Reason 3: Getting to see the city<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
This might be specific to New York, but as I just mentioned, I like to pick activities all over the city. I get to see new streets and neighborhoods I may have never been to before, or maybe just a place I would walk right on by. Sometimes I go to neighborhoods I moved away from and it\u2019s interesting to see what\u2019s changed. So, if you\u2019re into urban exploration, that\u2019s a benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reason 4: Don\u2019t just sit there! Finding something to do\u2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes I\u2019ve gotten up and I\u2019ve been so surprised that suddenly 5 or 10 years have gone by and I don\u2019t know how that happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or maybe I want to meet up with friends, but they\u2019re all busy and have other things going on. Or maybe I wasn\u2019t invited to a party and feel left out. And even just being introverted\u2026not feeling like I even need to get out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Volunteering gives me an activity I can plan ahead for and it\u2019s all my own. I like that I can make plans for an activity weeks ahead of time. It feels good to know I have something I can look forward to. Now I\u2019m the one with the plans. And\u2026it\u2019s free! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reason 5: Explore a range of activities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I may be unusual from some of the other volunteers because I like to rotate the type of activities I do. From my small talk with the other volunteers\u2026it seems like many people tend to return to the same activities again and again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For what it\u2019s worth, there are 3 types of activities I choose from: something outside, working in a soup kitchen\/food support, or directly working with other people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outdoor stuff<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The outdoor activities are things like working in a community garden, park, or urban farm. These are definitely more spring, summer, and fall activities. Usually we\u2019re weeding, pruning, or some other type of working with your hands in nature activity. I learned at some point that humans find gardening extremely satisfying, so I try signing up when I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The food support\/soup kitchen activities are related to feeding people. It might be meal prepping, which could be as simple as making sandwiches or as complicated as cutting up raw chicken. I have also delivered prepared meals and packed fresh produce to be given away. Once I signed up at a church where they cooked and passed out food that day, so everyone was really rushing. But typically I\u2019m doing prep for a future meal and it\u2019s not too crazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The direct service activities are those where you\u2019re working directly with the people who benefit, like seniors, the disabled, or kids and their parents. It can be the most fulfilling but also the most emotionally taxing. I recently signed up for a seniors-focused activity. I was nervous and didn\u2019t know what to expect. I considered dropping out. But I stuck with it and it turned out better than I expected. I’ll write about some of what I’ve learned with that in a later post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, volunteering can provide opportunities to explore your city, try a new activity, and find new interests. Maybe try something you haven’t tried before \u2014 like meeting some fancy chickens! 🐔<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve been regularly volunteering and I\u2019ve decided to share some of the not so obvious benefits. In this second post, I talk about experiencing new activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[672],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5197"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5216,"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197\/revisions\/5216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/alliwalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2275-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\nFood stuff<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
People stuff<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a>