An eye opener for me was Junior Achievement (www.juniorachievement.org). I volunteered until recently for two years in a public school in a low-income neighbourhood. It's a program where volunteers go to primary and secondary/high schools to "...foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills, and use experiential learning to inspire students to dream big and reach their potential."

I had done volunteer work before, initiatives organised by my past employers, but these where one-day "lets paint an entire community centre/chapel/etc" initiatives, with no real exposure to people and issues. This was the first time I volunteered by my own initiative and the experience was nothing what I expected, for good and bad.

All I can say is go for it.