There are all sorts of reasons to volunteer. United Way has some great ones right in their mission statement: Helping children and youth succeed, ending hunger and homelessness, increasing financial stability for families. These are all fantastic reasons to volunteer, and I have volunteered for all of them. But…here’s a little secret, I have gotten as much or more from volunteering as those who I signed up to help. Check out 5 ways that volunteering benefits you.

Check out five ways volunteering benefits you.

• Meet new people. When I joined Generation United in 2008, I was still fairly new in town and I didn’t know a lot of people outside my job. Over the years I’ve made some amazing friends by volunteering with a group of community-minded young professionals.
• It’s good for your career. At work last year, at our United Way campaign kickoff, my CEO personally called me out in front of many senior managers by rattling off a list of my accomplishments. I didn’t even know he knew those things.

• It’s good for you. A recent study by UnitedHealth Group and the Optum Institute found volunteering is linked to better physical, mental and emotional health.
• It makes our community stronger. When volunteering with United Way you often learn that the people you’re helping just need a little nudge; someone to care when they need it most. After getting the help they need, they go on to lead happy, successful lives, and later return to give back by volunteering their own time. When you raise up a person or a family, it makes our whole community stronger – and that’s rarely a bad thing.
• It feels good. Helping others makes you feel good about yourself. Many people experience a sense of increased self-esteem and greater self-worth after volunteering. I guarantee you’ll feel better after taking an hour to give back, than if you spent that same hour watching TV or surfing the internet.
  
  So get out there and help yourself (by helping others): make new friends, boost your health, lift up your community, kick-start your career!

Jared Pflaster, has been a part of Generation United, United Way’s young professionals group, since its inception in 2009 and today serves as the Co-chair of the Steering Committee. Today, Jared is the Travel Web Merchandiser for AAA Arizona. He’s a Nebraska native and graduate of Bellevue University, where he earned a Bachelors in Marketing Management. While Jared loves volunteering with United Way, he confesses that doing good for others, does him some good too.