230: Small Acts, Big Impact: Rethinking What Community Service Looks Like in 2025

As we enter December and close out the final month of 2025, this episode brings our year-long exploration of restored, intentional female leadership full circle. We’ve spent the past twelve months talking about presence, friendship, boundaries, nervous system health, community spaces, and the internal work that helps women lead sustainably.

This month, we’re turning our attention outward—to the communities we belong to.

In this episode, Molly shares a deeply personal story of her own evolution as a community volunteer: from an enthusiastic, overcommitted “young mom with a mission” to a thoughtful, seasonally-aware leader who has learned how to give back without losing herself (most of the time, anyway). I talk about the boards I have served on, the projects I've helped lead, the burnout that followed, and the moment I finally gave herself permission to step back.

You’ll also hear how to bring your gifts, energy, and leadership into your community in ways that honor your capacity, why service doesn’t have to be huge or flashy to be meaningful, and how even small acts of care ripple out more than you think.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Molly’s personal stories of serving on local boards, capital campaigns, and community revitalization projects

• What I learned from burnout, resentment, and stepping away

• Malcolm Gladwell’s 3 criteria for “meaningful work” and how they apply to volunteering

• The shift from “lifelong service clubs” to “short-term, high-impact” volunteer models

• Ideas for serving your community in ways that fit your season of life

• Real examples of women who made big change through small acts (cookie fundraisers, concert series, park lighting, youth leadership)

• Why your leadership belongs—even if your gifts look different than someone else’s

• Practical questions to help you discern where and how you are called to serve right now

Key Quotes

• “You don’t have to change the world for your service to be meaningful and valuable.”

• “Some seasons are for rolling up your sleeves. Some seasons are for amplifying others. Both are service.”

• “When women bring ideas into community spaces, change happens faster and it sticks.”

Resources & Links

• Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (for the three keys to meaningful work)

• Previous Found Podcast episodes on community, leadership, and intentional living

• Connect with Molly on Instagram: @mollyknuth

• Share this episode with someone doing good work in your community