People volunteer for a variety of reasons; most say they do it help others, to "give back."

They mean it, of course -- the best volunteering involves the desire to serve others -- but this doesn't exclude other motivations.

There is a long tradition of seeing volunteering as a form of charity, based on selflessness. But that doesn't mean I feel guilty about my weekly volunteer gig at Blacksburg's Lyric Theatre, where 30 minutes of selling sodas earns me a free movie and popcorn.

Nor do I feel that the fun I have playing dress-up as a docent at Smithfield Plantation discredits the value of the experience I'm trying to provide for visitors.

But not all volunteering can be fun and games.

For five years, I listened to desperate, angry and grieving people as I answered calls as a volunteer on New River Community Service's RAFT crisis hotline. It was not something I was doing for people who were less fortunate than me; it was an exchange.

None of us are more than one terrible phone call away from crisis. We never know when we may be the recipient of someone's volunteer effort. Tomorrow the volunteer rescue squad could be rushing us to the emergency room.

The reasons people volunteer are as varied as the people themselves: to have an impact, to repay a debt, to act out a fantasy, to make friends, to keep busy, to build a resume, or as therapy.

Maybe it's an escape to volunteer in a clothing shop, helping people dress themselves for the price of a coffee. Maybe you monitor the water quality in a local stream as part of your commitment to the environment.

Adding your effort to the work of others makes everyone's lives better. And it's good for you, too.

There is a discipline in the work for service, in your focus on the task for some greater cause, even if it's as seemingly mundane as stocking the shelves of a food pantry.

You put yourself in their lives for a few hours, a few minutes, or for as long as it takes to help them get their supplies into the car. And then you find that when your shift is over, everything goes with it -- all the little things that were bothering you before you came in to volunteer.

Your volunteer stint acts as a circuit-breaker on your insular existence, and you emerge with fuses intact. Maybe there's even an afterglow. You notice the beauty of the afternoon light, the pleasure of a cup of tea. You count your blessings, not because they are blessings that others cannot count, but because they are yours to count. And you have labored for others today.

Su Clauson-Wicker coordinates volunteers for New River Comunity Action's food pantries and nonprofit clothing shops and is a contributor to the NRV Current.