The sun is shining, orange barrels are in full bloom and on a still night you can hear the crackle of a 4th of July sparkler. It is summer in Central Ohio, and it is time for you to take account of your greatest asset – you.

Volunteerism might be the surprise salve that helps heal a wounded economy. Your time, your efforts, your ideas and your leadership can all be put to work for any one of dozens of local charitable and service organizations battling shrinking budgets and expanding needs.

Young Professionals
Hauling debris, stripping paint and priming walls might not be part of the normal skill set of the young, white-collar professional, but Generation X is proving its mettle by being Generation Next.

“GenNext” is an arm of United Way of Central Ohio. It motivates young professionals to strengthen the community by teaming up and making a difference. Its recent service projects include helping refurbish a building to provide space for Central Community House and preparing meals for the families of cancer patients. GenNext aims not just to serve the community, but also to help its volunteers develop leadership skills and promote educational activities and networking events. The person helping you haul boards to a construction dumpster could one day be your client – or your contact for a new employment opportunity.

Volunteerism can also enhance your perspective on the power of giving. Columbus attorney Molly Crabtree, of Porter Wright, now understands “just a couple of hours out of your week can make a huge difference in the lives of dozens of people.” Crabtree joined some of her colleagues in a United Way service project to help deliver Meals on Wheels and realized it was the type of lesson she wants to instill in her own young daughter.

In fact, Crabtree plans to sign up for a Saturday route. This way her daughter “can come along and learn about sharing and caring from all of the people we interact with,” she says.

Resume Building
Volunteering your time and energy could give you an unexpected career boost. If you are unemployed, or even under-employed, you can volunteer your way to a beefed-up resume. According to FIRSTLINK President and CEO Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, “We think it’s important for people to recognize that through their engagement in volunteering they can choose volunteer opportunities that will help them develop new skills, will expand their resume and make them more competitive in the current job market.”

FIRSTLINK is a central referral agency that connects people who want to give help with people who need help. It has an on-line searchable database with volunteering opportunities in basic needs, education, social and cultural arenas and health and safety. You can help people who have such basic needs as food, clothing and shelter. Tony McClure, a successful young professional, says serving meals at the Family Shelter “gave me new reasons to value the blessings in my own life.”

You can volunteer as a hospice aide, a literacy tutor, a blood drive assistant, or even an animal aide.

“Volunteering can enhance how you see life and how you see yourself as part of a community,” Chinnici-Zuercher says.

Teen Time
Do you have a teenager with the “I can’t find a summer job blues?” Chances are that teenager is enrolled in a high school that encourages, or even requires, community service projects. Your teen may also need a relevant topic for a college entrance essay.

Being shut out of a tight job market is no excuse for spending the summer playing Wii. What better time to learn a lesson in giving than when the need for help is so great? Teens interested in volunteer opportunities can start with nearby churches or your neighborhood service organizations. FIRSTLINK’s volunteer database will also tell you which organizations are accepting and searching for teenage helpers.

When you give your children the chance to help someone in need, you encourage them to value their own knowledge and skills and to appreciate their own opportunities and blessings. These are life lessons that will carry through adulthood.

Giving From the Heart
Throughout the years, my own children have been with me during my favorite annual volunteer effort – standing outside on a cold December morning for the Firefighters 4 Kids Toy Drive. Firefighters 4 Kids serves more than 10,000 local families each year, making sure Christmas morning is a joyous occasion for children who might otherwise go without. It is my favorite charitable endeavor because it is entirely dependent on volunteerism – from the firefighters who expend hundreds of hours working to haul, store, bag and deliver toys to needy children, to the workers who accept donations at our annual day-long drive. But, by far the best part of the effort is the thousands of donors who wait in line to drop off toys, each with their own reason for giving.

Each year, Marty Cone, a resident at a local senior complex, conducts her own mini toy drive. The senior citizens in her apartment building buy or make dozens and dozens of toys for children they do not know and will never see. She once told me, “I love to imagine the face of the child who will get this toy on Christmas morning. I just think about how happy they will be, and I love knowing I am part of that joy.”

You can be part of the volunteer machine that churns throughout Central Ohio. A little elbow grease, an attentive ear, an understanding smile or the touch of a hand can change a life. It might even be yours.

For more information, visit www.firstlink.org or www.gennextcolumbus.org.

Watch Colleen Marshall weekdays on NBC 4 at 6 p.m. and NBC 4 at 11 p.m.