are voluntary work and community service the same thing?

Question

do you think of the two as the same thing?

Answer 1

yes.

Answer 2

Not quite the same thing, but many people have given them a similar meaning.

Community service can be performed in a voluntary, pay or mandatory basis, while Volunteer work is strictly unpaid service.

I have many volunteers and employees doing community service at home and abroad as part of my non profit organization, but I also have quite a few court appointed people doing community service each week as a way to repay for some wrongdoings to the society.

The work is almost the same for all of them, but the reasons why they do the work is different. While volunteers get no more payment than satisfaction for helping needy people, employees get the same satisfaction (plus a weekly paycheck), but people sentenced to community service have no options other than be here or go to jail.

Answer 3

On the one hand, I distinguish them in that voluntary service is not required, but community service is (by a school or by a court). HOWEVER, as a volunteer manager, I consider all volunteers, as they are all unpaid; I really couldn't imagine giving one person a pin as a way to say thank you for service and then turning to the person who worked right beside this person, doing the SAME work, for no pay, and saying, "since your school/the court required you to be here, you aren't really a volunteer, so no pin or thank you for you."

Also, not all volunteer service is considered *community* service by some people. For instance, I've known people who volunteered to help with a political cause relating to the oceans (save the whales), but they didn't see themselves as focused on the local "community", particularly if they were in a landlocked area hundreds of miles from any open water.

Answer 4

Voluntary Work and Community Service is the same. But the term Community Service is used otherwise.
The term Voluntary Work is freewilling... Community Service is commonly used as a minor offense punishment becoming a forced requirement.
Literally they mean the same but the essence of the usage could mean otherwise.

Answer 5

I think they are two separate things. Volunteer work is something an individual takes on to contribute their time to the common good of a project/person/facility, etc. Community Service is generally work people are forced to do as part of punishment once being convicted of (usually) a misdemeanor, such as being sentenced to 60 hours of community service as part of punishment for a DUI. This can include picking up litter, working at the local recycling center, etc.

Answer 6

Community service may be of your own free will, a class assignment or court ordered. Volunteer work is your choice and because it makes you feel good about helping others....thank you .K

Answer 7

if you do the work in your community because you want to and were not told to by a judge, they are the same thing. a judge may sentence community hours to a first time offender.

Answer 8

yes. everyone is a part of the community. so if you do something for someone, you do community service too.