2025 – The Year I Finally Got My Proud LinkedIn Update

For more than 10 years of my IT professional life, I had never volunteered in a community event.

I had seen people on LinkedIn adding volunteer experiences to their profiles. I would see pictures of people cleaning places, planting trees, helping communities and doing something outside their regular work. I always thought it would be nice to do something like that.

But with the usual workload, family responsibilities and everyday routine, I never really got around to enrolling for any community activity through an organisation.

Until this one.

On November 8, 2025, a Global Community Day event brought people together for one common purpose in my current organisation. It was made mandatory for our team alone so I had no option, I had to nominate myself.

On one end, i was happy that I got an opportunity which I was thinking to do for a long time and on the other end, I was little sad like “one saturday gaya”. You know, that quiet little sigh when your weekend plan just got a “volunteer activity” stamped on it.

One day, one purpose, different cities

Different cities across India were taking part, along with colleagues from Egypt, South Africa, Argentina, Malaysia and the Philippines.

When you think about it, getting people from different cities and different countries to participate in community activities on the same day is not a small thing.

There must have been a lot of planning behind it. The communication, coordination, guidance and directions we received from time to time really stood out to me. From the volunteer instructions to the arrangements at the venue, everything had to come together so people in different locations knew where to go, what to do and how to participate safely.

As someone attending a community event for the first time, I could actually see the effort behind making something like this happen. And I really appreciated that.

My first community event

There were actually a lot of options to choose from, old age homes, doing arts and crafts with kids, cooking food for the community, beach cleaning, wall painting, making organic bags, giving out free supplies, and lake cleaning, among others.

I picked lake cleaning for two reasons. One, it was close to home. And two, I figured I could at least burn some calories out of it. Practical, maybe not very noble, but being honest here.

For me, the activity was at a lake in Bangalore, in collaboration with Saahas Zero Waste, where we were going to clean the area around the lake.

There was the Community Day T-shirt.

The moment I wore it, I don’t know why, but I felt a little proud. And for someone who had been thinking for more than 10 years to have that experience, it felt good.

Saahas Zero Waste is a Bangalore-based social enterprise founded by Wilma Rodrigues in 2001, focused on building a zero-waste, circular economy. They work with corporates, residential communities, institutions and bulk waste generators across cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, handling everything from segregation and composting to recycling and resource recovery.
Beyond the environmental side, they’re also known for creating dignified employment for waste pickers, many of whom previously worked in hazardous, informal conditions.

I was actually the first to reach the venue.

The Saahas volunteers were already there and guided us through the activity from the very beginning. They explained the steps, the safety precautions and what we needed to do.

We were divided into two groups. One group went to one side of the lake and the other group went to the other side.

Then we started cleaning

We had our gloves and safety gear ready. We started picking up the waste around the lake. We kept moving around, collecting whatever we found and putting it together.

There was something very simple about the activity. Nobody was thinking about designations or roles. Everyone was just doing the same thing and enjoying together.

By the end of it, we had collected around 15 kg of waste around the lake. We took pictures together too.

And of course, refreshments after, because no event, official or unofficial, is complete without food at the end. The whole activity took around 4 to 5 hours.

The feeling I took back home

The interesting part came after I reached home.

I had this very satisfying feeling that I had spent the day doing something useful. It wasn’t about collecting 15 kg of waste or saying that we had done something huge.

It was simply the feeling of giving a few hours of my day to something outside my regular IT work and family routine.

And that feeling stayed with me for almost a month. I was genuinely happy that I had finally participated in a community event.

When I think about it now, I actually gave myself a little pat on the back that day. Social media platforms were bombarded by us that day

After more than 10 years of working in IT, I had finally done something I had been seeing other people do for years. It may sound like a small thing, but for me, it felt special.

Finally, I could add “volunteer”

And yes, I happily updated my LinkedIn profile.

Finally, I could add volunteer experience to my profile. I had seen that section on LinkedIn for years, and now I finally had something to put there.

I have added certifications and professional achievements over the years, but this one felt strangely special.

One thing kept coming to my mind after the event. Picture more than 10,000 employees coming together on one day and doing something for the community. Now picture that repeated across different organisations, different cities, different parts of the country. The difference it could make.

It reminded me of what Michael Jackson’s Heal the World talks about, making the world a better place for living.

Maybe it doesn’t always have to start with something huge. Maybe it can simply start with us giving a few hours of our time.

My First, but definitely not My Last

Before this experience, I never really understood why people enjoyed volunteering so much.

Now I do. After more than 10 years of working in IT, I honestly didn’t expect those four or five hours to stay with me for so long.

I went there to clean around a lake. I came back with a feeling that I had done something meaningful with my day. And now I definitely want to do more.

Just like I keep adding certifications to my profile, maybe I should start adding more community experiences too.

Here’s a glimpse of the event

I was too engrossed in the activity to take a selfie or solo picture of myself. The below one was caught by someone and I can see myself there.

A few moments from the day, gloves on and a lot of orange T-shirts working together.

5 things I took away from my first community event

• Sometimes we just need one opportunity to finally do something we have been wanting to do for years.
• Giving a few hours of our time can leave us with a feeling that lasts much longer.
• Community experiences can give a different kind of satisfaction than professional achievements.
• When many people come together, even a simple activity can create a visible difference.
• One community event was enough to make me want to come back and do more.

Check out how the new chapter of Content Lashmi started in 2024, here.