It's Friday in Sydney, so I'm excited to wish everyone a Happy Feel Good Friday!
This week happens to be National Volunteer Week here in the United States. I thought it would be a great way to highlight (and hype up!) how our community members give back.
I also wanted to highlight the work that the Atlassian Foundation does worldwide - as they say, "Creating a better world is impossible alone." Check out their focus areas here: https://www.atlassianfoundation.org/how-we-work/education
I love the Atlassian blog about the science behind giving back and how volunteering can make us happier at work, too!
Some ideas to share in the discussion below:
I view giving back to the Atlassian Community here by answering questions and helping others by volunteering time to do that. Many many hours have been expended by so many people!!
@Amanda Barber great topic!
I think a number of people know that I give both my time and money into Extra Life to support my local Children's Hospital.
While I didn't do anything this past week I'm constantly doing things either as a part of Extra Life or directly for the Children's Health Foundation.
In mid-March I was running a board games table at the hospital while the local radio stations were doing a 12 hour fundraiser interviewing patients and their families.
In the fall we will he running a 24 hour video game event, with various activities and prizes.
Now, how do I benefit?
1) I get to feel good at the end of the day knowing that every dollar I help raise or every person I can get involved means another dollar going towards providing care to children in life threatening situations.
2) I get to meet some really amazing humans. Those that are local to me or the online connections I have made in the larger Extra Life Community with others raising awareness and funds for their own local hospitals. We're all working toward the same goal.
I could probably list a dozen more but I think the above two are the most impactful.
So awesome, @Jimmy Seddon - while I knew you fundraised for them, I did not know all those extras. Thank you for all you do!!
@Amanda Barber What a great subject! I'm a volunteer at an intergenerational cafรฉ. I teach English to seniors and we also play board games together. Volunteering gives me a lot of satisfaction and has allowed me to learn a lot about myself as well as about the history of the city I live in, because most of the seniors are people who have lived here since birth.
Wow, what a wonderful way to give back. That sounds so fun for both the volunteer and participants.
Similarly to @John Funk (and all the other Community Leaders Champions) I try and give back to the community here.
Outside of that my volunteering is more on the fundraising side with things like:
March for Men for Prostate Cancer UK (https://marchformen.prostatecanceruk.org/), if you're in/near London the next one is
One Million Step Challenge for Diabetes UK (https://step.diabetes.org.uk/), the next one is
I also do other events throughout the year
Thank you for sharing these upcoming events, @Stephen_Lugton! I'm checking out that One Million Steps Challenge for sure!
Thanks for all you do to raise awareness and funds for these important causes!
Wonderful topic, which made me think that I don't do as much as I used to. I live with my parents, who are 81 and 83, so I spend a lot of time supporting them. I also support the public radio station where I live, and I still support the one where I used to live ๐.
I also try to do my part here in the community. I think I'm still learning as much as I'm helping, but hopefully I occasionally make someone else's day easier.
Some great ideas here for volunteering, thanks! I volunteer in a few different area at my local library, including IT help for seniors, adult literacy and reading to children. Sometimes it's a challenge, but generally very satisfying. In fact, I even made it onto
https://www.sjpl.org/blogs/post/meet-our-2025-volunteers-of-the-year :)
This is so cool, @Matt Doar _Adaptavist_! I'd love to get involved in something like this in the future.