Charity is the voluntary provision of assistance to those in need. It serves as a humanitarian act, and is unmotivated by self-interest. Various philosophies about charity exist, with frequent associations with religion.
Illustration of charity, c. 1884
A Hindu woman giving alms (painting by Raja Ravi Varma)
Sandstone vestige of a Jewish gravestone depicting a Tzedakah box (pushke). Jewish cemetery in Otwock (Karczew-Anielin), Poland.
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor, often for community service. 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.
Volunteers of Vilnius Marathon
Volunteers sweep the boardwalk in Brooklyn after the 2012 Hurricane Sandy
Semi-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
Volunteers from around the world came to Ithaca, Queensland to address an influenza epidemic through the Women's Emergency Corps (later the Women's Volunteer Reserve) in July 1919.
