The question I have been asked is do the volunteers of the many holiday parades incur the same health benefits as the volunteers who are engaged full time with groups supporting charities? The answer is that I have yet to find studies or evidence to support this idea.

There is no doubt that the many volunteers for the various parades for so many holidays around the world contribute tons of effort and time to their parade day event. Their passion for the event is intense from my research, so they are focused and driven, just as other main stream civic groups or fraternal groups for their charity.

These temporary volunteers also benefit from the networking aspects noted in earlier posts on this site!

The intense pressure to produce some floats or other group presentations gives people practice in leadership and group organizing as well. Each member for these parades to work needs to subvert their own individuality for the greater performance, just as in many sports. To sum it up, everyone can benefit from the experience, but does it also translate into the health benefits of the group charity supporting volunteers?

It remains to be studied I think whether the health benefits already documented for the charity supporting fraternal, civic, and veterans groups also translates to temporary volunteering opportunities.

American Legion

Memorial Day parades by veterans groups in America which many veteran groups participate in are supported by members such as the American Legion, with the symbol above. Often these members engage in activities all year long and only rise to the public view during the parades. These are the types of volunteers which the health producing benefits have been documented.

Shriners

St. Patrick Day parades are  common in the United States. Very often you find a cooperation between well known fraternal groups to put on the parade. I have personally participated in a few as a member of the Shrine, a subdivision of the Freemasons.

The Roman Catholic fraternal group, The Knights of Columbus in my case was the main sponsor for the parade in the Tidewater area of Virginia. This certainly qualifies its members for the health benefits since they are serving all year long but raising their public awareness on this one day for the documented health benefits of volunteering.

Parades during the American professional football bowl games have short but intense opportunities for volunteers to help with float assemblies, the flowers and other aspects which are so amazing to see on the day the events are held. Other holiday parades also offer opportunities for volunteering on a short term basis. Many parades around the world function much the same way, except many of those have religious overtones attached which are for the most part absent from American holiday parades.

The caption above is from Volterra, a festival parade in Italy associated with a cross bow championship. Brazil also has a famous parade, Carnival. Parades from around the world often function with the participation of volunteers in some way or fashion. Most parades would not be what they are if volunteers did not participate.

Many of these parades in America rely on already established volunteer groups to step in and help with the events.

Knights of Pyhthias

FOE

In the above caption, the Order of the Eastern Star, a group associated with Freemasonry which has both men and women members, the very Christian theme is emphasized.

Church groups, youth groups, and in some cases the fraternal, civic, and veterans groups also volunteer their services. It is natural that a call goes out for temporary volunteers to help with a quick infusion of labor though, and these temporary members are the subject of our question in this post. Do they, even on a temporary basis gain the health benefits associated with those already documented for the main stream groups who focus mainly on supporting charities?

My gut feeling is that it is likely. But until the subject is studied properly, we can only speculate.

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Freemasons

Over the years I have heard many times, there is nothing that I would want to volunteer for when I would tell fellow workers where I was the evening before. I don’t feel passionate about any group was another excuse often mentioned. While this may be true for a very few, most of those making this claim were in fact wrong. When I would talk to time for a bit I nearly always found that they had passions and many of those passions had opportunities for volunteering. Most of my fellow workers simply did not prioritize their passions as worth the effort more than they wanted to have fun chasing ladies or other activities.

The key is you need to see the effort as worth while. For several ideas on why you should volunteer from a medical point of view see the posts I have already written on this subject.

The key here is to not take a list of volunteer groups and wedge yourself into one of them. Find your passion and then find the associated group! Your passion is by far the most important thing you could identify first.

Outdoors oriented folks can choose from a number of groups. Izaak Walton League had in 2006 50,000 members and 300 clubs. How about the Audubon Society, Bass Unlimited or Pheasants Forever, are any of these up your alley? Perhaps the famous Boone and Crockett association fits you more? Pheasants Forever in 2006 had 570 chapter in 29 states. Don’t forget Future Farmers of America (FFA) or youth groups like 4H or Ruritan, which in 2006 had 30,000 members and 1,000 clubs.

For manufacturing members the American Society of Quality (ASQ) is active and has volunteer opportunities.

For history enthusiasts the opportunities abound. Currently the Civil War group, http://www.civilwar.org/aboutus/events/park-day/ is planning a volunteer day for April 6th, 2013. Check with the site for opportunities in your state. This group’s aim is to preserve civil war areas from land development. This is not an easy task and the efforts to preserve our history drive many a passionate volunteer.

The current climate in politics makes is likely most voters are more aware of the NRA than they may have been in the past. But there are several other less populated groups with similar political thoughts, including the Well Armed Woman FB site located here, http://www.facebook.com/TheWellArmedWoman. It is not only the men who believe that the 2nd amendment to the Constitution of the United States has value, many ladies do as well. Many people are stunned when they find this out. Way too many stereotypes abound on this subject.

Perhaps you like chess? There are local chess clubs all over the United States. The US Chess Federation website is http://www.uschess.org. You can locate other players online or locally. In 2006 the US had 1334 chess clubs. Keep in mind that face to face interactions along with passionate volunteering is what we are looking for here.

Other causes include Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) with 600 chapters in 2006, Association for the Advancement of Retired People (AARP) with 35 million members in 2006, Investment clubs, United Investors Association which in 2006 had 100 groups, Clown Clubs, Motorcycle Clubs, National Garden Clubs with 217,233 members and 7,251 clubs in 2006.

The variety of groups should by now strike most readers as wide and varied. If you can feel passionate about it and find a local group then you are well on your way towards better health and better mental well being.

Before you say you can’t find a group, find your passion. This is often the really hard spot. What moves you?

Sports teams have many groups. Even if you move most areas have sports hang outs for fans. I have been a Green Bay Packer fan ever since watching the first two Super Bowls with my dad. Since Green Bay won, and my home state of Iowa has no professional sports team of any kind in the state, I adopted the Packers. Through ups and downs I tried to follow them. Today you can find local bars and groups of Packer Fans nearly anywhere you travel in the US and even some places abroad. This is true of other sports teams as well. While the volunteer opportunities are limited, if you are passionate then the possibilities are likely to come up.

My father was a private pilot in Central Iowa years ago. He joined and eventually served as the president of the Midwest Tri-Pacer Association. He planned meeting sites for the group to fly into and eat at different locations, making arrangements for the reception and meetings. He loved the group and the work of volunteering for a year seemed to him no problem. Sometimes as kids we went along too. Many private pilots are very passionate about their type of plane and their yearly meetings if they attend. One large meeting for private pilots is in Oshkosh, Wisconsin every year. They require a large number of volunteers for the week long event.

My point is that groups of all kinds abound. I used to do Western Square Dancing in Des Moines, Iowa. They always needed volunteers to coordinate the functions. Don’t forget magic clubs, Metal Detector clubs, Archaeological Clubs, Science Clubs, Dog Clubs, Cat Clubs, Car Clubs, clubs that help veterans such as the USO, retired US Navy ships clubs (particularly if they were made into diving reefs like my first ship, the USS Speigle Grove LSD-32), ships reunions, Army unit reunions, Daughters of the American Revolution which had 2,975 chapters in 2006, and many more.

Let’s get back to passionate. Did a close relative have a encounter with a terminal disease? That list and the associated groups are vast. My first wife died from Lupus, so the Lupus Foundation of America was a natural place for me to volunteer for a few years. Cancer groups are prolific. Many other groups help those with a special disease. Is your passion in this area?

Do your passions run towards religious groups. The amount of people associated with religious volunteer groups in the United States is very large. The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) group, Knights of Columbus, with 1.6 million members in 2006 is one of the better known of these volunteer groups. Started by Father Michael McGiveny in New Haven Connecticut in 1882, it was a reaction to the anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States as well as the success of the Freemasons, functioning as a place for Catholics to assemble just like their counterparts in Freemasonry.

As we will see, many civic and fraternal groups were either formed by Masons or highly influenced by the fraternity. Imitation is regarded as the most sincere form of flattery. This makes the Freemasons, the largest and oldest fraternal organization in the world, pretty respected if all of the groups it influenced can be a guide.

The Knights of Columbus often hold parades for St. Patrick’s Day. In many locations they invite the local Shriners to bring their unique subgroups along to increase the size and variety of the parade. Shriners, all members being Freemasons before being admitted to the Shrine if they petition for membership, are very willing to share a parade in most cases. I have as a Shriner participated in such a gathering when I was in Va. Beach, Va. The fun and social connections between many who often don’t gather socially is something to see. I have very fond memories of these parades and the socializing after wards.

To be clear in this instance, Knights of Columbus (KOC) members are required to be Roman Catholic Church (RCC) members in good standing. So Greek Orthodox Church members, also Catholic but not Roman would usually not qualify. Freemasons have no issue with Roman Catholics joining in any way since they believe in God, but not all Freemasons can join the KOC if they are Jewish, Deist, or Protestant in their religious leanings.

Groups to be passionate about would seem abundant. Book clubs, computer clubs, political groups, ethnic associations of all kinds, weight losing clubs, dart groups, pool playing groups, card playing groups such as Bridge clubs, adult soft ball groups, the list seems endless.

Please don’t take away from my suggestions that only Jews and Christians can be Freemasons. Freemasonry is a world wide group with lodges and members in most countries of the world. A famous British writer, Rudyard Kipling wrote many books which eventually became classics and some were turned into movies, such as The Man Who Would Be King. He wrote in his biography how he was involved with men of several religions in his Masonic travels.

Rudyard Kipling, Freemason and author

From his autobiography published posthumously in 1937, Something of Myself–

“In ’85 I was made a Freemason by dispensation (Lodge Hope and Perseverance 782 E.C.), being under age, because the Lodge hoped for a good Secretary. They did not get him, but I helped, and got Father to advise in decorating the bare walls of the Masonic Hall with hangings after the prescription of Solomon’s Temple. Here I met Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, members of the Arya and Brahmo Samaj, and a Jew tyler, who was priest and butcher to his little community in the city. So yet another world opened to me which I needed.”

Kipling’s own entry suggests that at this time British military officers in India were open and even well associated with men from various religious backgrounds. Since Freemasonry started in England, it seems safe to say that this fraternity appeals to good men of various religious values. The ideal group to bring men together rather than keep them apart. Very few groups do this particular social aspect as well as the Masons. You will find passion runs deep in many Freemasons!

Once you figure out a passionate issue you would be willing to support, the chances that you can align with some group are pretty good. In future posts I will delve into this matter in greater detail.

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Power horn replica with Freemason symbols from colonial times

Welcome to the official site of the Empowered Volunteer Rebuilds America!

The purpose of this site is to empower any passionate person who wants to learn how to build or in some cases rebuild memberships to various charitable groups or the groups who support the charities!

It would also help if this person has aspirations of deriving health benefits from his or her actions as well. In other words, by presenting your passion in a positive direction you will get more back in benefits than you put into the effort of helping the charity, according to many studies!

How about that for a change, you can get back more benefits for yourself than the cost of the effort you put into the organization.

To do this the empowered volunteer must be passionate about a specific charity first off. Finding the group who supports that charity or becoming passionate about the group supporting the charity will, studies have shown produce many health benefits for the passionate volunteer. This site will review the many studies and show how the various healthy benefits for the individual who volunteers are produced.

To sum it up, a passionate volunteer can positively impact their own health and happiness with very little money involved and minimal time allocations!

Now just joining a group, putting the membership card in your purse or wallet will NOT produce the health benefits I have been alluding to. You have to do a bit more than that. If you follow the Empowered Volunteer strategy you stand a great chance of maximizing your potential, again according to various studies. There is also the satisfaction of helping to make a worthy charity become better funded by building new members.

What a deal! Just for doing something you want to do anyway, you can increase the likely hood of living longer and in better health while helping your country rebuild its various volunteer infrastructure programs that have seen sharply dropping memberships over the last few decades. Fewer members mean less revenue for the charities they support in the end, so this empowerment can really make a difference in a huge way.

For instance, various civic, fraternal, or veterans groups conduct numerous events throughout their calender year to raise money for the charity they support. Other groups include religious, trade associations, and even children’s groups.

Shriners

An example of a fraternal group who specializes in helping a charity is the Shriners, properly known as Royal Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and their cause is Crippled and Burned Children’s Hospitals better known as Shriner’s Hospitals. Shriners are associated with Freemasonry.

FOE

Another fraternal group is the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and they are a Roman Catholic fraternity. They have become known for their support of the Ten Commandment monuments around court houses.

Knights of Pyhthias

There are many others such as the Fraternal Order of Elks, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pyhthias, Pilot International, Knights of Columbus, and Royal Neighbors of America, to list but a few. All of them need new members.

Fraternal groups differ from civic groups in a few ways, but one of the main ways is in how they control their membership. Fraternal groups are specific and closed, often requiring a vote by the existing membership via the famous “black ball” in order to gain membership. Note, in most instances the black ball is really shaped like a cube!

Lions Club

Civic groups on the other hand are not closed and are for the most part open to all members. Examples of well known civic groups include Lions Club International, United Methodist Women, Soroptimist International, Rotary International, United Way, Optimist International,and many others.

American Legion

Examples of veterans groups would include American Legion, Veterans Of Foreign Wars of the United States, Catholic War Veterans, National Association of Black Veterans, Navy Mutual Aid Association, and the Fleet Reserve Association. There are many more veterans groups too.

The aim of this site is to educate an individual on how to help a group who they are passionate about so that a charity will end up benefiting from more individuals joining and hopefully helping their cause. As an empowered volunteer does this they also accumulate real time individual health benefits which are both measurable and detectable in studies. Social benefits are also incurred according to many studies.

This is truly one of life’s win-win situations! One person, with the proper leverage as an empowered volunteer can make a huge impact on a group who in turn supports a charity, thus really magnifying their presence far beyond just joining and being one cog in a large wheel. That is the real impact one person, an empowered volunteer can and should have. Want to be an empowered volunteer?

With the proper mindset and a bit of training most people will find they can be an empowered volunteer.

Ready to find out the particulars? Let’s get rolling!

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