<p>Actually, GFG, everyone I’ve met (of any age) who has done any kind of regular volunteering or even an exceptional one-time ‘extreme,’ unusual effort of some kind, will say that the experience has changed (does change) them perhaps more than those whom they serve, and that the providers feel that such personal change is tremendously important.</p>
<p>Perceptions and attitudes and communicated messages are extremely powerful in that they often result in the concrete “goals” that you mention. People, for example, in extreme straits, who encounter sincere care rather than being dismissed as worthless, often begin to internalize that sense of worth and become energized about changing vicious cycles in their lives (if possible).</p>
<p>Further, I think building up an aware and caring public is a critical counterpoint to the rampant I-am-for-myself capitalism that seems to define the modern U.S. of A. People who don’t care (except about themselves) tend to be less involved politically and less informed on major issues, which always hurts a democracy.</p>