Not to be confused with military volunteering, which is usually paid and/or compensated.
Volunteers of Vilnius MarathonVolunteers sweep the boardwalk in Brooklyn after the 2012 Hurricane SandySemi-professional volunteering: Trained lifeguards of the German DLRG, the largest voluntary water rescue organization in the world, patrolling a public bathing area of a lake in Munich
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor, often for community service.[1][2] 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.