I hit 1,000 hours of volunteering last week and didn't even notice until Tuesday

So I've been doing this food bank thing every Saturday morning for about 3 years now. Just showing up, sorting cans, packing boxes, the usual. Last week I was helping unload a truck and one of the coordinators pulled me aside and said congrats on hitting 1,000 hours. I honestly had no idea I was even close to that number. It kinda hit me weird because I never thought of it as a big deal, just something I do on weekends. But seeing that number made me realize how much those small routine things add up over time. I guess my question is has anyone else had a milestone sneak up on them like this? How did you react when you found out?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.tessa11d ago

Oh wow, @the_jessica, you totally nailed it about someone else noticing the time. But I gotta say, it sounds like you were at the shelter for more than just a couple years if you hit 500 hours. I mean, that's like a whole year of Sunday mornings if you did 2 hours each time. That's way more than a couple years, right? It really shows how those little weekly habits stack up faster than we think when we're not counting.

robert_smith364d ago

My wife volunteers at the local food bank every other Saturday and she's got over 300 hours now without even realizing it. It's funny how we tend to shortchange our own efforts when we're just doing something that feels normal or routine. I've seen this pattern with folks who coach youth sports too, they'll say "oh I've only been doing it a few seasons" and then you add it up and it's like 400 hours of practice time. We're all pretty bad at estimating our own time investments until someone else points out the total.

the_jessica11d ago

Man, that's such a cool thing to have happen. I think it's easy to get so caught up in just doing the work that you don't even keep track of the hours. I remember I was helping out at a local animal shelter for a couple years, just walking dogs and cleaning kennels every Sunday. One day the shelter manager mentioned they were putting together a thank-you event for people with over 500 hours and I was like, wait, that's me? It felt really good to have someone else notice the time I gave, since I never really thought about it myself. Did it change how you see your Saturday mornings now, knowing you've put in that much time?