By Jason Chu – @jchu0

Do something for a friend, colleague or stranger.

Thank someone. Smile.

Volunteer your time. Help a neighbour or community group.

Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding.

Be kind to yourself and others.

This is the mantra used by the University of Manchester as one of the six ways to wellbeing. Give.

I want to talk about one particular point. Volunteer your time. This started as a selfish necessity to boost my CV and complete my Duke of Edinburgh award when I was 16 years old. Almost ten years later it has now become a major part of my life.

A few months ago, parkrun celebrated it’s 15th birthday. Now I could write an entire segment on why parkrun is incredible. The community, the running, the general wholesomeness of it all. However, today I want to focus on the volunteering aspect of parkrun.

Parkrun started in 2004 with 13 runners and 5 volunteers. These days, over 250,000 people across the world will be running, jogging or walking around their local green space for a free weekly timed 5km on a Saturday morning. Alongside these runners, there are almost 30,000 volunteers. Every week.

Why do they do it?

Volunteers are necessary for parkrun and they are the ones that have reported the greatest improvement in their happiness with 84% saying it made them happier. A further 91% reported a sense of personal achievement for participating. This survey conducted by Sheffield Hallam’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre in conjunction with parkrun had over 60,000 response and reiterated the notion that volunteering can be a key positive contributor to wellbeing and health.

There’s an on-going stigma that volunteering is only for the community and individuals in need. However, the reality is that it’s a two-way street. It’s as much for you, as it is for others. Various studies report that volunteering can lead to less time in hospital and even lower mortality rates. There’s an understanding that volunteers tend to look after themselves better.

Genuine altruism, passion about their chosen cause and positive mental attitude really can make a difference.

        – Dr Noreen Hashmi

Why volunteer?

1. Connect with others – You will have valuable impact on the community. Small tasks make a difference. But you can also benefit in terms of new friends, new networks and boosted social skills. It can be a way to reduce social isolation, a growing epidemic.
2. Good for mind and body – Making meaningful connections improves your mood and reduces anxiety. Our brains are wired to seek out pleasure and gratitude – this often comes from giving. We thrive on a sense of pride and purpose, and this can be from helping our communities.
3. Advance your career – Volunteering often requires extensive training. This leads to transferable skills which you can reap the benefits from in future employment. It can also provide the opportunity to test out career changes or gain new experiences without the long-term commitment.
4. Fun and fulfilment – It’s a great way to explore your interests and passions. As I’ve said before, running is my hobby and I’ve found a way to volunteer in that running community. You just need to find your match up.

Parkrun has been my way and could be your way to contribute to your local community. Whether it’s coming along for a Saturday morning to marshal a particular corner and cheer on hundreds of runners; keeping eagle-eyed for runners across the finish line as time-keeper or holding the prestigious role of tail walker as you round off the event as the final pair of shoes of parkrun.

Personally, how I help is by volunteering at South Manchester junior parkrun. I will not deny it. This again stemmed from selfish intentions. If you’re aware of the way parkrun works, you’ll know that milestone t-shirts are a highly coveted accolade.

• Run 50 parkruns = free t-shirt
• Run 100 parkruns = free t-shirt
• Run 250 parkruns = free t-shirt
• Run 500 parkruns = free t-shirt

One of the other milestone t-shirts is for volunteering 25 times. To volunteer for half a year’s worth of parkruns is an incredible thing that is necessary for parkrun to exist. However, for selfish reasons I didn’t want to interrupt my usual Saturday parkruns by volunteering instead of running. I then came to discover that junior parkruns took place on Sundays. So, I figured I could run on Saturdays and volunteer on Sundays.

I very quickly discovered how wholesome this event really is. Junior parkrun launched in 2010 as a 2k event to introduce children to physical activity and volunteering. In the past decade it has now grown to over 300 events across the UK, Ireland and Australia.

Over the course of the year, I’ve begun to recognise the regular parents, guardians and kids who come every Sunday to take part. It’s so nice to see this family event in action. As of October 2019 (coincidentally the 15th birthday of parkrun), I’ve taken on a role as one of the Run Directors for South Manchester junior parkrun (Platt Fields park), and we’re always keen to have more volunteers – feel free to let us know!

Barriers to volunteering

Health, lack of skills, poor transport links, other responsibilities. These are some barriers to volunteering. It also has an image problem, particularly with men and younger people. However, the culture is shifting.

Volunteering Matters are a leading charity who are trying to make changes. They recognise that volunteering has the potential as a population intervention to support health and wellbeing. Efforts are being made to improve our access to volunteering. To maintain the support required for volunteering. To break down the negative perceptions and further recognise its value.

Give. Be kind to yourself and others.

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Various ways that UoM promotes volunteering: staff and sport

Parkrun // South Manchester parkrun // South Manchester junior parkrun // Alexandra parkrun

Great Run Local Birchfields