Volunteering

Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity where an individual or group provides services for no financial gain. Volunteering is also renowned for skill development, and is often intended to promote goodness or to improve human quality of life. Volunteering may have positive benefits for the volunteer as well as for the person or community served. It is also intended to make contacts for possible employment. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve on an as-needed basis, such as in response to a natural disaster.

Etymology and history

The verb was first recorded in 1755. It was derived from the noun volunteer, in C.1600, "one who offers himself for military service," from the Middle French voluntaire. In the non-military sense, the word was first recorded during the 1630s. The word volunteering has more recent usage—still predominantly military—coinciding with the phrase community service. In a military context, a volunteer army is a military body whose soldiers chose to enter service, as opposed to having been conscripted. Such volunteers do not work "for free" and are given regular pay.

Volunteer (band)

Volunteer is a Soviet electropunk band composed of Martin Andrevian and Krzysztof Shadenkin. Formed in Odessa, Ukraine in 1972 with original vocalist Genaddi Romanov, they outraged the communist world when they performed a cacophonous Industrial music rendition of The Red Flag. Following Romanov's suicide in 1977 they went on to record a series of records for the Soviet state record label Melodiya, as well as on various labels in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, West Germany and Belgium. Their sound has been described variously as Suicide meets Throbbing Gristle at Shaun Ryder's house.

Splitting acrimoniously in 1991 over a pedantic argument concerning Green Tea, they recently resurfaced on the Projector Records compilation 'Know Your Monkey', and released a split single, featuring the poppy 'Safety in Numbers' and 'Street' with fellow sonic abusers Death Biscuit, MFU and Spanish Karavan.

The band, now expanded to a four piece with drummer Marc Hackworthy and bassist Emma Feeney, also appear on the 'Robopop the Return' compilation alongside Goldfrapp, Tiga, Robots in Disguise, Matinée Club and The Knife. They release a new EP in December 2006 featuring 'Sweet Love', 'Final Hour' and 'Hero in Waiting'

Volunteer (botany)

In gardening and agronomic terminology, a volunteer is a plant that grows on its own, rather than being deliberately planted by a farmer or gardener. Volunteers often grow from seeds that float in on the wind, are dropped by birds, or are inadvertently mixed into compost. Unlike weeds, which are unwanted plants, a volunteer may be encouraged by gardeners once it appears, being watered, fertilized, or otherwise cared for. The action of such plants – to sprout or grow in this fashion – may also be described as volunteering.

Volunteers that grow from the seeds of specific cultivars are not reliably identical or similar to their parent, and often differ significantly from it. Such open pollinated plants, if they show desirable characteristics, may be selected to become new cultivars.

Agriculture

In agricultural rotations, self-set plants from the previous year's crop may become established as weeds in the current crop. For example, volunteer winter wheat will germinate to quite high levels in a following oilseed rape crop, usually requiring chemical control measures. In agricultural research, high purity of a harvested crop is usually desirable. To achieve this, typically a group of temporary workers will walk the crop rows looking for volunteer plants, or "rogue" plants in an exercise often referred to as "roguing."