Willing to Serve

Ever since I was a teenager, I did volunteer work.   At the time I didn't really know I was "volunteering".  I just considered it "helping out".  I mostly spent volunteer time helping in the church nursery, or helping with VBS.   At Christmas I helped make cookies and sang carols to the elderly and shut-ins.      
Volunteering is something that I have continued to do even when I was busy working and raising our children.  Most of my volunteer work, consisted of helping in the children's classrooms or watching babies in the church nursery.   
Basically, I loved helping with children.   
I don't tell you this to toot my own horn, but I want to share with you that I was also helping myself!   
By giving a little bit of my time to others, I got to feel needed.  
I got extra hugs and snuggles from babies too.  
I also felt like a part of something bigger.  Like I was making a difference, even if it was just in a small way.    
By helping in the church nursery, it meant that the parents could sit through a whole church service without interruption, and know their child was safe.  
By helping in the classroom it meant the teacher could give a little more time to a child that needed a little extra attention.   
Recently though, Mark and I had an opportunity to volunteer in a different way.   One that I think Blessed me more than the people we were serving. 
Here's what we did...
We joined eight others from our church to go on a Mission trip to New Bern NC.   You may not have heard of New Bern, but this town made the news in Sept. 2018 when Hurricane Florence struck.   As with many hurricanes, there was a lot of damage.  Much of it was caused by flooding.  So our group of ten volunteers, connected with Baptists on Mission in New Bern NC to help with the rebuilds.   We spent one week sleeping at a local church, and doing work in damaged homes so the homeowners could move back in.    The work was something I have never done before!   I actually got to use some power tools!   I learned how to cut and hang drywall.  I also learned how to use a circular saw and to cut and lay Luan flooring.   I felt so accomplished when I would finish a wall, especially when it had some difficult cuts.   The others in my team were hard workers, and very willing to teach me these new skills.   I may not be a professional, but I feel like I learned enough to be able to help with this type of work again.  
After each work day we went back to the church that hosted us.   This is where the Baptists on Mission organization really Blessed us.   First they insisted that we were able to be the first ones to use the showers.   These showers had excellent water pressure, with hot water and they were kept really clean.   After showering the Baptists on Mission volunteers had our supper ready for us.   Home cooked meals with plenty for everyone!   We all ate at the same time and enjoyed the fellowship.   We learned a lot about each other and the Baptists on Mission organization.   After we all finished dinner someone would share a devotion with us.   A different person spoke each night and we were all Blessed by the topics that were shared.  
In the evenings after the devotions we had free time.  Most of us hung around the "cafeteria" area and chatted.  We formed closer friendships with our own team members and added new friends from the Baptists on Missions team.    
When our work week was finished we all felt a little sad.  We all said we definitely want to go back to help some more.   
You don't have to have amazing skills to help others.   You just need to have a willingness to serve.   There are so many opportunities in your own town to make a difference. 
Offer to Read in your child's classroom (or any classroom)
Clean up trash alongside the road
Visit Residents in local Nursing Homes
Volunteer in a local Hospital
Offer assistance with your favorite Non-Profits.
These are just a few ideas that I came up with, but the opportunities are endless!   

Why did I post this on the Tyler's Ride Blog?
We at Tyler's Ride are always looking for volunteers.   You can help with mailings, website design, taking photos at our events, hanging flyers around your workplace and local businesses.   When several people help with one task, the work gets done faster.  Plus the more volunteers we have, the less likely our volunteers will burn out.    In addition, when you share our posts on social media you are helping to keep our advertising costs down.   So please Like and Share our posts!  
Tyler's Ride is completely volunteer run.   This means more of the money raised can go to helping others!

      "Volunteers are not paid
--not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless"