Volunteer work: cause & effect

[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
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.