Make “Get Involved” Your New Year’s Resolution
How volunteering through United Way of the Lakeshore can strengthen your community and your own well-being
January has a certain kind of energy. The calendar flips, routines reset, and suddenly we’re all thinking about the person we want to be in the year ahead. We set goals to move more, stress less, eat better, spend time with family, and finally tackle the things we’ve been putting off.
But there’s one resolution that quietly supports almost every other one, and it doesn’t require a gym membership, a perfect schedule, or a total personality overhaul:
Get involved in your community.
At United Way of the Lakeshore, we see it every day across Muskegon, Newaygo, and Oceana counties. When people volunteer, they don’t just “help out.” They build friendships. They find purpose. They learn new skills. They become more connected to their neighbors and more hopeful about the place they call home. And the community becomes stronger because of it.
Why volunteering is a “two-way” resolution
Volunteering is often framed as something you do for others. That’s true, and it matters. But research keeps reinforcing something else: volunteering can be good for the volunteer, too.
Studies have linked volunteering with a range of health and wellness benefits, especially as people age. For example:
A major systematic review found that volunteering is associated with positive social, mental, and physical outcomes, with reduced mortality and improved functioning among the strongest effects reported across the evidence base. PMC
Another widely cited systematic review and meta-analysis reported a 22% reduction in mortality among volunteers compared to non-volunteers across the studies included in that analysis. SpringerLink
Harvard Health has highlighted research suggesting that around 200 hours of volunteering per year has been associated with lower blood pressure in older adults. Harvard Health
Mayo Clinic Health System notes that volunteering can support physical and mental health, reduce stress, and is associated with lower rates of depression and anxiety, particularly among older adults. Mayo Clinic Health System
In plain language: volunteering can be a practical way to build healthier habits and a healthier community at the same time.
A resolution that fits real life
The biggest reason people don’t volunteer isn’t a lack of caring. It’s the assumption that volunteering has to be big, formal, or time-consuming.
At the Volunteer Center (through United Way of the Lakeshore), our job is to make volunteering feel doable and welcoming. That means helping people find opportunities that match:
their schedule (one-time, weekly, seasonal, or “when I can”)
their comfort level (behind-the-scenes or people-facing)
their interests (kids, seniors, veterans, housing, basic needs, events, mentoring)
their abilities (hands-on, administrative, remote, or accessible options)
Whether you’re brand new to volunteering, returning after a busy season of life, or looking for a fresh way to give back, there’s a place for you.
The “New Year Menu” of ways to get involved
If your resolution usually fizzles by February, try a different approach: choose one small action that you can actually repeat.
Here are a few volunteer “starter options” we see work well:
The 1-Hour Reset
Commit to one volunteer hour a month. That’s it. A single shift at a food distribution, a sorting project, an event support role, or a donation drive. Small doesn’t mean insignificant. It means sustainable.
The “Bring-a-Friend” Plan
Volunteering is easier when you don’t do it alone. Invite a coworker, your spouse, your best friend, your teenager, or your bowling-league buddy. Community is contagious.
Skill-Based Volunteering
If you’re good at organizing, data entry, writing, social media, handy work, coaching, teaching, photography, customer service, mentoring, or translating, there are nonprofits that would love help in exactly those areas.
Family Volunteering
Kids don’t learn “community” from a lecture. They learn it from watching the adults in their life show up. There are plenty of opportunities that work for families and create the kind of memories that stick.
Purpose-Driven Volunteering
Some people volunteer to meet new friends. Some volunteer to heal. Some volunteer because they’ve been helped before. Some volunteer because they want to be part of solutions instead of watching problems grow. All of those reasons are valid.
Volunteers show up in all kinds of ways: preparing materials for families, supporting events that raise resources for local needs, assisting seniors, mentoring students, helping veterans connect to services, organizing donation drives, and strengthening the behind-the-scenes work that keeps nonprofits running.
And the impact ripples. Strong volunteerism means stronger nonprofit capacity, quicker responses in busy seasons, and more “yes” moments for the people who need help right now.
Ready to jump in? Connect with United Way of the Lakeshore’s Volunteer Center to find a match that fits your interests and your schedule—and start your year by making our community stronger, together.