What I Learned from a Year of Volunteering

Volunteering at Festival Beach Food Forest has been a transformative experience for me. Over the past year, I've gained valuable insights into community building, sustainability, and the power of collective action.

A Community Effort

The Festival Beach Food Forest started in 2015 as a grassroots initiative to create a sustainable urban food forest in Austin, Texas. It's a community-driven project that relies heavily on volunteers to plant, maintain, and nurture the forest. There is one paid position, the land steward, and the rest of the work is done purely by volunteers. There are different levels of involvement where core-team volunteers help run the admin and events for volunteers from the public to partake in. As my involvement grew, I took on more and varied responsibilities.

Responsibilities like:

• Attending workdays
• Leading one of the small groups of volunteers at workdays
• Helping with social media and outreach
• Assisting with event planning and execution
• Participating in fundraising planning sessions
• Becoming Co-Coordinator of the Fundraising Circle

and more.

What is a community?

A community is a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds who come together with a shared purpose. They keep showing up. They show up for the mission. They show up for each other.

How do you build a community?

Building a community takes time, effort - and opportunity. There need to be opportunities for people to come through. What completes the circle is the extension of trust and the follow-through. People need to feel that they belong and that their contributions matter. They need to feel needed.

The power of community

When people come together with a shared purpose, they're able to galvanize and create something greater. It's the network effects and you start to get a sense of just how connected we all are.

Recommendations

If you're feeling alone in a new city - or alone in an old one - consider how you participate in your community. Find a hobby to pursue, a cause to champion, or a favorite place and just show up. Show up. Be present. Be consistent. Let others know you're there and - when you can - that you're there for them too.