I do volunteer my time to work with a child (not tested but I'm more certain that he is gifted than I'm about DD) but it's a big responsibility and I only feel comfortable doing so because of my professional and personal background.
My DD is a full-time project and I'm already exhausted trying to balance everything so to be honest, I wouldn't be volunteering my time if I thought DD was getting nothing out of it but she loves having educational "playdates" with this boy and I enjoy spending time with him too. I was worried at first that DD's precocious reading and writing abilities would make him self-conscious but amazingly and fortunately, it's working out really well. We exchange an hour of tutoring with an hour of "baby sitting." This is probably one of the better things I've done for DD this year. His parents are not poor, by the way, and their ability to pay or not pay wasn't a consideration for me.
I think people are often willing to help if they thought they could help but it's not always clear if you might be causing more harm than good. You know how the saying goes. And with education and children, as I mentioned before, it is a big responsibility. You can't push back the clock and hit a reset button.
