Chamber Corner: September 5, 2011
By Scott Formo
“Volunteering” is basically the practice of people working on behalf of others or for a particular cause without payment for their time and services. Volunteering is generally considered an activity intended to promote good or improved quality of life in some fashion and can take on many forms by a wide range of people.
Generally, the term “self-serving” is viewed in a negative context, when volunteering it is perfectly acceptable to be somewhat self-serving with the activities and organizations you are serving. For example, people volunteer to help with skill development or utilize “specialty” skills for the betterment of others, to meet new people which can also lead to a larger network of acquaintances and possible lead to future employment or personal references, to have fun, to learn about a new activity or organization that either peaks your interest or you have a vested interest in the outcome, to overcome a loss or change in life that you may have or are experiencing, or a variety of other reasons that are self-serving in a positive context for becoming who you are and what you do in the community.
Many of the volunteers in the community are specifically trained in the areas that they work such as medicine, education, emergency rescue, event planning, youth development, and civic engagement. Other volunteers serve on an as-needed basis, such as we saw recently from the people that were eager to volunteer following the August 1 storms.
For the local area youth, volunteering can help to gain a larger perspective on life in the real world, to truly understand and appreciate the blessings that you have in your life, or just to feel good about doing something besides sitting around the house, being bored, or doing the same old, same old… day after day.
Most cities and organizations offer a wide range of volunteer opportunities, yet the need for volunteers’ right here in Pope County
Sometimes you are all geared up and ready to go, but you run into roadblocks and are discouraged from volunteering for reasons that are not known to you, again, similar to the recent storms. While there were several people eager to get out and help out the day of the storm to begin cleaning, there needed to be some planning in how that was done before people could really get to work. For example, it wasn’t as simple as clearing away downed trees as many of those trees were on or near broken power lines, which needed to be fixed before it was safe for people to work around. With patience and proper planning, Xcel Energy was able to get the trees off of the power lines, the power lines repaired, and then give the clearance for people to begin the rest of the clean-up efforts.
Another safety issue that arises many times with volunteer activities is “who’s responsible if someone gets hurt?” Or even taking some time to screen true “volunteers” who would be working and not expecting some type of payment of compensation in return and who were “paid services” coming in to help with clean-up efforts. With some of these “paid services” the question had to be asked, “Who would be paying the bill: property owners, cities or townships, insurance companies, etc.?”
Sometimes these immediate road blocks are necessary to ensure safety or even to diminish the havoc that is sometimes felt during even the most “organized chaos!” Eventually, the volunteer opportunity arose and people were able to dig in and volunteer. Many volunteer opportunities related to the storm clean up are still out there from helping your neighbors cut and haul away trees and debris, planting new trees, fixing the lost lakeshore issue, etc.
Have you ever thought about volunteering some time to a local charity, community organization, or just to help out those in need (neighbors helping neighbors)? If you have thought about volunteering some time in the past, only to find that the organization or group you were hoping to help out didn’t need your assistance? As I mentioned earlier, don’t get discouraged, if your first attempts hit a brick wall, keep your chin up and keep looking. At some point, your “idealistic” volunteer opportunity will more than likely need you. Whether it is with a different organization, a later date, or just for a specific activity or event, the opportunities are out there!
Here at the Chamber, for example, we are looking for a number of volunteers to help out with various projects, activities, committees, etc. We are currently looking for people that can assist us with planning upcoming activities (or just working at the event itself) such as the Chamber Cup Golf Tournament (Monday, September 19 – additional information and registration is now on our website: http://www.glenwoodlakesarea.org/), the Magical Christmas in Glenwood promotional and event planning, the 2nd Annual Pope County Community Expo (Saturday, March 31, 2012 at the Minnewaska Area High School).
Additionally, we will soon have our nominating committee working on the nominations for four new Chamber Board members to be elected this fall and begin their terms in January 2012. Additionally, there are many of the day to day duties that we could use some assistance with such as entering information on local community events on our Community Calendar, assisting with developing and maintaining our website (which is Microsoft Office based in some respect, so HTML programming experience is not required!!), helping to contact Chamber member businesses to restock our brochure/information racks and visitor information bags as our summer supply is nearly entirely out, or just helping with some local filing, answering phones, etc. from time to time when I cannot be in the office due to other commitments!
Your reasons for volunteering are as individual as you are, but no matter what your reasons you can get a lot out of volunteering. You can learn about yourself, learn about others and meet a lot of interesting people by volunteering. You can help others as you help yourself.
Volunteering is extremely important to the existence of many of the luxuries we may sometimes take for granted living in our communities. We will be working over the next month or so to build a community volunteer database so that when we or someone else needs a volunteer to help out with something, we know who we can call and for what purpose.
As you may already know, one of the hardest parts of volunteering can be finding the right volunteer opportunity that fits your personality, skills, or experience. If you are interested in volunteering, for any specific reason, cause, time, event, activity, etc. send me an email (scott.formo@GlenwoodLakesArea.org) and we will be sure to add you to the volunteer list. Send us your contact information and specific requirements to match you to and let us do the work to find the right fit!
Remember, no matter how much (or little) you are able or willing to volunteer – IT ALL MAKES A DIFFERENCE! Please consider contacting us to be added to the Pope County Volunteer Database today!
Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend and holiday everyone and remember… School’s back in session after this weekend, so be extra careful on the roads! As my mother used to say on the first day of school…. “Happy Mother’s, Father’s, and Grandparent’s Day Everyone!”
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