For Roman Bylo, volunteering is an important part of his identity. He has been committed to volunteering since he was a teenager when he joined the volunteer club at his high school. Roman Bylo thoroughly enjoyed his work with the volunteer club and developed a passion for helping others as a result of his experiences with the club. Since then, Roman Bylo has continued to volunteer on a regular basis and has worked with a variety of different agencies. He has been involved in a broad spectrum of community service work, ranging from working at food banks, to organizing fundraising events and mentoring at-risk youth.

The one area of volunteering that Roman Bylo has not yet explored is working with a homeless shelter. He explains, “Working with the homeless is an area that I’ve always been interested in, and now seems to be the right time to get involved.” Roman Bylo’s interest in working with the homeless developed out of his own experiences in childhood. Although he was never homeless himself, he says, “My family had some hard times, and the help of others really made a difference for us. I’d like to repay some of that in my own work with the homeless.”

When researching volunteer opportunities, Roman Bylo was surprised by how many homeless shelters exist in his area. The decision was difficult to make, as all of the shelters offer unique services to the people that they serve. He explains, “All of the homeless shelters that I looked at have different services, so it was hard to narrow my interests to just one agency.” However, despite his interest in multiple shelters, Roman Bylo was able to choose a shelter that emphasizes providing clothing to the homeless. Given Roman Bylo’s experience with organizing clothing drives, he felt that this particular shelter would be a good fit for his experience.

Roman Bylo is looking forward to starting his volunteer work with the homeless shelter. As an individual who loves to give back to his community, he is excited about the prospect of expanding his volunteer work to a new realm.