Question about Volunteering Hours

[entireparsley]

I volunteer at an organization that collects donated food from businesses in Manhattan and delivers the food to local homeless shelters and food banks. Note, I have a leadership role in this organization. This is not a very time-consuming process. Probably about 30-45 minutes. However, I spend ~1.5 hours commuting in EACH direction to get to the events. The internet seems pretty split about how to count my volunteering hours. I want to count my commute because without the commute it would seem like such a massive commitment just to get half of a volunteer hour. Keep in mind, I am not doing this just for the hours, there are much more effective ways to get hours. I genuinely enjoy volunteering for this organization, it just seems like without the commute included, the hours are dwindled down. 10 hours of volunteering would be neglecting the 30 hours that I spent commuting. What should I do? This is also my ONLY volunteering/leadership role. Also, please do not tell me to find other roles, I have considered that option and I simply do not have the time. I just would like a clear answer on how to count my hours.

EDIT: There is a little bit of confusion, I am not driving, I am taking the bus/train

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[Proudfather94]

I volunteer at an organization that collects donated food from businesses in Manhattan and delivers the food to local homeless shelters and food banks. Note, I have a leadership role in this organization. This is not a very time-consuming process. Probably about 30-45 minutes. However, I spend ~1.5 hours commuting in EACH direction to get to the events. The internet seems pretty split about how to count my volunteering hours. I want to count my commute because without the commute it would seem like such a massive commitment just to get half of a volunteer hour. Keep in mind, I am not doing this just for the hours, there are much more effective ways to get hours. I genuinely enjoy volunteering for this organization, it just seems like without the commute included, the hours are dwindled down. 10 hours of volunteering would be neglecting the 30 hours that I spent commuting. What should I do? This is also my ONLY volunteering/leadership role. Also, please do not tell me to find other roles, I have considered that option and I simply do not have the time. I just would like a clear answer on how to count my hours.

I would count the hours you are driving since it is that far. That's a 3 hour drive that you are volunteering to do to deliver food. You are pretty much a food delivery driver which is a real job and you are doing it for free.

Is it your own car?

 

[Catalystik]

I volunteer at an organization that collects donated food from businesses in Manhattan and delivers the food to local homeless shelters and food banks. Note, I have a leadership role in this organization. This is not a very time-consuming process. Probably about 30-45 minutes. However, I spend ~1.5 hours commuting in EACH direction to get to the events. The internet seems pretty split about how to count my volunteering hours. I want to count my commute because without the commute it would seem like such a massive commitment just to get half of a volunteer hour. Keep in mind, I am not doing this just for the hours, there are much more effective ways to get hours. I genuinely enjoy volunteering for this organization, it just seems like without the commute included, the hours are dwindled down. 10 hours of volunteering would be neglecting the 30 hours that I spent commuting. What should I do? This is also my ONLY volunteering/leadership role. Also, please do not tell me to find other roles, I have considered that option and I simply do not have the time. I just would like a clear answer on how to count my hours.

EDIT: There is a little bit of confusion, I am not driving, I am taking the bus/train

I am not a fan of including commute travel time when reporting community service or leadership. If you are on a train or bus, you can make the hours involved productive in other ways. But if you feel compelled to include the commute in your Total Hours space, then break it down in the narrative as to how much of it is related to commuting, how much to labor & actual pickup and delivery, and how much to the leadership role. Let adcomms decide how to view the hours involved.

 

[Proudfather94]

I am not a fan of including travel time when reporting community service or leadership. If you are on a train or bus, you can make the hours involved productive in other ways. But if you feel compelled to include the travel time in your Total Hours space, then break it down in the narrative as to how much of it is related to travel, how much to labor, and how much to the leadership role. Let adcomms decide how to view the hours involved.

He is being a delivery driver for them that should count. He's saving that organization from having to pay someone 20$ an hour to deliver the food. That would definitely count.

 

[jhmmd]

I volunteer at an organization that collects donated food from businesses in Manhattan and delivers the food to local homeless shelters and food banks. Note, I have a leadership role in this organization. This is not a very time-consuming process. Probably about 30-45 minutes. However, I spend ~1.5 hours commuting in EACH direction to get to the events. The internet seems pretty split about how to count my volunteering hours. I want to count my commute because without the commute it would seem like such a massive commitment just to get half of a volunteer hour. Keep in mind, I am not doing this just for the hours, there are much more effective ways to get hours. I genuinely enjoy volunteering for this organization, it just seems like without the commute included, the hours are dwindled down. 10 hours of volunteering would be neglecting the 30 hours that I spent commuting. What should I do? This is also my ONLY volunteering/leadership role. Also, please do not tell me to find other roles, I have considered that option and I simply do not have the time. I just would like a clear answer on how to count my hours.

EDIT: There is a little bit of confusion, I am not driving, I am taking the bus/train

If there is literally nothing else you can do as far as volunteering goes...I'd take a gap year and cram a bunch of volunteering in. Volunteering is CRUCIAL to your application (medicine is a service-oriented profession) and you won't get in without it.

If you have to work to support yourself, look into taking out a loan (personal or through a bank) to fund this gap year, if it is important to you and you think you have what it takes to get into medical school. Now is the time to look at the big picture. What is your MCAT score like? GPA? A scanty amount of volunteering will screw you over, no doubt about it.

You are competing with people who don't have any deficiencies in their applications--perfect GPAs, MCAT scores, ECs, PS, etc. Don't let your app stand out as one of the ones with a flaw--this will shoot you in the foot before you can even get an interview.

Edit: 10 hours of volunteering TOTAL is way too low. Start looking for ways to address this. Do you work on the weekends? Maybe there is a volunteering gig you can pick up that won't cut into your work time.

Edit #2: @LizzyM wrote about this same problem (same solution) several years back; don't have the link but maybe she can point you in the right direction.

 

[Catalystik]

He is being a delivery driver for them that should count. He's saving that organization from having to pay someone 20$ an hour to deliver the food. That would definitely count.

I agree that travel time collecting/delivering goods from businesses/to homeless shelters & food banks should count as volunteer time. It's the commute time traveling on the bus or train to get to/from the "event" (or the first site) that should be in a separate category.

Edit: my last post was not sufficiently clear on this distinction, so I amended it. Thank you for pointing this out.

 

[candbgirl]

You don’t have time to find another volunteer project but you have time to ride the bus/train for 3 hours? You have allocated around 3.5 hours for this activity yet 3 hours is riding a bus. What do you mean by event? How often do you do this activity? Every week? Once a month? A few times a semester? I think your time and efforts could be more effectively used by volunteering at a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, visiting a vet center. From your description it sounds like you don’t even interact with those people unserved/underserved in the community. If it only takes you 30-45 minutes it sounds like you pick stuff up at one point and drop it off at one or maybe multiple places.