The Unexpected Gift of Volunteering: Healing Your Own Heart While Helping Others

Volunteering at the Life Center isn’t just about giving—it’s about receiving hope and healing for your own life. As Diane, one of our volunteers, puts it: “Every time I serve at the LC, I walk away feeling better than when I arrived. Showing up makes a difference. Building relationships makes a difference. Being part of a community makes a difference.”

That’s the gift of volunteering—you step in thinking you’re helping someone else, and you leave with your own heart a little more healed, too. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to get involved, consider this your invitation. Stand alongside us, listen to stories, share hope, and discover the joy of serving. 

I get the wonderful opportunity to attend Life Center events—it’s my job to sit back and observe. I spend much of my time at the LC trying to understand the full scope of what happens in our programs and how to communicate these wonderful, sometimes tear-jerking moments, to our online community.

Often, if you see me, I’m standing back and taking it all in. I love moving from person to person—watching, listening, and soaking in the conversations between our volunteers and guests. I love to hear people’s stories and get a bigger picture of what brings them to the LC. It’s important to remember: no one ever comes to the LC looking for help on their best day.

This winter at the Toy Store, I watched parents shop through tears because asking for help is never easy. I helped a mom of three choose toys for her children. I watched her anxiety fade as the judgment she was expecting never came. Instead, everyone around her celebrated, excited to help her find the perfect gifts. I watched love embodied in volunteers heal a tiny part of her. 

Once, at a Picnic in the Parking Lot, I was offered help by a guest of the LC. Our children went to school together, and she offered to connect me with someone who could get my child a “never-been-worn pair of shoes” from Shoes for Souls. - A little hurt, healed with a hope that someone else had given her. Now, she was sharing that hope with me. 

I tried to hide my tears at Shoes for Souls when little children told me their favorite part of their new shoes was, “They don’t hurt my feet.” I felt so much hope because of people like you, who donated more than 500 pairs of shoes this year to heal the hearts (and feet) of local students.

Every time something like this happens, it heals a little piece of me, too. The world can be harsh, and it’s easy to feel beaten down by the stories we hear. Every time I witness a glimmer of hope at the LC, it heals a piece of hopelessness that the world has instilled in me. 

The obvious truth is this: if I hadn’t been at the LC volunteering, I would have missed out. Being face-to-face with someone and witnessing emotional healing is not something you can do sitting at home. I know volunteering can feel intimidating. We don’t have to do it, so why put ourselves in uncomfortable situations? Because you will be rewarded. Every time I serve at the LC, I walk away feeling better than when I arrived. Showing up makes a difference. Building relationships makes a difference. Being part of a community makes a difference.

I hope you, too, get to experience these things, friends.

Diane Vollner - Life Center Volunteer