For other uses, see Volunteer (disambiguation), Voluntarism (disambiguation), and Voluntary (disambiguation).

Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity, intended to promote good or improve human quality of life. It is considered as serving the society through own interest, personal skills or learning, which in return produces a feeling of self-worth and respect, instead of money. Volunteering is also famous for the skill development, to socialize and to have fun. It is also intended to make contacts for possible employment or for a variety of other reasons.

Volunteering takes many forms, and can be performed by anyone with own set of skills. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work in, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Other volunteers serve on an as-needed basis, such as in response to a natural disaster or for a beach-cleanup.

Etymology & History[link]

The verb Volunteer was first recorded in 1755, from the noun, in C.1600, "one who offers himself for military service," from M.Fr. Voluntaire. The word in the Non-military sense was first recorded during 1630s. The word Volunteering has a more recent usage, still predominantly military, coinciding with the word Community service. ^[1][2]

In a military context, a volunteer army is a military body whose soldiers chose to enter service, as opposed to having been conscripted. Such volunteers do not work "for free" and are given regular pay.

Taking a Gap Year after High school or during college term, is also one form of volunteering, if a student is engaged in some sort of voluntary work. Career break is also considered as a form of volunteering, until involved in a voluntary work.

19th Century[link]

During 19th century and before then, few formal charitable organizations existed to help people in need.

During this time, America experienced the Great Awakening. People became conscious of the disadvantaged, and realized the cause for the movement against slavery. Younger people started helping the needy in their communities. In 1851, the first YMCA in the United States was started, followed seven years later by the first YWCA. During the Civil War, women volunteered their time to sew supplies for the soldiers.

John F. Kennedy greets volunteers on August 28, 1961

Salvation army is one of the oldest and largest organization working for disadvantaged people. Though it is a charity organization, it has organized numbers of volunteering programs, since its inception.^[3]

20th & 21st Century[link]

In the first few decades of the 20th century, several volunteer organizations were founded, including the Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions club. The Great Depression saw one of the first large-scale, nationwide efforts to coordinate volunteering for a specific need. During World War II, thousands of volunteer offices supervised the volunteers who helped with the many needs of the military and the home front, including collecting supplies, entertaining soldiers on leave, and caring for the injured.^[3]

After World War II, the passion of people to help others shifted focus to other areas, including helping the poor and volunteering overseas. A major development was the Peace Corps in 1960. When President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Poverty in 1964. Volunteer opportunities continued to expand in the next few decades, and the process for finding volunteer work became more formalized, with more volunteer centers forming and new ways to find work appearing on the World Wide Web.^[3]

Types[link]

Skills-based volunteering[link]

Skills-based volunteering is leveraging the specialized skills and talents of individuals to strengthen the infrastructure of nonprofits, helping them build and sustain their capacity to successfully achieve their missions.^[4] This is in contrast to traditional volunteering, where specific training is not required.

Volunteering in Developing Countries[link]

It refers to volunteering in needy communities in developing nations. Most of the volunteers from developed countries choose the third world as their volunteering destination, and spend their time working in resource poor schools, teaching, working in orphanages and so on. Nowadays, volunteering has also been termed as an International Community service. An able volunteer will pledge their time to work in the international community, for various development activities.^[5][6]

Virtual Volunteering[link]

Also called eVolunteering or Online volunteering, is a term describing a volunteer who completes tasks, in whole or in part, offsite from the organization being assisted, using the Internet and a home, school, telecenter or work computer or other Internet-connected device, such as a PDAs or smartphone. Virtual volunteering is also known as cyber service, telementoring, and teletutoring, and various other names. Virtual volunteering is similar to telecommuting, except that, instead of online employees who are paid, these are online volunteers who are not paid.^[7][8]

Micro-Volunteering[link]

It is an unpaid task that is operated via an internet-connected device and in small increments of time. It is distinct from virtual volunteering in that it typically does not require an application process or training period.^[9][10]

Environmental Volunteering[link]

Volunteer feeding Pandas in Sichuan, China

It refers to volunteers who contribute towards environmental management or conservation. Volunteers conduct a range of activities including environmental monitoring, ecological restoration such as re-vegetation and weed removal, protecting endangered animals, and educating others about the natural environment.^[11]

Giant Panda Conservation program in Xi'an and Sichuan, China is a famous endangered animals protection program. Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries conservation program attracts huge foreign support and volunteers.

Volunteering in an Emergency[link]

Volunteering plays a pivotal role in the recovery effort following natural disasters, such as; Tsunami, Flood, Drought, Earthquake. 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami attracted wide amount of volunteers worldwide. 227,898 people died during and after the event.^[12] Many from around the world pledged their time and effort to rebuild and save lives of millions, in the affected regions.

Many Non-governmental organizations which specialize in volunteer based works deployed volunteers in the affected region. They worked along with other government agencies and UN aids.^[13]

Volunteering in Schools[link]

Volunteer teaching in resource poor school India

Resource poor schools around the world rely on government support, or on efforts from volunteers and private donations, in order to run effectively. In some countries, whenever the economy is down, the need for volunteers and resources increases greatly.^[14] There are many opportunities available in the school system for volunteers to take advantage of. They can add an experience in their resume and learn foreign culture and language. There are not many requirements in order to become a volunteer in the school system. Whether one is a high school or TEFL graduate or college student, most schools require just voluntary and selfless effort from them.^[15] Much like the benefits of any type of volunteering there are great rewards for the volunteer, student, and school.

Volunteering in schools can be an additional teaching guide for the students, and help to fill the gap of local teachers. Cultural and language exchange during teaching and other school activities can be the most essential learning experience for both students and volunteers.^[16]

Corporate Volunteering[link]

A majority of the companies at the Fortune 500 allow their employees to volunteer during work hours. These formalized Employee Volunteering Programs (EVPs), also called Employer Supported Volunteering, are regarded as a part of the companies' sustainability efforts and their social responsibility activities.^[17] About 40% of Fortune 500 companies provide monetary donations, also known as volunteer grants, to nonprofits as a way to recognize their employees who dedicate significant amounts of time to volunteering in the community. ^[18]

According to information from VolunteerMatch, a service that provides Employee Volunteering Program solutions, the key drivers for companies that produce and manage EVPs is that it builds brand awareness and affinity, strengthens trust and loyalty among consumers, enhances corporate image and reputation, improves employee retention, increases employee productivity and loyalty and provides an effective vehicle to reach strategic goals.^[19]

Community Voluntary Work[link]

Community volunteering refers to volunteers who work to improve community enhancement efforts in the area in which they live. Neighborhood, church, and community groups play a key role in building strong cities from the neighborhoods up. Supporting these understaffed groups can enable them to succeed in a variety of areas, which connect social, environmental, and economic boundaries. Volunteers can conduct a wide range of activities. Some choose to support a variety of groups as a "volunteer broker."^[20]

International Workcamps[link]

An international workcamp is an international voluntary project in which participants from different countries can meet, live, work, learn and exchange with local people concerning issues about environmental conservation, cultural heritage, social justice, rural and human development, etc. CCIVS and Group Work Foundation are few providing International Workcamps

It can be divided into short term voluntary projects (STV) and long/middle term voluntary projects (LMTV). STV projects are international workcamps for less than 2 months, while LMTV projects are those lasting 2 months or more. The most common international workcamp lasts for two weeks with a group of 10-20 overseas and local workcamp participants.

Political View[link]

In almost all modern societies, the most basic of all values is people helping people and, in the process, helping themselves^[21] However, a tension can arise between volunteering and the state-provided services, so most countries develop policies and enact legislation to clarify the roles and relationships among stakeholders and identify and allocate the necessary legal, social, administrative, and financial support. This is particularly necessary when some voluntary activities are seen as a challenge to the authority of the state, e.g. on 29 January 2001, President Bush cautioned that volunteer groups should supplement, not replace, the work of government agencies.^[22] Volunteering that benefits the state but challenges paid counterparts raises the ire of labor unions representing the paid counterparts as in the case of volunteer fire departments, particularly in combination departments.

Difficulties in cross-national aid[link]

Difficulties in this model of volunteering can arise when this is applied across national borders. A state sending volunteers to another state can be viewed as a breach of sovereignty and a lack of respect towards the national government of the proposed recipients. Thus, when states negotiate the offer and acceptance of aid, motivations become important, particularly if donors may postpone assistance or stop it altogether. Three types of conditionality have evolved:

1. Financial accountability: Transparency in the management of funding to ensure that what is done by the volunteers is properly targeted.
2. Policy reform: Requesting governments of developing countries adopt certain social, economic, or environmental policies, the most controversial relating to the privatization of services traditionally offered by the state.
3. Development objectives: Asking developing countries to adjust specific time-bound economic objectives

Some international volunteer organizations define their primary mission altruistically as fighting poverty and improving the living standards of people in the developing world, e.g. Voluntary Services Overseas has almost 2,000 skilled professionals working as volunteers to pass on their expertise to local people so that, when they return home, their skills remain. When these organizations work in partnership with governments, the results can be impressive. However, when other organizations or individual First World governments support the work of volunteer groups, there can be questions as to whether their real motives are poverty alleviation or wealth creation for some of the poor or policies intended to benefit the donor states.^[23] The economies of many low-income countries suffer from "industrialization without prosperity" and "investment without growth". This arises because "development assistance" guides many Third World governments to pursue "development" policies that have been wasteful, ill-conceived, unproductive or even so positively destructive that they could not have been sustained without outside support.^[24]

Indeed, some of the offers of aid have distorted the general spirit of volunteering, treating local voluntary action as "contributions in kind", i.e. as conditions requiring local people to earn the right to donor "largesse" by modifying their behavior. This can be seen as patronizing and offensive to the recipients because the aid expressly serves the policy aims of the donors rather than the needs of the recipients.

Criticism[link]

In the 1960s, Ivan Illich offered an analysis of the role of American volunteers in Mexico in his speech entitled, "To Hell With Good Intentions". His concerns, along with critics such as Paulo Freire and Edward Said, revolve around the notion of altruism as an extension of Christian missionary ideology and the sense of responsibility/obligation driving the concept of noblesse oblige, first developed by the French aristocracy as a moral duty derived from their wealth. Simply stated, these both propose the extension of power and authority over indigenous cultures around the world. Recent critiques of volunteering come from Westmier and Kahn (1996) and bell hooks (née Gloria Watkins) (2004).

The field of medical tourism (referring to volunteers traveling overseas to deliver care) has recently attracted negative criticism vis-a-vis the alternative notion of sustainable capacities (working in the context of long-term, locally-run but foreign-supported infrastructures). A preponderance of this criticism has appeared largely in the scientific and peer-reviewed literature.^[25][26][27] Recently, media outlets with more general readerships have published such criticisms as well.

See also[link]

Sustainable development portal

• List of volunteer awards
• Avocation
• Voluntarism
• PeaceCorps
• Military volunteer

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Category:National Volunteer Week

• Volunteering at the Open Directory Project
• Volunteerism and legislation: a Guidance Note Inter-Parliamentary Union, United Nations Volunteers, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2004
• Volunteer Database Internet DB: Operating Organizations

Collin Raye
Raye performing in Washington, D.C. in October 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Floyd Collin Wray[1][2][3]
Also known as	Bubba Wray
Born	August 22, 1959[4] or 1960[5][6] (disputed) De Queen, Arkansas, USA[4]
Genres	Country
Instruments	Vocals, bass guitar
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Epic, Aspirion, Country Roads, Starpointe, Saguaro Road
Associated acts	Susan Ashton, Jim Brickman, Paul Worley, The Wrays
Website	www.collinraye.com

Floyd Collin Wray (born August 22, 1959 or 1960,^{[note 1]} in De Queen, Arkansas) is an American country music singer, known professionally as Collin Raye. He made his debut on the American country music scene in 1991 with the release of his debut album All I Can Be, which produced his first Number One hit in "Love, Me". All I Can Be was the first of four consecutive albums released by Raye to achieve platinum certification in the United States for sales of one million copies each.

He maintained several Top Ten hits throughout the rest of the decade and into 2000. 2001's Can't Back Down was his first album that did not produce a Top 40 country hit, and he was dropped by his record label soon afterward. He did not record another studio album until 2005's Twenty Years and Change, released on an independent label.

Between 1991 and 2007, Raye charted 30 singles on the U.S. country charts; he has also charted twice on the Adult Contemporary format as a duet partner on two Jim Brickman songs. Four of Raye's singles have reached Number One on the Billboard country music charts: 1992's "Love, Me" and "In This Life", 1994's "My Kind of Girl", and 1998's "I Can Still Feel You". He has also recorded a total of eleven studio albums, counting a Christmas album and a compilation of lullabies, in addition to releasing a Greatest Hits compilation, a live album, and a live CD/DVD package. His most recent album, Never Going Back, was released via Saguaro Road Records on April 28, 2009.

Early years[link]

Floyd Collin Wray was born in De Queen, Arkansas on August 22.^[4][7] His mother, Lois Wray, was a local musician; in the 1950s, she served as an opening act for several Sun Records artists, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.^[8] Later, she became a solo musician in her own right; she would occasionally bring both Floyd and his brother Scott onstage to sing harmony vocals.^[4] By the 1980s, the two brothers began a country-rock band called the Wray Brothers Band, in which Collin assumed the stage name Bubba Wray.^[4] The Wray Brothers Band performed primarily in the state of Texas, and later in Reno, Nevada, eventually releasing singles on independent labels. By 1986, the band (which had shortened its name to The Wrays) signed to Mercury Records, releasing four singles. After the singles performed poorly on the charts, The Wrays disbanded.^[4]

Solo career[link]

Beginnings[link]

After altering the spelling of his last name to Raye, Collin was signed to a record deal with Epic Records in 1990.^[4] His debut single, "All I Can Be (Is a Sweet Memory)", entered the charts in 1991, reaching a peak of #29 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts.^[6] Raye's first album, also titled All I Can Be, was released soon afterward.

The follow-up single, a ballad co-written by Skip Ewing and titled "Love, Me," reached Number One on the country music charts in early 1992, holding the peak position for three weeks. All I Can Be was then certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album's final single was "Every Second," which peaked at #2 on Billboard.^[6]

[edit] In This Life and Extremes

Raye's second album, titled In This Life, was released in 1992. The album's title track, which served as its lead-off single, not only went to the top of the Billboard country charts, but also became a hit on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts. In late 1992, Raye made an appearance on the Carl Weathers television drama series "Street Justice", where he gave a live performance of "In This Life". The first season episode, entitled "Country Justice", was directed by David Winning. The album produced three additional Top Ten country hits, and was also certified platinum.

1993 saw the release of Raye's third album. Titled Extremes, it received critical acclaim for its more socially aware content, most evidently in the second single, "Little Rock", a story of a recovering alcoholic.^[9] The song's accompanying music video also promoted Al-Anon, an international support group for friends and family of alcoholics.^[4] Overall, Extremes produced five straight Top Ten hits on the country charts, including the Number One single "My Kind of Girl" in 1994; it also became Raye's third consecutive platinum album.

[edit] I Think About You and The Best of Collin Raye: Direct Hits

I Think About You was the title of Raye's fourth album. Released in 1995, it produced six singles overall and became Raye's fourth consecutive platinum-certified album.^[9] The album's title track was a Top Five hit on the country charts; in addition, its music video won a Video of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music.^[10]

In 1996, Raye also released a Christmas album titled Christmas: The Gift. He also appeared on Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, a Beach Boys album featuring lead vocals by country musicians. A year later, his first Greatest Hits package was issued; titled The Best of Collin Raye: Direct Hits, it comprised several of his hit singles from the past five years, as well as four new songs, of which three released as singles. "What the Heart Wants" and "Little Red Rodeo" both reached Top Five on the country music charts, while "The Gift", a collaboration with Jim Brickman and Susan Ashton, was a Top Five hit on the Adult Contemporary charts. Direct Hits received a gold certification from the RIAA for selling 500,000 copies in the United States.

[edit] The Walls Came Down

The Walls Came Down was the title of Raye's fifth studio album. Released in 1998, it produced his fourth and final Billboard Number One single in "I Can Still Feel You".^[4] "Someone You Used to Know" and the Radney Foster-penned "Anyone Else" were both Top Five hits as well. "Start Over Georgia", the fourth single (co-written by Raye's brother), peaked at #39. Also included on The Walls Came Down was a ballad entitled "The Eleventh Commandment", in which Raye addressed the issue of child abuse. Although not released as a single, "The Eleventh Commandment" was made into a music video, which featured a number for a child abuse hotline at the end.^[11]

The same year, he appeared on compilation CD Tribute To Tradition (released on Columbia label) with cover versions of Cold Cold Heart (country classic recorded by Hank Williams in 1957) and Honky Tonk Heroes (Like Me) (a major hit for Waylon Jennings in 1973, written by Billy Joe Shaver). Raye duets with Joe Diffie on the latter song.

Counting Sheep, a special album composed of lullabies for Raye's children, was released in 2000.

2000s[link]

2001 saw the release of Tracks, Raye's sixth album. Its first release, the primarily spoken-word "Couldn't Last a Moment", was a Top Five hit on the country charts. "Tired of Loving This Way", which followed, was a duet with singer and actress Bobbie Eakes. Although it was Raye's first single to miss the Top 40 entirely, it provided Eakes with her first and only appearance on the country music charts.^[12]

Can't Back Down, Raye's last album for Epic, was released in 2001. Neither of the album's two singles entered Top 40 on the country music charts. Because of a conflict with his label, Raye asked out of his contract that year.^[13][14] Although he did not have a record label at the time, he entered the Adult Contemporary charts for the third time in 2003, as a duet partner on Jim Brickman's single "Peace (Where the Heart Is)". 2004 saw the release of Raye's first live album, Live at Billy Bob's Texas, and a promotional single titled "World History 101" was released in 2005.^[5]

2005-present[link]

In 2005, Raye signed to the independent Aspirion label, releasing his Twenty Years and Change album. Two singles were released from the album, although neither single charted. The same year, Raye appeared in television commercials for Fruit of the Loom underwear, in which he sang the jingle "You Can't Over-Love Your Underwear" (with the "Apple" character lip-syncing the song in the commercial) ^[13] and was a guest vocalist on the single "Merry Christmas Angel" by Brit, a tribute song to the events of September 11. Another studio album, Fearless, was released in 2006 on Country Roads Records, although it did not produce any singles.

In 2007, a CD/DVD combination titled The Power in You was released, followed by an EP titled Selected Hits. The latter includes "That's My Story", "Little Rock", "I Think About You" and "Love, Me", as well as two new tracks: "A Soldier's Prayer" and "Quitters", the latter of which was co-written by Canadian country singer George Canyon. Both of the new tracks were released as singles in 2007, and the former peaked at #59 on Hot Country Songs.

Raye's next album, Never Going Back, was released on April 28, 2009 on the Saguaro Road label. Its first single is "Mid-Life Chrysler". It also includes the track "She's With Me," which is a tribute to Raye's granddaughter, Haley, who died from a severe but undiagnosed brain disorder.^[15]

Musical stylings[link]

Raye is known primarily for his country pop ballads, such as "Love, Me" (a popular choice at funerals)^[4] and "In This Life" (one of the most popular wedding songs of the 1990s).^[4]

Raye is also known for dealing with social issues in his material. "Little Rock", for example, tells of a recovering alcoholic; its music video included the number for Al-Anon, as a means of public service announcement. "What If Jesus Comes Back Like That", from his I Think About You album, is a power ballad that poses questions about the return of Jesus Christ in the modern world.^[9] In "The Eleventh Commandment", a track from The Walls Came Down, Raye addresses child abuse, suggesting "honor thy children" as an eleventh commandment to accompany the Ten Commandments.^[16] In the song's music video, a telephone number for the child abuse hotline ChildHelp USA was included.^[11]

Social activism[link]

Raye became the national spokesperson for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network in September 2011.^[17][18]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• All I Can Be (1991)
• In This Life (1992)
• Extremes (1993)
• I Think About You (1995)
• Christmas: The Gift (1995)
• The Walls Came Down (1998)
• Counting Sheep (2000)
• Tracks (2000)
• Can't Back Down (2001)
• Twenty Years and Change (2005)
• Fearless (2006)
• Never Going Back (2009)
• His Love Remains (2011)

[edit] Billboard number-one hits

• "Love, Me" (3 weeks, 1992)
• "In This Life" (2 weeks, 1992)
• "My Kind of Girl" (1 week, 1995)
• "I Can Still Feel You" (2 weeks, 1998)

Notes[link]

1. ^ Although multiple online sources all indicate Raye's date of birth as 1959, Raye's MySpace lists his date of birth as 1960. Furthermore, the 2004 Deseret News article cited in this article indicates the singer as having turned 44 that year.

References[link]

External links[link]

• CollinRaye.com
• Collin Raye on Myspace