My son is a huge fan of the book titled, The Name of This Book is Secret.  The first book turned into a five part series and the author Pseudonymous Bosch created a culture of secrecy around his true identity, even going on tour and appearing on national TV in disguise.  The relevant part of the story for those not looking for a young person’s book recommendation is that Pseudonymous Bosch got his start by volunteering.  He offered to be a unidentified pen pal for an elementary school writing exercise.  The student wrote a paragraph and the unknown adult authored the second paragraph. The pattern continued until a story was completed.  Only during this leap into volunteering did Pseudonymous Bosch realized he had a joy and talent for the youth mystery genre.  An opportunity to volunteer turned into a career and a journey to share his craft on a much larger stage.


Sometimes volunteering is an opportunity for a person to try a field of work without committing to employment.  By providing a volunteer position we may be cultivating the talents and enthusiasm of a prodigy or helping a person assess their interest in a field.  The organization and the volunteer may be involved in doing each other a favor which has more depth than can be readily seen.