The end of the year can be a rough time for many people. Days are shorter and darker; nights are longer. In colder weather, people are less inclined to go out and some struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Spending the holidays alone can feel isolating, and traveling to see loved ones can be stressful. Some see the end of the year as a time for self-reflection, leading to feelings of regret, inadequacy or inferiority.

Guest post by Kenneth Waldman

Getting your employees to volunteer can be a challenging task. However, it can provide your company and your employees with many benefits that aren’t obvious right away. Employees may see volunteering as something that cuts into their time — either on or off work. In reality, volunteering represents a way of giving back to one’s community while strengthening relationships and building new skills, all of which ultimately improves the workplace and boosts employee engagement and retention.

Editor’s Note: January is National Mentoring Month! To celebrate, we’ve partnered with Cricket Media to share stories about the positive impact mentoring — especially eMentoring — can have on young people’s lives.

Guest post by Jason Miner

With National Volunteer Week approaching, and events in Boston and Texas reminding us of the importance of community, it’s become even clearer that volunteers really are the backbone of nonprofit organizations.

Volunteers help with fundraising, administrative tasks and operations, and they help spread the word about the mission of the organization. And although volunteers tend to perform such duties out of the care and concern they have for the goals set forth by the organization, there are a few key strategies that can be used to make these all-important volunteers feel recognized and appreciated:

Guest Post by Mila Sanchez

It’s easy to think about volunteering in places like hospitals, food banks, schools, and animal humane societies, but some places that are commonly overlooked [and could really use volunteers] are prisons.

Dylan volunteering in Boston, Mass.

This post should really be called: “How I learned more about my community and humanity once I stepped outside my college classroom.” You see, going to college in the heart of a city has an abundance of advantages, and many students are quick to take a big gulp of all the opportunities presented by the fast-paced, busy, and unique city landscape.

Next week is National Volunteer Week, and we hope you’ll join us and spend some time thinking about the significant role volunteers have played, and are still playing, in our country overall. In the days to come, we’re going to be focusing on volunteer engagement, recognition, inspiration and more. But first, let’s consider just how deeply volunteering is a part of who we are as a nation.

It’s a fact: Filmmakers insert products, messages and themes into their movies that influence the way we think and act. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though.

(VolunteerMatch fighting hunger in style)

Food banks are looking for as many sources of canned goods as they can get in this season of high demand.

As a company, you can help these food banks in their effort to eliminate hunger from our communities. In-office food drives are small campaigns that allow your company to work together as one towards a greater cause.

Whether you are an administrator or an employee, you can fight hunger from your work space. Here are some tips for how you can create a successful food drive for your company.