Volunteers pay levy for good deeds - Compo culture

Volunteerims supports some of the best human endeavours. That truth was celebrated earlier this week at the Tidy Towns awards and some weeks ago at the uplifting Paralympics in Brazil. 

Vital social services — everything from Meals on Wheels to the work of the St Vincent de Paul Society, from adult literacy services to the Samaritans’ 24-hour phone services — depend on time freely given by people who recognise the obligations, the selfless interactions, inherent in the idea of a good society. There isn’t a single sporting organisation in the country that could survive for a month without the energy brought to their cause by generous, inspiring community activists — volunteers.

Like virtue, volunteerism may be its own reward but there are occasionally tragic consequences, as we all saw earlier this month when Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas was drowned off Clare during a search for a missing man. The motivations behind volunteerism, the character of most volunteers, means it is more than unlikely that even one Coast Guard crew member quit after that tragedy. Rather, many of them will strive to be better at their work, to be more accomplished as the danger in what they do was so painfully underlined.