of governmental services, community service providers and the beneficiaries of those services.
- Community: Volunteers gain knowledge of local resources available to solve community needs.
#3: You get a chance to give back.
People like to support community resources that they use themselves or that benefit people they care about.
#2: Volunteering encourages civic responsibility.
Community service and volunteerism are an investment in our community and the people who live in it.
#1: You make a difference.
Every person counts! For more than 30 years, MAO has focused on saving lives, one person at a time. Each hour you volunteer could help save the life of someone living with HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C or other life-threatening illnesses.