Month of Service: A Dundie-worthy way to give back

By TJ Reed, Partner, Tarbell & Co PLC
Iowa CPAs Month of Service Committee

When I learned I’d be writing this article, my first thought was how many references to The Office I could work in. Fair warning: sometimes I’ll start a sentence and won’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.

As accountants, we already serve our communities every day. We help businesses and individuals navigate financial decisions and are often a trusted resource during major life events. Sometimes that’s guiding them through financial hardship, other times it’s talking them through a career move from a paper company in Scranton to a start-up sports marketing venture. By supporting the people and organizations that shape our communities, we are already part of something larger than the numbers.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a “volunteer” as a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service. Thanks, Webster, for the rare achievement of defining a word with the word itself. Although volunteering is often described as giving your time or resources, its impact reaches far beyond the hours spent serving meals, cleaning parks, or organizing a Rabies Awareness Race for the Cure. At its best, volunteering turns concern into action and reminds us that meaningful change often begins with just one person choosing to help.

One of the most visible effects of volunteering is the direct support it provides to our communities. Nonprofits, shelters, and civic programs often rely on volunteers to expand their reach. Volunteers help food banks distribute meals, mentor young people, respond after disasters, and keep local events running smoothly. These efforts may seem simple, but together they fill gaps many organizations could not address alone. The effect of these efforts is easy to see. ISCPA’s annual Iowa CPAs Month of Service event has generated more than 16,000 volunteer hours since 2015. Each hour represents someone choosing to use their time and talents in service of others, and together those hours become a powerful example of what sustained commitment can accomplish.

Volunteering can improve the well-being of the volunteers as well. It creates opportunities to build social connections, learn new skills, reduce stress, and feel part of something larger than oneself. In a time when loneliness and disconnection are common concerns, service offers a practical way to rebuild community one relationship at a time. As enjoyable as Chili’s may be for a happy hour, or even an awards ceremony, volunteering gives colleagues a chance to build relationships outside of the normal day-to-day work of tying out balance sheet accounts.

So after that long-winded explanation of all the good your time can do, surely everyone has already scrambled to go sign up for the Month of Service. But on the off chance you haven’t yet, I’d strongly encourage you to go register and participate. I know we all just want to lie on a beach and eat hot dogs, I mean that’s all I’ve ever wanted. But as the Iowa CPAs Month of Service has shown for more than ten years, a few hours of your time can become part of something much bigger than yourself.