Reasons to Volunteer: How Volunteering in Your Local Community Benefits You!

Volunteerism is incredibly beneficial, not only for your community at large, but also for your own health and wellbeing. Whether you want to learn new skills, improve your mental and physical health, or find your sense of purpose, there are countless ways to donate your time and effort to your local community. 

Putnam Service Dogs transforms the lives of rescue pups by training them to become loving, capable service animals for individuals with disabilities other than blindness, or for a Veteran with PTSD. With so many reasons to volunteer, consider becoming a service dog puppy raiser with PSD. Keep reading to learn why!

Community Service vs. Volunteer Work

Although community service and volunteer work both improve communities, and while the two are related, they differ in a few key ways. Community service is unpaid work that benefits an entire community or some of its members, while volunteerism is an unpaid activity that supports a specific cause – usually through a nonprofit or charity organization. If you are interested in making a difference in your community, it is possible to find opportunities that combine community service with volunteer work. 

5 Reasons to Volunteer

The reasons to volunteer are many, but they can fit into five categories. 

Connect with Others and Nurture Relationships

One of the main reasons to volunteer in your community has to do with building and nurturing relationships with others who share your passion and desire to make a difference. Volunteer work is a powerful catalyst for change because it supports a sense of empathy and social responsibility. When you come together with others to volunteer, you can meet others who want to make positive changes and improve the community as a whole. 

At Putnam Service Dogs, we love creating a community around volunteerism and donor support. Our volunteers not only help serve at our events, but become a key part of our service dog community. We regard our volunteers as part of our family.

Our volunteer service dog puppy raisers not only learn a lot about their dogs, but also learn more about our organization, and who is behind it. Most of our volunteers have chosen us over other organizations because they value our approach – training rescue dogs as our rescue dogs, our truly championing our dogs – ensuring they’re healthy and happy, and our allowing our dogs to make the ultimate decision on who is their person – not us.

Improve Your Physical and Mental Health

 A systematic review of 28 studies published in Voluntas in 2024 found that volunteering had a very real and measurable impact on the social, mental, and physical health of the volunteers. The results were clear: people who spent time volunteering were healthier overall. The strongest evidence pointed to significant improvements in psychological wellbeing, depression symptoms, mortality rates, feelings of  social connectedness, and the maintenance of independence, 

See Things from a Different Perspective 

Volunteering helps you learn how to be more empathetic and responsive to the needs of your community because it helps you see things from new perspectives. For example, serving meals in a soup kitchen gives volunteers insight into the hunger in their communities, and cleaning trash along the highway might open their eyes to the vast amount of litter in their landfills. At Putnam Service Dogs, our volunteers get a front row seat to the vast need for service dogs in the community, the extensive and particular training required for service dogs, and the incredible impact they make as valued members of the community.

Learn New Skills

According to a 2023 article published in Scientific American, learning new skills is essential to keeping you sharp as you get older. While experts have long believed that the cognitive plateau and decline that adults experience after age 30 or 40 is a normal part of the aging process, new evidence suggests that it may be akin to the “summer slide” that school-aged children experience after a long summer break. Volunteerism and community service give you the opportunity to learn new skills, and preliminary studies suggest that it may improve your cognition, memory, and attention span. A common comment from our volunteer puppy raisers is that they have learned a LOT about dogs while raising the pup. Similarly, our weekend fosters, and vacation relief volunteers also benefit from our teaching and support.

Enjoy a Sense of Purpose 

Of all the reasons to volunteer, finding a new sense of purpose is one of the most powerful and life changing. Whether you are experiencing a change in your career, retirement, anxiety or depression, or a lack of zest and purpose, volunteerism and community service can provide direction and meaning in your life. What better way to find purpose in our local community than by helping transform the lives of rescue pups, training them to become service dogs, and seeing first hand how they change the lives of those with disabilities!

5 Reasons to Volunteer with Putnam Service Dogs 

If you are looking for an opportunity to volunteer, and if you want to make a difference in the lives of rescue dogs and individuals with disabilities, consider becoming a service dog puppy raiser. 

Connect with Other People

When you choose to become a service dog puppy raiser with Putnam Service Dogs, you will meet regularly with our trainers, and also meet other volunteers who are doing what you’re doing – raising a pup who will transform the life of someone less fortunate. Our trainers will guide you on how to socialize your pup. When you’re out in public with your pup, people will approach you that wouldn’t otherwise do so, to talk to you about the pup, or about your being a volunteer service dog raiser. A dog is a magnet for people, and especially a service dog in training.

Learn Basic Dog Training Skills

Raising a service dog puppy is so rewarding. Most beginning raisers don’t have the inherent skills and knowledge needed to adequately do so on their own. When you choose to foster a puppy, you’ll learn basic training and commands, how to read your dog’s communication better and build a strong bond with them, as well as the basics of puppy socialization. These are skills you can carry with you for a lifetime, whether you choose to continue as a volunteer with PSD or adopt a pup of your own. Knowing how to train your dog to eliminate on cue is a very handy skill to possess!

Gain a Sense of Accomplishment

Although only a portion of the pups our volunteers foster ultimately become service dogs, those who don’t graduate are placed with someone with disabilities, including a veteran with PTSD, so although not service dogs, they still will be transforming the life of someone with severe challenges. Your sense of accomplishment and wonder associated with helping a rescue puppy transform into a loving, capable service dog that can improve an individual’s life in countless ways is an amazing feeling, and it’s one you’ll cherish.  

Enjoy a Companion in Your Home 

Volunteer puppy raisers not only transform the lives of others, but they also improve their own with new companionship and a sense of responsibility. Many of Putnam Service Dogs’s volunteers are new retirees, homemakers whose children have grown and left home, or individuals who have careers that allow them to work from home. The companionship a puppy can provide is unrivaled. You can choose your term – six, 12, or 18 months – depending on your unique needs and preferences. 

Change Lives for the Better 

The ability to have an impact; to play a role in changing lives for the better is one of the most powerful reasons to volunteer your time as a service dog puppy raiser. There is evidence to suggest that service dogs provide people with ambulatory disabilities a wide range of psychological and social benefits, and providing a free service dog to people in need comes with marked economic improvements, as well. Our Veterans with PTSD deserve a furry companion who will calm them, and attend to their needs. When you choose to volunteer with Putnam Service Dogs, you can play a role in changing almost every aspect of an individual’s life. Please read our Stories’ blogs to see how our dogs have truly changed lives. 

Volunteer Your Time with a Reputable Social Impact Organization 

If you are looking for the right charitable organization for volunteering, Putnam Service Dogs is an excellent choice. Our dog transformation stories are touching and heartfelt, and we are excited for you to experience the companionship, sense of purpose, and connectedness for yourself. Consider ways to volunteer with us, including becoming a service dog puppy raiser.