One Fianceé Turns Volunteering into Romance

How giving can make a date night.

by Jennifer Murphy 

Volunteering is not just for high school students and the retired anymore.  More and more couples are using community involvement to spend quality time with each other while giving back to their community.  Volunteering with your spouse not only betters the community you live in, but it also brings the two of you together for a common goal.

Recently my fiancé and I decided to volunteer at a local animal shelter.  Combining our love for animals and a chance to spend some much needed time with each other seemed perfect.  After all, our family consists of him and me and our cat and dog.  Our animals are as important to us as any of our other family members, so volunteering at the shelter was ideal for us.

We stumbled across this opportunity during a trip to a popular pet supply store.  Originally our purpose was to look for a new addition to our family but left with a unique weekend date.  Growing up, our families taught us the value of doing good in our communities.  Volunteering is a win-win situation, but with two demanding jobs, we barely have time for our regular “date night.”  Although we did not end up taking home a new dog, we decided that spending time helping out at this animal rescue shelter was a great idea for one of our date nights.  Not only was it easy to start volunteering, it was a cheap date because it was free.

Once he and I arrived at the shelter, we quickly realized that this was one our best ideas in a long time.  Being surrounded by so many loving animals gave us those warm fuzzy feelings and the loving atmosphere rubbed off on our relationship.  Cuddly kittens and cold nosed puppies can melt even the coldest of hearts.  And the good feelings from helping out put us in a good mood, motivating us to continue doing good things to keep the feeling going.

The other volunteers were so grateful that my fiancé and I had decided to dedicate our Saturday to cleaning out litter pans and washing dogs.  To us this was not work, it was a good time.  In fact, we had so much fun bonding and helping out the shelter that we decided to volunteer at this shelter once a month.

Wondering where to volunteer?  Try visiting your local chamber of commerce Web site to find non-profit organizations in your community.  There are so many great organizations that need volunteers and chances are there is a group that complements you and your spouse’s hobbies or interests.