Stories about retail sales and this year’s top gifts seem to dominate the news during the holidays, but there’s a less-discussed one that outdoes them all: volunteerism in our communities.

I’m talking about giving rather than getting and the old-fashioned, brick-and-mortar, face-to-face-with-live-people kinds of communities, not the online ones we might aspire to build through Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Most of us live in communities – whether we want to or not; whether we are wealthy or poor; whether we live in an apartment, condominium, townhouse or house; whether our block, neighborhood, town or city is large or small; and whether our family heritage is from Africa, Asia, Europe or anywhere else on the planet.

Communities are a common denominator among us – they could even be a unifier – and yet not everyone ventures into them with open minds, curious eyes and ears, and a giving heart. For many years, I was among the unadventurous. I could count on one hand (or one or two fingers, if I’m really honest) the number of hours I spent every year going into the community and doing something for the greater good.

But that changed two years ago. A trusted advisor encouraged me to “do something outside myself” that had no benefit for me. “Choose what you would enjoy doing and what calls on your natural talents,” he said, “and do something for someone else.”

I took his advice to heart and found a local anti-poverty organization that needed volunteers to conduct mock job interviews with its participants. I emailed the organization, met with the volunteer director, and after completing paperwork and a thorough orientation session was conducting mock interviews on a few Monday evenings.

It was a small start, and although I didn’t realize it at the time, it was a defining moment for me. My perspectives about life and awareness of my community began to evolve in wonderful ways.

It wasn’t easy at first. As with any change, I experienced a normal range of emotions, including fear (“what have I gotten myself into?”), self-doubt (“what do I have to offer?”) and sadness (“why are there are so many people in Minneapolis/St. Paul who are really suffering in their lives?”). But something inside told me to continue on and see what was around the next bend, so to speak.

So I kept going, conducting mock interviews consistently throughout the seasons for the past two years. And I’m glad I did so, because along the way I made new friends and had heartwarming experiences. I also learned the following valuable lessons:

• We’re really not that different from one another. While volunteering, I met others with a wide array of backgrounds, interests, personalities, values, perspectives and life experiences. And from that I learned we all can be incredibly different while being – simultaneously – incredibly the same. Regardless of backgrounds and circumstances, I discovered, nearly everyone wants to fulfill a dream of some kind, desires to be loved and valued, and longs to be happy, peaceful and safe.
  
  
• We don’t all get a fair start in life. I used to think that if a person works hard, there are few limits to what can be accomplished in life. My inaccurate idea changed through volunteering. I learned that not everyone receives a fair start in life. For example: how can you attend to your school studies if you’re always hungry?; how will you learn to apply for your first job if your parents haven’t had a job themselves or aren’t around?; or how will you learn to value yourself and make good decisions in life if the people around you don’t do that themselves and want to keep you down rather than lift you up? When this has been the case for someone, a helping hand from a volunteer can make all the difference in the world.
  
  
• We all make mistakes. No one is perfect, and subsequently no one makes the right decisions 100 percent of the time. Whether the consequences are nearly unnoticeable or are so large they follow someone for a lifetime, people can and do learn from their mistakes. And because we’re all imperfect, we owe it to one another to sincerely offer forgiveness. Everyone deserves a shot at redemption.
  
  
• Even while giving, you receive. This could be my biggest lesson learned from volunteering. And while it might sound cliché, it is so very true for me. Whenever I’m volunteering, I feel I receive far more than I give. It’s like food for my soul. How am I fed? Additional friends. New perspectives. Inspiration. A good feeling from helping people who want help. Appreciation from the nonprofit organization doing the bulk of the heavy lifting every day. And hope that the world can slowly become a better place if we all help to make it so.

So that’s what I’ve learned from volunteering in my community. It has been a wonderfully unexpected development in my life. And because of what I receive and what I suspect I have yet to learn from it, I plan to volunteer for the rest of my days.

How did you get started volunteering, and what has the experience been like for you?