I’m not sure what it is about this time of year. Maybe it’s feeling humble and blessed when I see 199 people attend the Banquet in Sioux Falls for a warm meal, including 17 children. Maybe it’s walking into my Junior Achievement classroom full of first graders who show me their excitement and humorous honesty each time I visit. Maybe its packing backpacks full of food for children who might otherwise go hungry for the weekend.

I can’t always give the money it takes to make a difference in someone’s life, but I can give my time. I can give a smile. I can give conversation and camaraderie. There are so many ways to volunteer—and it feels good to give back.

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them become what they are capable of being.”
Goethe

“How can we expect our children to know and experience the joy of giving unless we teach them that the greater pleasure in life lies in the art of giving rather than receiving.”
James Cash Penny

“Living is the art of loving. Loving is the art of caring. Caring is the art of sharing. Sharing is the art of living. If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
Booker T. Washington

“A volunteer is a person who can see what others cannot see; who can feel what most do not feel. Often, such gifted persons do not think of themselves as volunteers, but as citizens - citizens in the fullest sense; partners in civilization.”
George H. W. Bush

“We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston Churchill