Community Impact Starts with Showing Up: Why Volunteerism Matters Now More than Ever
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Brian Hercliff-Proffer
Community Impact Director - Posted On
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Volunteerism allows us to be part of something larger than ourselves. It brings individuals together across differences through shared goals, while deepening our collective work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. We serve in our places of worship, local organizations, fraternities and sororities, and advocacy groups to just name a few of the many avenues of volunteerism. We do everything including administrative work, teaching, outreach, civic engagement, board leadership, and so much more.
Currently, I have the honor of serving as a board member for a couple of nonprofits. One of the boards I serve on is with Lansing Pride, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that strives to provide support and resources for the annual pride festival and other spaces created in the Lansing area for members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies to celebrate Pride. We focus our work on building community and safe spaces through self-hosted and collaborative events within Lansing throughout the year and ensuring that the annual pride festival -held annually in June- is a safe and accessible event for all to attend. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community who had to find and create a new family after coming out, I understand the profound value of spaces that foster community and chosen family—and how lifesaving they can be. For me, this is deeply rooted in creating belonging and social justice and intentionally engaging in supporting the work of nonprofits such as Lansing Pride. It allows me to actively do that work and to align with my personal goal of building community.
As we do this work, it’s important to remember why we show up in the first place. Community engagement isn’t just about “helping out.” Those staff volunteer days at the food bank or roadside cleanups mean more than stepping away from the office to do something good. They’re about stepping in where gaps still exist in our communities, gaps shaped by systems, policies, and realities we haven’t fully solved. It’s about making sure people get the support they need and doing our part to strengthen communities, not break them down.
Our contributions as volunteers do not have to be large-scale or highly visible; every moment and interaction matters. It’s the ripple effect in action: each action we take creates an impact that extends far beyond our immediate reach, often in ways we may never fully know.
