Meet Tom Mower: the extraordinary story of a volunteer-aholic

Tom Mower, 22, from Leeds is down to the final five of a global competition run by GVI to volunteer around the world for a year.

Over the last four years, he's given over 1,500 hours of his time to volunteering. Tom tells us all about his extraordinary story so far and why volunteering is so important to him....

My name’s Tom and I’m proud to be a volunteer-aholic. Why? Because I find volunteering to be great fun, really rewarding, and beneficial for myself and others. For me, volunteering isn't just something to put on my CV or something to do when I'm bored; it's a huge part of my life and my volunteering experiences have really shaped my view of the world.

My addiction to volunteering has taken me from Leeds (North England) to the amazing Amazon rainforest and to South Africa, to music festivals and government meetings, and to allotments and beautiful countryside.

It started when I moved to Leeds in September 2008 for university. I soon discovered that volunteering doesn't mean doing boring work for free, it's about having the opportunity to do something you're passionate about, having a great time, and meeting lots of fantastic, like-minded people.

Creating real change

In my first two years at uni, I volunteered as part of a human rights and environmental campaign group, People and Planet. I had great fun running a 'bottled water funfair' as part of our successful campaign to make Leeds University Union the first in the country to replace all bottled water with re-usable bottles.

After several successful campaigns I realised that creating real change and having tangible impacts locally is a huge motivator for me. So much so that I realised that's what I want to do with the rest of my life!

That's when my volunteering addiction got really bad/good...

I decided to take a year out to volunteer as an Environmental Education assistant for a local community charity, Groundwork Leeds. I helped on all sorts of fantastic projects in schools and communities, lasting from a few hours up to 10 weeks.

I've also volunteered doing scientific research in Ecuador and helping with conservation on a game reserve in South Africa with GVI.

While in Leeds I've also done peer mentoring, first aid, conservation, youth work, festival stewarding and loads more... the choices when it comes to volunteering are pretty much endless!

Here’s what I learnt...

There is very little on Earth that is more rewarding and gratifying than seeing the happiness of others grow thanks to the time and effort you spend with them.

What’s more, through my volunteering, I have finally found a career that I really want to follow in Environment Education.

So my advice would be to really embrace volunteering and do as much as you can - whatever your interests there will be something to suit you.

Try new things. You'll experience so much more of what life has to offer, you'll meet loads of interesting people and gain some new friends, and you'll probably learn a lot about yourself along the way.

So do what I did, get out there and volunteer... but be warned, it's so good you'll soon get addicted!