明日之光First Step：来做志愿者吧！
2020年11月，美中下一代基金会明日之光公益奖平台正式成立并得到华人社区的积极响应。平台的职责之一是传播各个团队的事迹和经验，共大家学习，交流和参考。这篇文章是明日之光First Step团队的负责人Annie Lin写的。文章中她通过自己的调研数据和切身体会，分享了做志愿者帮助他人的同时，更能提高自己的感悟。
Want to improve your well being and make friends? Volunteer!
帮助他人能使自己更加健康快乐 – 来做志愿者吧！
By Annie Lin 林佳音 (rising junior at North Atlanta High School)
中文翻译 Chloe Lin 林青青 (rising 6th grader at the Westminster Schools)
I have always been curious about how volunteering affects the volunteers’ mental health. Many people volunteer because it is required for graduation or because they want to help others, which is great. However, most do not see the benefits volunteering offers for themselves. When my school asked the sophomores to do a personal project on a free chosen topic, I designed a survey to answer this intriguing question.
我一直很好奇义工服务如何影响志愿者的心理健康。很多人做义工是因为高中毕业的要求或者是因为他们想要帮助别人，这很好。然而，大多数人并没有看到做义工为自己带来的好处。当学校要求十年级学生自由选择一个主题做项目时，我设计了一个问卷调查来回答这个有趣的问题。
This survey included 29 questions. A total 84 responses were received, with people representing different age groups and genders. This article only presents the few most important results. Most participants I could reach were either classmates or members of my community service team First Step, therefore most were between 13-18 and female. Participants were first asked how often they volunteer and what types of work they do, and the results are summarized in the graphs below.
这份问卷设计了29个问题，共收到 84 份回复，受访者包括不同年龄组和性别。本文仅介绍几个最重要的结果。我能接触到的大多数参与者要么是同学，要么是我的社区服务团队 First Step 的成员，因此大多数是 13-18 岁的女性。参与者首先被问到他们志愿服务的频率以及他们从事的工作类型，结果总结在下面的图表中。
The next section of my survey was about well being. In this section, the answers showed that volunteering does have a positive effect on participants’ overall well being. Many participants said that they made new friends, received compliments, and felt accomplished, therefore feeling happier overall. I also asked participants how they felt about family and friends. The answers show that some participants enjoy volunteering with family members (parents or siblings) and some do not. On the contrary, most participants do enjoy volunteering with friends and made new friends through volunteer work.
调查中下一部分的问题是关于幸福感的，答案表明义工服务确实对志愿者的整体幸福感产生了积极影响。许多参与者表示，他们结交了新朋友，得到了称赞，并且很有成就感，因此觉得更快乐。我还询问了参与者对家人和朋友的看法。答案显示，有些参与者喜欢与家人（父母或兄弟姐妹）一起做义工，有些则不喜欢。与此相反的是，绝大多数参与者特别乐意和朋友们一起做义工，并通过志愿者工作结交了新朋友。
(Note: For many questions in this survey, participants were asked to answer on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “strongly disagree” and 5 meaning “strongly agree.”)
(注：本次调查中的多数问题，参与者被要求选择 1 到 5 中的一个数字，1 表示“非常不同意”，5 表示“非常同意”。）
In addition to well being and family and friends, another important part of mental health overall is stress level. The answers to the questions on this topic show that more than half of participants feel that volunteering helps relieve stress, however others feel that volunteering adds more work to their busy schedules, but it is time well spent.
除了幸福感以及家人和朋友之外，整体健康的另一个重要指标是心理压力。对这一部分的问题的回答表明，超过一半的参与者认为义务工作有助于缓解压力，其他的人感觉志愿工作给他们繁忙的日程增加了更多的事情，但是他们普遍认为这个时间花的很值得。
In the last section, many participants agreed that volunteering helped them gain valuable work experience, however, it has not affected their choice of college major or career path yet. Consider most participants are 13-18 years old, it might be too early for them to have a future career plan yet. Personally, I feel that my volunteer experience has given me a better idea of what leading a nonprofit would be like, which is something I would love doing in the future.
在最后一部分问题中，大多数参与者认为志愿服务帮助他们获得了宝贵的工作经验，但尚未影响他们对大学专业或职业道路的选择。考虑到大多数参与调查者在13-18岁之间，未来职业规划对他们来说还为时过早。就个人而言，我觉得我自己的义工经历让我更好地了解到领导一个非营利组织是什么样子，这是我将来希望做的事情。
The most important conclusion is that the positive influence shows in every category, including motivation, well being, happiness, and friendship. Many participants made new friends, received compliments, and felt more accomplished through volunteering, therefore feeling happier overall. Another important conclusion is that most participants do enjoy volunteering with friends and made new friends through volunteer work.
最最重要的结论是：义工经历的积极影响体现在每个方面，包括一个人的动力、健康、幸福和友谊。许多参与者结交了新朋友，得到了称赞，并且通过志愿服务收获成就感，因此总体上感觉更快乐。另一个重要结论是，绝大多数人喜欢与朋友们一起做义工，并通过志愿者活动结交新朋友。
The takeaway is that helping others makes yourself happier and healthier. Come join First Step Team and share this blessing with your friends!
所以，帮助他人会让自己更加快乐健康。快来加入First Step Team，与朋友们分享这份祝福吧！
Go to https://sites.google.com/jiahost.com/annie-project-2022/home for complete results and more details.
请到以上网站查看问卷调查的完整结果和更多详细信息。
