📖 Unit 3: Community Service - Reading lớp 7

My school has a number of volunteer activities every summer. The activities include donating books to village children, tutoring kids in the neighbourhood, teaching English to primary students, reading books or cooking food for the needy. Our school started this programme five years ago. Every student can join one or two activities. In the beginning, we thought about why we should join in these activities. We then thought about what activities we wanted to do. Those who like reading could choose to collect and donate books. Those who are good at English could tutor primary students. Finally, we signed up for the activities we chose. Our teachers often encourage us to stay committed. They also help us when we need it. We have a lot of fun and learn many things from doing the activities.

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People first used the word volunteer in 1795, but in England there were at least 500 volunteer hospitals long before that. The YMCA in London became the first volunteering organisation in 1844. It provided help to needy people and held classes to help people develop skills. The Red Cross became the first international charity organisation in 1863. Volunteer work is becoming more and more popular in the world. For example, in the USA, about one-fifth of the population does volunteer work. In Europe, thousands of volunteer programmes are run in different countries.

Everyone can do volunteer work to help their community. Volunteer activities include donating food and clothes, joining clean-up projects, tutoring children, protecting wild animals, etc. Volunteers work not for money but to help people in need and to connect with others.

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Choosing to volunteer takes up some of your time. Some people say that they do not have time to help others, so they don’t volunteer. But scientists say giving time to help others benefits us.

The first benefit of volunteering is that it helps us learn to be flexible. Volunteers have to be ready for changes and stay flexible when solving problems. Second, volunteering can improve our health because it requires us to be active. A report found that Americans who volunteer 100 hours or more a year are the healthiest people in the country. Third, volunteers have opportunities to develop more relationships. They often work in teams, and team members get to know each other and sometimes even become friends. Moreover, volunteers often help needy people, so they may feel thankful for what they have. For these reasons, volunteers are generally positive and are less likely to become depressed.

So if you have not joined a volunteer activity yet, think about it. You are likely to benefit from doing so.