"Volunteer?!? Ya, right! If I am going to work, I'm going to get paid for it! That is the response I get from a lot of my friends when I suggest that they volunteer for different projects.

I spend five or six days a week doing volunteer work. I volunteer at the local library and the hospital, and anywhere else I may be needed. Friends sometimes ask me why I do it. I usually can't give them an answer. It's something you have to experience on your own.

I work a lot with the children at the library, and to see their happiness, and to know that I am helping someone really brightens my day.

Working at the hospital can be very difficult and emotional at times. To see a family who has lost someone or to talk to someone who has been through numerous treatments or operations is really a burden at times. On the other hand, I see people bubbling over with joy when they are discharged or there is a new baby in the family. I can't explain it, but when I see things like this I have this feeling inside that it is all really worth it. fl