I know LinkedIn is very corporate-focused, and a great place to learn and grow as an employee or employer. However, there are huge benefits in both of those areas in volunteering. Yes, I mean volunteering, not 'voluntolding' in the workplace!!
I do a few things around the place, but one of the ones that brings me the most joy is my work with the Australian Fromelles Association. It's a role that unites two of my great loves, Australian military history (especially World War 1), and genealogy research. For years we've been gradually chipping away at identifying all of the unknown soldiers found (through the work of a Lambis Englezos, who is a retired teacher!) at Pheasant Wood in France, all killed in the Battle of Fromelles and buried in a mass grave. I spend about ten hours on the project every couple of months, using my expertise in South Australian records to deal with any SA-based angles other researchers have thrown up during the previous few weeks. I trawl BDM records, newspaper records, cemetery records and a few niche local sources to help find living relatives of WW1 soldiers that can then be approached to submit a DNA sample. If they are from SA, I'm the lead researcher and it's on me to find everything we have in SA that might lead to a living descendant.
Last year, for the first time, a soldier I provided the primary research for was identified, and now he lies in a named grave rather than one dedicated to 'the unknown soldier'. Through my involvement in my school's France Trip, it's very likely that in years to come I will get to visit Oscar Baumann's named grave and know that was a gift I gave to him and to his family; a way to say 'thank you' for his service and sacrifice.
If you don't currently have a genuine volunteer or community service role, I encourage you to take one on. Think about what skills you have and who might be able to make use of those. Dollars in the bank are not the only way to be rewarded.
https://lnkd.in/ge_zH46b
Learn more about our flight to Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings at http://dl.aero/6043YURWt