Help on volunteer application.

Volunteer application help?

• A few questions on a volunteer application. What can you contribute to non-profit organizations as a volunteer? some tips would be great. What will you do to facilitate your integration into your host communities?

• Answer:

  These are questions only you can answer, as the answers vary from person to person. Put some deep thought into them before submitting your application. For the first question, any skills, strong points, talents, etc. that you might have could be mentioned if they are relevant. Don't go off listing every skill you have, because they probably don't particularly care if you can sing opera really well or can crochet three scarves and a blanket a day. Are you the kind of person who pays attention to every tiny detail, making sure each separate part of a "machine" is functioning at full capacity? That could be mentioned. The same for the opposite, if you are the kind of person who looks at the big picture and sees things as a whole rather than all of the details. Are you a good photographer with the ability to make promotional materials to help raise awareness? That could go on there. Play to your strengths as much as possible. For the second question, explain what you would do to become a true member of the community you serve. If they have barbeques in January, despite being in Maine, would you be willing to go to show that you are dedicated to becoming a member of the community? If a lot of the members of the community happen to speak both Spanish and English because it's a border town that sees a lot of immigrants, would you learn as much Spanish as you could so you could partake in all the town has to offer as a border town? These are all hypotheticals, of course, since I don't know you as a person. For all I know you are fluent in 27 languages, have a third arm, and have to eat an eggplant every day in order to maintain your digestion system. Just take some time to think about the questions, write your answers out carefully, and be truthful. If you can't think of anything in the world that would make you go to a barbeque in Maine in January, don't lie and say you would be there every time it happened. Good luck!