The Good Volunteer

In my volunteer organization world there are three kinds of people; the one who volunteers without being asked, the one who says, “Yes,” when asked to volunteer and those who find any excuse possible not to volunteer. Yes, there are micro groups like those who say, “yes,” when they don’t mean it and then don’t show up, but this is not about the micro groups.

I want to send a shout out to the ones who volunteer willingly and the ones who say “Yes,” when asked. You all make life so much easier for everyone. Your generosity and willingness to serve makes you a person I love to know.

When Carter was little, her school needed parent volunteers for all kinds of activities. As a parent who did not work a nine to five job I was often available to volunteer, so I did. I had a number of good friends who worked full time, important jobs and they too volunteered, working these responsibilities into their schedules. Then there were the people who never volunteered. When I was a room parent I made sure to acknowledge that every parent was busy so it was important for everyone to find a way to contribute. If your work schedule was too tight you could volunteer for something that needed to be done in an evening or weekend. The message did not always get through to people and so some people would just argue, rather than volunteer. Those people were off my list forever.

If you are a busy person it is so much easier to be proactive and pick something to volunteer for than to wait and then be unable or unwilling to help. No one wants to be then person who everyone knows is the slacker.

Also if you volunteered once, many years ago that does not count forever. You have to do it again and again. It takes everyone to keep the world running. If more people volunteered regularly the world would be a much happier place.