Volunteering Helps Communities in Many Ways

The world today can often seem like a very cold and impersonal place. There are certainly problems when it comes to the ways that people act around one another, often not caring about their community or what is happening there, as long as it does not affect them directly. This can lead to a rather dismal outlook on life for those people who are in the communities and who are already struggling and trying to make a better life for themselves.

Attorney Andrew Barovick has seen this happen, but he’s not one to sit back and simply let apathy or outright hatred overtake a community that he loves. Over the years, Barovick has strived to find the time to give back to his community in various ways and to ensure that the neighborhood, and especially the people who are within it, end up stronger and better. Through volunteering, Barovick has helped the community in a range of different ways.

Helping to Improve Reading Skills

Volunteer New York! is an organization that has a mission to “inspire, mobilize, and equip” both individual people and groups and, ultimately, to help improve the quality of life in the community. The organization provides a wide range of programs and typically has tens of thousands of volunteers each year contributing their time to more than 500 local nonprofit organizations.

Andrew Barovick served as a reading buddy while working with Volunteer New York. It was a task and a topic that Barovick was passionate about. He was assigned to a 2^nd grader who was identified as having difficulty with reading, as well as comprehending what was read. Young people who have trouble when it comes to reading will often end up having other troubles during their time at school. This is simply because reading is such an important part of life. Their ability to read effects every other class that they will have to take through elementary, middle, and high school, and certainly into college and beyond.

As a volunteer, Barovick would head out to a White Plains, NY public elementary school once per week with other volunteers. He would then sit and read with the assigned student. The goal of the program was to help children to feel more comfortable while they were reading, and to help them to recognize and understand words, phrases, and punctuation better. By working with a student in this manner, it can also improve reading comprehension, which will be important both in and out of school.

By helping young people improve their reading skills, it can also teach them that reading can be not only an essential facet of life, but also a great joy.

Helping the Hungry

While most people in America are fortunate enough not to know what real hunger feels like, that is certainly not the case with everyone. In fact, the numbers might be surprising. According to research published by the USDA Economic Research Service, “Household Food Security in the United States in 2013”, one out of every six people in the country face hunger. This doesn’t mean that they have a growling stomach and then they simply head to the pantry or a fast food place to take care of their needs. Instead, this is talking about true hunger when there is not enough food to provide for themselves or other members of the household.

Households that had children in them had a much higher rate of food insecurity than homes that did not have children. This means that there are far more hungry children out there right now than you realized. In addition, there are many people around the country who are home-bound. This means they are unable to leave their home for one reason or another. They might have a disability, or it could even be their age that prevents them from getting out and getting what they need.

Barovick had seen this problem in his community.Through Volunteer New York! he and members of his staff from his old firm helped to pack bags of groceries at Hillside Food Pantry in Westchester. His daughter also helped out with this effort. They spent their time volunteering packing up groceries for home-bound residents throughout the Westchester area. Barovick has done this several times over the past few years. After the bags were packed, they would then be delivered to those who were in need the following day.

Helping people to get the food that they need to keep their bellies full and to keep hunger at bay is a great feeling. If more people were willing to volunteer, it could help to reduce instances of hunger around the country substantially.

People Can Do More

Volunteering doesn’t only make the person who is volunteering feel good, it actually helps those who are in the community to have improvements made upon their life in one way or another. Barovick has seen firsthand how volunteering and helping out other people can make some real changes and encourages you to do the same. Find ways, both large and small, that you could make a difference in the lives of those who are in your community. If you are someone who already volunteers, consider talking with friends or family about some of the other ways that you can help.

Through organizations like Volunteer New York! it is possible to make some real improvements in the lives of those who live in the community. They work with many businesses and nonprofits across New York, and they host a range of events.

While these are some of the ways that Andrew Barovick has volunteered in an effort to help those in his community, there are plenty of other types of help needed.Those who want to volunteer should be able to find options that appeal to them and that work with the schedule they have. Volunteering, as Barovick discovered, really can make a difference.