明日之光First Step：來做志願者吧！
2020年11月，美中下一代基金會明日之光公益獎平台正式成立並得到華人社區的積極響應。平台的職責之一是傳播各個團隊的事迹和經驗，共大家學習，交流和參考。這篇文章是明日之光First Step團隊的負責人Annie Lin寫的。文章中她通過自己的調研數據和切身體會，分享了做志願者幫助他人的同時，更能提高自己的感悟。
Want to improve your well being and make friends? Volunteer!
幫助他人能使自己更加健康快樂 – 來做志願者吧！
By Annie Lin 林佳音 (rising junior at North Atlanta High School)
中文翻譯 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.
我一直很好奇義工服務如何影響志願者的心理健康。很多人做義工是因為高中畢業的要求或者是因為他們想要幫助別人，這很好。然而，大多數人並沒有看到做義工為自己帶來的好處。當學校要求十年級學生自由選擇一個主題做項目時，我設計了一個問卷調查來回答這個有趣的問題。
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.
這份問卷設計了29個問題，共收到 84 份回復，受訪者包括不同年齡組和性別。本文僅介紹幾個最重要的結果。我能接觸到的大多數參與者要麼是同學，要麼是我的社區服務團隊 First Step 的成員，因此大多數是 13-18 歲的女性。參與者首先被問到他們志願服務的頻率以及他們從事的工作類型，結果總結在下面的圖表中。
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.
調查中下一部分的問題是關於幸福感的，答案表明義工服務確實對志願者的整體幸福感產生了積極影響。許多參與者表示，他們結交了新朋友，得到了稱讚，並且很有成就感，因此覺得更快樂。我還詢問了參與者對家人和朋友的看法。答案顯示，有些參與者喜歡與家人（父母或兄弟姐妹）一起做義工，有些則不喜歡。與此相反的是，絕大多數參與者特別樂意和朋友們一起做義工，並通過志願者工作結交了新朋友。
(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.」)
(註：本次調查中的多數問題，參與者被要求選擇 1 到 5 中的一個數字，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，整體健康的另一個重要指標是心理壓力。對這一部分的問題的回答表明，超過一半的參與者認為義務工作有助於緩解壓力，其他的人感覺志願工作給他們繁忙的日程增加了更多的事情，但是他們普遍認為這個時間花的很值得。
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.
在最後一部分問題中，大多數參與者認為志願服務幫助他們獲得了寶貴的工作經驗，但尚未影響他們對大學專業或職業道路的選擇。考慮到大多數參與調查者在13-18歲之間，未來職業規劃對他們來說還為時過早。就個人而言，我覺得我自己的義工經歷讓我更好地了解到領導一個非營利組織是什麼樣子，這是我將來希望做的事情。
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.
最最重要的結論是：義工經歷的積極影響體現在每個方面，包括一個人的動力、健康、幸福和友誼。許多參與者結交了新朋友，得到了稱讚，並且通過志願服務收穫成就感，因此總體上感覺更快樂。另一個重要結論是，絕大多數人喜歡與朋友們一起做義工，並通過志願者活動結交新朋友。
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，幫助他人會讓自己更加快樂健康。快來加入First Step Team，與朋友們分享這份祝福吧！
Go to https://sites.google.com/jiahost.com/annie-project-2022/home for complete results and more details.
請到以上網站查看問卷調查的完整結果和更多詳細信息。
