While I believe that volunteering is a noble act and good for the soul, most of us want to volunteer doing something that we enjoy. After all, we’re volunteering.

This got me to thinking about how different we are in the ways in which we like to volunteer. There are probably as many different ways an individual can volunteer as there are individual skills and interests.

Recently, I’ve seen this in action.

I had lunch today with a young woman who is the adviser for one of the funds here at the community foundation. She mentioned that she prefers to stay in the background, and yet, she loves working one-on-one with people. Not only does she volunteer as a mentor for a young boy in the Issaquah School District, she visits with a senior citizen in a nursing home. It was a joy to watch her eyes light up as she talked about these two individuals and how she feels she is making a difference in their lives by just visiting and engaging with them.

I have another friend who is a strong writer. She stopped in last week because she has volunteered to help an older gentleman edit his memoir, and she wanted to chat with me about self-publishing. She didn’t want anything in return for this, just to help someone in need.

I had lunch recently with two women (a young woman and her mother-in-law) because they wanted to know more about how to get involved in the community. The moment I began to tell them about Birthday Dreams, a nonprofit that provides birthday parties for homeless kids, they got very excited. The mother-in-law said she might like to bake cakes, while her daughter-in-law just gushed at the thought that she might volunteer to help kids.

A week ago, I had a nice email exchange with a gentleman who requested information on an organization he might benefit. He used to build wheelchair ramps for the MS Society until they eliminated that program. I gave him the contact information for the Way Back Inn, which maintains several homes to help transition homeless families into permanent housing. I thought his carpentry skills might come in handy. This morning, I received a phone call from one of my former board members, also asking about the Way Back Inn because he had some furniture to donate.

When I got into the office today, I had an email from a current board member who has a neighbor interested in offering her technology skills to an organization that helps to get disadvantaged kids into the STEM programs and wondered where she might volunteer.

I also have three highly accomplished people who volunteer in my office to pay invoices, make deposits, file documents and do data entry. All three are retired professionals. Certainly these tasks are below their skill level. And yet, they know that as the only employee in my office, these are tasks that I need help with, so they’re happy to do it.

And just last week, a volunteer who knows I foster rescue dogs asked me if I would help with a home visit so that she could adopt a rescue dog from another state. I said yes and will volunteer my time to act as the intermediary between rescue groups so that a lonely dog will find a new forever home.

If you think about it, there really is no excuse for someone not to volunteer, unless they just don’t want to.

With a little research, there are a multitude of organizations that could use your help. Whether it’s to deliver a birthday party to a homeless shelter, pick up used clothing for the clothes bank, serve meals at the community supper, sort food at the food bank, write for a church newsletter, spread bark for the community dog park, keep books for a nonprofit, collect school supplies, take photographs at a fundraising event, design a website, help an organization with their strategic plan, make quilts for military vets, teach a class, or read to a dying patient, there are a million and one ways to make a difference in this world.

All you have to do is ask.

Lynn Bohart is the executive director of the Renton Community Foundation that oversees a number of charitable funds that provide support to those in need in Renton. She can be reached at lbohart@rentonfoundation.org.