Last year, a few members from my fraternity, including myself, decided that although we do philanthropic events year round, we rarely perform community service through volunteer work. Soon after, we set up a date to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children in Eagan, MN. Feed My Starving Children receives such a large amount of volunteer help that the only time made available for us to come and give support was 2 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say, many members of our chapter were unable to help with this service work, either from class, work, or other activities. However, the small group of us that made the trip agreed to do our best job and come in with a friendly and open mind.

I've written about Students Today Leaders Forever a bit before, and while working with STLF and going on Pay It Forward Tours with college and high school students I have had the chance to work with amazing organizations around the country. In his blog Compassion Through Service, Tyler mentioned that individuals can change lives working only 1 to 2 hours per week.

As a student, it may seem sometimes difficult to donate spare time for work such as charities or community service. If I am not in class, I am studying. If I am not studying, I am at the Recreational Center working to stay fit. If I am not exercising, I am at one of my two jobs. Last, if I am not working, I am catching up on sleep.

As true as this may be for many of us, there are always ways to get involved and share your compassion with others who need it. Many people think that it would not be worth the effort if they can only afford to participate in 1-2 hours per week in service work. On the contrary, those 1-2 hours are all it takes to help change someone’s life.

As I have discussed in my previous blogs, “International Volunteering and Relief Work” and “Compassionate Man," I traveled to the rural town of Moshi, Tanzania, last summer for nearly a month to donate some of my time by volunteering. While in Tanzania, each member of the program was assigned a volunteer position according to their skills and interests. Some of us worked at schools, some were assigned to hospitals, others to women’s shelters, and a few worked with a local NGO entitled Tanzanian Organization Facilitating Community Development Projects, or “TAFCOM” for short. I was not assigned to work with TAFCOM but realized quickly that I was very interested in their mission and the work they were doing.