Volunteer work: cause & effect

[shootingstar]

Have you done any volunteer work? And what did you get most from it all? Are you doing any now? I'm such a lazy bird..right now, I'm not.

The stuff I've done over the years has totalled more in terms of hrs., than the volunteer work I've done for cycling (5 yrs. for a women's cycling group in Toronto. We had to let the organization die, due to lack of new volunteer blood. In the end, it was hard but I did gain alot in different ways and more long-term friends from it all.)

Come on 'fess up: here's more about multi-facted you beyond cycling or with cycling too. :)

[Possegal]

I've done a lot of volunteer work. When I was pretty fresh out of grad school, I had little money but wanted to give back in some way. The county I live in has a program for people who want to volunteer but can't commit to doing something on a regular basis. So they have a lot of different things, you get the newsletter, there is a team leader, you sign up and do the one event. I ended up as a team leader and had a reputation for doing many of the events with the adult developmentally disabled, every team leader seemed to have their niche. :) When my mother would come visit me, she'd do events with me, I loved that. When she died, I sort of crawled in a shell for a long time, and I got out of doing that. I've done some volunteering with a singles group, figuring if I was in search of Mr Right, I may as well accomplish some good things in the process. Still no Mr Right, but I did like doing so many different projects. I've helped landscape at the National Zoo, packed meals for people living with HIV, painted a home for women who were abused, baked goodies at a home for disabled that we then took to a homeless shelter, fed the homeless, my favorite event was a monthly dance for adult disabled - that was a blast and I can still see my mother out there dancing with everyone and anyone. :) I then worked one night a month at the BINGO held at that center that helped fund the dances. My mother and I joked that all good Catholic girls eventually end up at BINGO.

I really should get back to that, now that I'm typing about it.

What did I get out of it? Just the feeling that I was giving back to a world that, despite how tough things have sometimes been for me, has really given me so very much. As sad as I can be about certain aspects of my life, it never hurts to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, I've done quite well in this world and so very many others have not. My parents instilled in us kids the whole concept of "to those whom much is given, much is expected". I guess that is why I've done a lot of volunteer work.

[newfsmith]

My working life was pretty time consuming, 50 and 60 hour weeks were common, so by the time I took care of 2 kids, hubby, and house there was nothing left. One of my goals when I retired was to find something I could do as a volunteer to give back for all those years of just working. I had considered both MassHort and New England Wildflower Society, but then after I built my first bike and realized how empowering that was, and what a sense of accomplishment it gave me, I knew I wanted to do something with kids and cycling. For me Bikes-not-Bombs was the answer. I'm about to start my second session as an adult volunteer in the earn-a-bike program for 12 to 18 year old boys and girls from inner-city Boston. I get a tremendous kick out of it, seeing the kids doing something they didn't think they could do, playing ice-breaker games with them, having them ask me if it would be OK to call me "Miss Jean", going on rides with them, even nagging them to check their bike before riding. I feel like I'm helping the individual kids as well as the biking community. In addition to the earn-a-bike program I've been going in one night a week to help get bikes ready to ship to Central America or Africa to the international programs. Some will be turned into water-pumps, corn mills, or power blenders used to process other crops. Others become transportation for kids to go to school or people to get to jobs. This feels so good I think I ought to pay them for the privilege of doing it.

[DebW]

Wow, that's great Jean. I used to volunteer as a Red Cross first aid and CPR instructor. Did that for about 18 years. It was rewarding, thinking you might teach someone skills that would save lives. Now I'm a volunteer trail maintainer on the Massachusetts Appalachian Trail, and part of the Mass. AT Management Committee. The work is really fun, if you like to wield sharp tools in the woods. And I've learned new skills, like how to build a composting privy and dig waterbars (hmm, maybe I wouldn't NEED those skills if I didn't work on the trail).

[shootingstar]

When my mother would come visit me, she'd do events with me, I loved that. When she died, I sort of crawled in a shell for a long time, and I got out of doing that.

Glad you got back into it. Those events that you did with your mother are precious memories. Sounds like you're carrying part of her spirit forward. :)

And newsmith, I haven't gotten involved in any volunteer work, where kids would call me "Miss Jean". I'm a Jean also, in real life. :) How many bikes will your organization be shipping out overseas?

And abit unlike all 3 of you, including DebW, outside of my past volunteer cycling work, it's more I guess cerebral, inside stuff but still working with others.. During university I did volunteer work for a few years working in resource centre on resources on the developing countries and race relations. (the work did influence my career choice later). Afterwards 3 years for an alternative press magazine that specialized in Asian-Canadian literature, arts and social issues. Lots of work, some brilliant people and we had paid subscription mailing list of 300 from all over North America. Then volunteered for a non-profit on their national board plus fundraising, helping transcribe oral interviews for a book on experiences of some women. Organization was on race relations, human rights and immigrant service matters.

In between here and there, were the near obligatory volunteer work for professional associations that was more career/work-related. Editor of newsletter, conference papers, etc.

Then for personal interest volunteering...totally switched to cycling. ..which wasn't totally that far-removed, given the "lower" status of cycling in the big transportation world. :)

What I learned most was from working with some of the other volunteers in all of these organizations. Just incredible and inspiring. Unbelievable how much energy and time some folks will give.

[badger]

I've been volunteering at the SPCA hospital for 10 years now. I got all my animals there, and I'm currently fostering a really old yorkie for the week until his cruelty investigation finishes. The organization may have some flaws, but the people there are top-notch.

I used to also volunteer at the Vancouver Aquarium and got to do such cool things like feeding the otters and the tropical fishes. It was oh-so-fun, but i just couldn't fit it around my schedule any longer so I had to say good-bye after almost 10 years.

[smilingcat]

I've been fostering bottle fed kittens for the last ?? years. This year with the econmy the way it is, we haven't been able to adopt out the kittens. Now they are more like young adult cats.

Each litter of kittens are so different. This litter has been the healthiest bunch, but emotionally, they are the worst at the adoption. Maybe they talked amongst themselves and realized in how not to be adopted out.

I wish they find a home! I love them dearly but it just isn't fair for them to share me with 7 other cats in my house. 4 of the permanent cats have long term medical needs and we just didn't feel right to adopt out a cat who needed constant care so we kept them.

Anyway, I'm bit sad right now... This batch of kittens for whatever reason, likes to stampede and I really mean stampede, something spooks them out and they all patch out!! In the process tonight, one of them destroyed one piece of pottery in my collection. Its not so much the $ but rather, the beauty of the piece and everything else about it was shattered. I can't blame the kittens. They do what kittens do you know... Still... two beautiful pieces in two month is bit hard to swallow.

On a brighter note, getting more involved with cycling advocacy and working with the city. Today, attended an all day conferenece in downtown LA to learn more about public policy, advocacy, organizing... I had bit of trepidation about the conference but it was WELL WORTH IT. Maybe I'll get more involved with Hermosa Beach bike master plan (in works). Start our version of car free Friday. And I hope to be involved in the actual planning and implementation of the bike master plan. It is really sad that Hermosa Beach has ONLY ONE share bike path. Just one. There just isn't any excuses. Weather here is so perfect. People are into outdoors stuff yet only one shared bike path. And the bike path doesn't even connect into bike path from other cities. People in this city are literally hostile toward the cyclists. So we shall see.

Learned that Portland is far more progressive than LA. What a cool town!!! SF, Berkley, PaloAlto were all pretty progressive but nothing like Portland. I would like to see Hermosa Beach be like Portland Ore. To the ladies up there, your town rocks!!

I'm also involved with Hermosa Beach Amature Radio club (for disaster communication). I would be just a radio operator in case of emergency. Don't shoot the messenger :D

Lastly, I will be getting involved with the school board. I don't have kids but education ranks fairly high on my life priorities. I don't want to see teachers pay being cut. I don't want to see music, art, science/math being cut either. The residents in my city needs to be made aware of the importance and how it affects property value. I would like to see some support from local hi-tech companies. They could sponsor some programs to help with the cost. Some science experiments can be made real cheap and it would be fun. Art supplies can be very cheap too. Hand built pottery requires no expensive tools or skills. Pastels can be had cheap. ask for donations from local art supply stores...

My plate is pretty full :D :D.

Oh I did participate in environmental clean up of our beaches. That was sponsored by Heal the Bay.

There are other things I like to do but no time so I just donate Xmas gifts for the Christmas wishing tree, donate money for other causes. I still would like to take part in Habitat for Humanity house building. Wouldn't that be cool.

I do all this because I can and I like doing it. :D If you can't do it that's okay too. Not everyone has the time nor the energy. If I had children of my own, I don't think I could do all this, be the breadwinner, take care of the house, cabbie for the kids, coach for the kids, be a cook for the kids...

smilingcat

[Trekhawk]

Telecross with the Red Cross for four years before I went to live in the USA.
Signed up to start again now I am back in Aust.

What did I get out of it? I got to share a little time (over the phone) with some wonderful people each morning that I would never have met otherwise.:)

Its a great service. Here is the blurb from the NSW division that I volunteered with for the first four years.
http://www.redcross.org.au/nsw/community_services_telecross.htm

[Selkie]

I used to volunteer as a teaching assistant with our County's ESL program. I really enjoyed it, but unfortunately, work/home put too many demands on my time to continue with it.

I'm going to try to volunteer again, once I can find a work assignment closer to home (the commute eats more than an hour of "me" time a day). I'm thinking about getting one or both of my goldens involved as a therapy dog. They both would be marvelous at it, once I teach them better manners! ;)

[maillotpois]

We've been coaching for Team in Training since 2001. I've been involved with TNT at various levels since 1999. It's a big time commitment and TNT provides training for its coaches, so they take it all as seriously as we do. For the centuries we coached it was 1/2 day to 3/4 day every other Saturday for 5 months. Now that we coach Death Ride (since 2006) it's a 6 month training and the long rides pretty much eat up our entire Saturday. Plus since I'm the organizational/training wing of it, the ride training plan, ride plans, working with other volunteers, interaction with TNT adds probably 2 - 3 hours a week on top of the coaching end of it and begins about 6 - 8 weeks before our first ride. This year I am in charge of 2 combined teams which stretch out across the Bay Area. I think I have everyone's name down. :)

It's a lot of fun and I love seeing people do something new that they never thought they could do before.

I've also been on legal association boards and volunteer time to court alternative dispute resolution programs as part of my job. But the cycling volunteering is more fun. :)

I think it's really important, especially in this time of relative crisis, that we pull together and do SOMETHING beyond that for which we get money, to make our world just a bit better.

[andtckrtoo]

I volunteered to help with Hurricane Katrina with the Red Cross. That was an experience. I spent 10 days in Louisiana at a shelter with people from the Lower 9th Ward. I learned so much about the human spirit (both the good and the bad). It was simply amazing.

I also have done Search and Rescue work with the local Sheriff's office and trained a search dog (Tucker, where my user name - And Tucker Too - comes from). I quit when Tucker was struck by a car. I didn't have the heart to continue with him gone. He was a very special dog.

Now I just raise funds for cancer awareness with my annual ride and through other activities.

[derailed]

I spend time as a docent at a museum. It's very rewarding to have people come in to share their memories from childhood with us and with their families. I feel that my time there has given me a real connection with the community.

[Eden]

I've been volunteering with our local Humane Society for about 2.5 years now. Volunteers come and go so much in the program that I work in, that I am a really long timer....

We do lots of little things with the team too - we have an Adopt - a - Road, we help the local cycling club with teach children to ride days, staff booths for the MS Society.

[Tuckervill]

My working life was pretty time consuming, 50 and 60 hour weeks were common, so by the time I took care of 2 kids, hubby, and house there was nothing left. One of my goals when I retired was to find something I could do as a volunteer to give back for all those years of just working. I had considered both MassHort and New England Wildflower Society, but then after I built my first bike and realized how empowering that was, and what a sense of accomplishment it gave me, I knew I wanted to do something with kids and cycling. For me Bikes-not-Bombs was the answer. I'm about to start my second session as an adult volunteer in the earn-a-bike program for 12 to 18 year old boys and girls from inner-city Boston. I get a tremendous kick out of it, seeing the kids doing something they didn't think they could do, playing ice-breaker games with them, having them ask me if it would be OK to call me "Miss Jean", going on rides with them, even nagging them to check their bike before riding. I feel like I'm helping the individual kids as well as the biking community. In addition to the earn-a-bike program I've been going in one night a week to help get bikes ready to ship to Central America or Africa to the international programs. Some will be turned into water-pumps, corn mills, or power blenders used to process other crops. Others become transportation for kids to go to school or people to get to jobs. This feels so good I think I ought to pay them for the privilege of doing it.

Can you tell me more about earn-a-bike? How do they earn it?

Thanks!
Karen

[nancielle]

Been volunteering for various things since high school. At that time the high school I attended had a Community Service program that juniors and seniors participated in.

Now I volunteer with a local AIDS program and also do community work around chemical dependency recovery.

[Tuckervill]

I'm a bit of a "professional" volunteer. I have operated the local baseball league for the last 3 years. I hand out water at marathons and drive SAG or pick up trash at bike races. I have formed and administered homeschool support groups and cooperatives. I was a Campfire USA leader.

Yesterday I drove SAG for our racing team's training camp, and then ended up cooking some of the meal at the end of the day. (I couldn't ride those hills this early in the season, so I might as well help out.)

I'm in a transition period right now. My last year on the board of the baseball league (my son is aging out, and though it's not a requirement to have a child in the league, I'm just going to be focusing elsewhere). I'm hoping to play more of a role in the cycling club, which is new and growing, and which I'm more excited about than baseball.

I'm also transitioning to an empty nest and that might/probably mean a real job or career. I think that will cut down on the hours I have to volunteer, but I plan to do it forever.

Karen

[Eden]

Can you tell me more about earn-a-bike? How do they earn it?

Thanks!
Karen

There's a program around here like that too - a shop called Bike Works runs it. The kids earn a bike by coming in and learning to do maintenance. They earn a bike of their own by fixing other bikes. 24 hours of volunteer work, after the class, earns them a bike. The shop also sends bikes to Ghana. I almost gave them my old Trek, but it came up that a kids group home that was literally at the end of my street was looking for bikes for the kids, so I gave it to them instead.

[newfsmith]

How many bikes will your organization be shipping out overseas?.


Can you tell me more about earn-a-bike? How do they earn it?

Shootingstar, about 6,000 bikes a year are shipped oversees. They are all donated bikes, most are lower-end, but some are newish good bikes. MTBs are especially desireable for shipping. Close to another 1,000 bikes are used for the earn-a-bike program and reconditioned and sold in the bike shop. If the frames are damaged they are stripped and the parts are shipped overseas of the programs to use to repair bikes locally. If the parts are trash we try to send as much as possible to re-cycling programs, especially the aluminum.

Karen, the kids earn their bikes by coming after school 4 days a week for a 5 week class, where they learn bike safety and mechanics. They sign in and out of class. Those class and ride time hours count toward their bike but most of them choose a bike that requires some hours being spent as a volunteer, helping get bikes ready to ship. Disassembling bikes gives them more mechanical experience, and helping to load the shipping containers gives them a sense of giving to others that are in greater need than themselves. Many of the kids go on to the advanced EAB to build another bike, and qualify to be a youth instructor. Some will enroll in the vocational course to train as bike mechanics. Grads of that are hired by the local shops or work in the BNB shop where they recondition used bikes for sale and do repair work just as in any other shop. Here's a link http://www.bikesnotbombs.org/youth

[shootingstar]

newsmith --6,000 bikes, that's great! For apartment and condo buildings that have bike storage..it's amazing how much can pile up. I've lived in 2 such buildings and it can be a problem.

There are residents who don't use their bikes and if building managers/condo boards knew about the bike donation program, this would help them.

[Mr. Bloom]

I'm a big fan of community service. I tend to get involved with feeding/clothing/crisis shelter organizations.

I've found that in working with folks going through a tough time, while you're giving them help, what they really benefit from is someone to talk to and listen to them in a non-judgemental way. Human interaction is an amazing elixir for the pain of tough times.

[indysteel]

Right now, most of my volunteer hours are taken up by board work. I'm on my second year as a board member for a local chapter of the YMCA. That's been a learning experience for sure. I wish it were more "hand's on," but it involves fundraising more than anything else.

I'm also on the programming committee for my state's "economic club." I'm not really sure where that involvement is going; it's really not a very good fit for me, but a good friend asked me to get involved and it seemed like a good opportunity for me.

Each summer, I also lead a weekend ride for our cycling club that surprisingly takes a fair amount of time. Our club marks and SAGS all of its rides, so leading a ride involves a fair amount of work.

Until recently, I helped with a not-for-profit that provides low cost housing to the homeless. I stopped helping with them because, to be honest, I never felt very valued, although I do believe in what they do.

[mtbdarby]

I've been volunteering since I was in high school - I did every walk-a-thon, read-a-thon and bowl-a-thon they had. It made me feel good and I felt like what I did made a difference. I also started visiting older folks in an aparment building back then and discovered I like old folk!

I've also donated blood for the past 20+ years. Over the years I've delivered meals, made quilts for the needy, helped at various church groups as needed, taught at bike rodeos, and found a niche 8 years ago after I trained my 2 dogs as pet therapy dogs. We have been visiting nursing homes 2x a month for a long time and I enjoy sharing my love of dogs with the shut ins. It simply gives me pleasure to share the attention of my pet with others who no longer have there's.

I have found our passions in life can change. I try and marry my passion with a need in the community - that way we both win.

[Irulan]

Was a parent CO-OP volunteer for my kids preschool years, then a classroom/school volunteer for various education things until they hit high school

Ski Patrol volunteer, non-patrolling support since 1994.
I help with local cycle events, registration and other support
Founded an non-profit IMBA affiliated mountain biking club in 2005 and am still on the board. I do lots and lots of work on trail advocacy, access issues and open space issues.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I tend to do more in terms of volunteer projects as opposed to ongoing volunteer jobs- it fits better in to my schedule and gives me variety.

Here is an artwork I just finished spending many hours creating:
Lisa's skateboard artwork (http://picasaweb.google.com/Strumelia/LisaSSkateboardBenefitAuctionArtPiece#)
I made this art piece for a benefit silent art auction to raise funds for building a skateboarding park in our town. About 40 people are participating in making artworks for it. Our 'assignment' was to create artworks from the wooden top piece of skateboards. I collaged vintage postcard images onto my skateboard, many of them local or romantic images, to create a little old-fashioned 'tour' of our wonderful little town. (I even snuck in an image I created of DH and myself on antique bikes, so we could 'inhabit' the town!)
The auction is in two weeks, and I hope we manage to raise some good money to start building the big cement ramp park for our local kids to skateboard in. They have no good place to skateboard in town right now without getting kicked off people's properties everywhere. :(

[Crankin]

Right now I just lead rides for AMC, which is volunteer. I've cut back on those.
Most of my volunteering has been in the Jewish community. I was on the executive board of the JCC in Tempe and did several committee things at my synagogue here.
I got burned out. I felt taken advantage of and got sick of hearing people argue over stupid things (like are we going to have tuna fish or chicken
salad?).
I did do some things at my kids' elementary school, despite the fact that when my oldest son was in kindergarten in AZ and I went to a volunteer luncheon put on by the teachers, my neighbor came up to me and said, "What are you doing here?" In other words, you are a working mom, how come you are getting honored for volunteering.....?
Oh, and I was on the Acton Boxborough Regional HS school council for 2 years, which is a volunteer advisory board for the administration.

[sundial]

I'm a big fan of community service. I tend to get involved with feeding/clothing/crisis shelter organizations.

I've found that in working with folks going through a tough time, while you're giving them help, what they really benefit from is someone to talk to and listen to them in a non-judgemental way. Human interaction is an amazing elixir for the pain of tough times.

I agree. Dad volunteers his time with a mobile disaster unit. Some of the stories he shares is quite moving. Mother spends time creating new doll clothes for dolls and teddy bears to be passed out to needy families.

I like to foster doggies and find good homes for them. It's amazing how you can reach out to so many people through a pet. I have visited the juvenile center with my dogs and so many of the kids could relate to my Niki who was abandoned and neglected as a pup. They really start opening up when they work with Niki. :)

[sundial]

I'm also transitioning to an empty nest and that might/probably mean a real job or career. I think that will cut down on the hours I have to volunteer, but I plan to do it forever.

Tuck, maybe you can develop cycling tours in your part of the state. If you start up supported chick rides, count me in. :)

[Tuckervill]

Hmm, maybe! I'd have to get to be a better rider, first! :)

Karen