In my 45 years of living, I have been blessed to experience joyous and successful events as well as tragedies and crises of the worst kind.

What becomes clear through all of life’s experiences is that the only thing we can really depend upon is each other … family, friends, neighbors, fellow parishioners, fellow employees, and, yes, even strangers.

The value of people giving their time to each other is more powerful than any amount of money. The words community and volunteer cannot be used absent one another. Volunteers are the very pillars on which community is built.

My first exposure to volunteerism came through my father who was active in scouting and was a World War II veteran. While his daytime job was at the VA Medical Center, he stayed active in the Army Reserve until his retirement.

His commitment to serving his country had perhaps more influence on me than I ever realized. He defined service and dedication to a greater community.

As a Girl Scout, I learned about visiting nursing homes and shut-ins, cleaning up litter in our neighborhood, and planting trees in parks. I learned about backyard carnivals for muscular dystrophy.

In high school and college, it was organizing blood drives, serving on the retention committee and being a camp counselor and leader.

I married a volunteer firefighter and soon found out how to serve dinners for hundreds, how to deliver dry socks and coffee on cold nights and what sacrificing family time was about.

With children came the PTO and building playgrounds, teaching Sunday school and children’s hour, and coming full circle in scouting.

And so I learned that volunteers maintain our schools by assisting teachers in the classroom, raising money for special projects and supplies, building playgrounds and serving as library and cafeteria monitors.

Volunteers coach our children. Volunteers are the faith community, caring for church property, serving as ushers, choir members, council representatives, office aides, Communion assistants and more.

Volunteers provide fire protection and medical assistance. Volunteers deliver meals to seniors; sit with those who are dying and their families; and are mentors to children without parents.

Volunteers paint our world with art. They plant flowers and trees and maintain parks and historical landmarks.

Volunteers lead our nonprofit organizations. They are the United Way. They are the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army and the YWCA.

They are advocates for victims of violence, poverty, mental and physical affliction.

Think about the alternative; about schools with no PTOs; about all paid fire departments with no need for pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners and bingo. What, a world with no bingo?

Who would deliver meals to our seniors and shut-ins? The pizza guy?

Volunteering is so much more than free labor. It is much more than just a feel-good experience.

Yes, it saves us millions in tax dollars and yes, it gets “stuff” done. But more importantly, volunteering is how people meet people. It is how we learn to care for our surroundings and each other. It instills pride.

Volunteering opens our eyes to need. It enriches our lives and gives us hope. It teaches us empathy and understanding. It keeps us in touch with people, with reality, with possibility and opportunity.

It brings us lasting fulfillment, unlike money that comes and goes. It even makes us laugh.

Volunteering is what gives our community the strength to endure adversity and challenges. My dearest friends are those I met while volunteering.

In the last few years, we’ve survived terrorist attacks, hurricanes and floods. Why? Because of people who gave their time to help each other cope, to rebuild and to get well.

Now we face perhaps the worst economic crisis of our time. For a minute, I was afraid. I was afraid of plant shutdowns and layoffs. I was afraid of the housing market collapse. I was afraid of lost retirement and college savings.

And then I remembered. All we have is time. And, we will give our time to each other to get through.

We might actually learn something about each other we didn’t know. We will tighten our belts and open our arms.

We have volunteers. I am not afraid.

Leslie Osche is executive director of the United Way of Butler County.