Day 24 of CCAM: Once a Racer; Now a Volunteer with JustTryanIt
Volunteerism is the practice of freely giving your time, energy, and skills to help others or support a worthy cause without expecting financial payment. It is the silent engine that keeps many nonprofits going and doing their thing.
My entire family has taken on many volunteer projects over the years, mostly helping organizations focused on childhood cancer. For us, it is that Post-Traumatic Growth and Gains. The term PTG was coined by Dr. Richard T. Tedeschi, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and his colleague, Lawrence Calhoun, Ph.D.
According to Dr. Tedeschi, dozens of studies have shown that trauma survivors can change in profound ways. It goes well beyond resilience or simply bouncing back from adversity. “With PTG, a person who has faced difficult challenges doesn’t just return to baseline, which is what happens with resilience; they change in fundamental, sometimes dramatic, ways.” Think of all those VFW Halls, MADD, and the many cancer organizations out there to help others.
When you volunteer, you meet other volunteers with the same attitude and gumption to help however you can. The feeling is liberating, honestly!
Last Sunday, as mentioned in an earlier post or two, my family volunteered at the Just Tryan It Kids Triathon in Bethesda, Maryland. We were up at 4:30 am, giddy, too, to start our day and drive over to the Landon School, where we met up with hundreds more volunteers to help keep the 350+ races safe and on course. It is no small feat, let me say that right now. Volunteers are needed!
One volunteer, Lindsay, has been volunteering with JTI for years. She first came to know about JTI when she was diagnosed with cancer as a child (leukemia). After she recovered, she also competed in the JTI Kid Triathlons. She was hooked! As a young adult, she began volunteering at this event, bringing her energy and know-how to the young kids ready to take on the course: swim/bike/run! FUN!!!
Here is a short video of us regarding the race:
Lindsay’s story is volunteerism coming full circle. She was once the child with cancer. Then she became the kid out on that JTI course, swimming, biking, and running. Today, she comes back to help the next group of kids cross their own finish lines.
That's what volunteerism can do. We show up because someone once showed up for us—or simply because we know someone needs us.
Maybe that's part of our family's post-traumatic growth, too. Childhood cancer took plenty from us, but somewhere along the way, it also gave us a fierce desire to give back as much as we can. We can't change what happened to Ryan or to Lindsay, but we can decide what we do with it.
Sometimes that means setting the alarm for 4:30 a.m., putting on the volunteer shirt, and showing up with a smile and a "how can we help" attitude.
And what a beautiful thing it is when showing up becomes giving back.
Day 24. Still showing up. Still Going Gold. 💛🎗️
Terri
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