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Volunteering

littlekiwi

littlekiwi

I charge by the hour for anything before noon
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
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Did you know April is National Volunteer Month? I didn't but it got me thinking of all the different volunteer bits I've done over the years.

Do you volunteer or have you in the past?

What have you volunteered doing?

Any places you'd love to volunteer at if given the chance?

Any memorable volunteering experiences you've had?
 
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Do you volunteer or have you in the past?
I don't at the moment and haven't done for about 5 1/2 years now for a number of reasons but if the situation was right I'd do more

What have you volunteered doing?
  • Girl Guide (Scout) Leader
  • Hospital Play Volunteer
  • Intern at a not for profit disability organization (that was as part of my professional practice component of my degree)
  • Board member for a specialist community law centre for people with disabilities
Any places you'd love to volunteer at if given the chance?
Dress for Success

Any memorable volunteering experiences you've had?
Being able to be part of the establishment of the Radio Lollipop Hospital Play Service that was being set up at a local hospital. It was a cool full circle moment as I had been a user of their services as a child and loved every moment of it.
 
I ran a homeschool group, I was secretary for our homeschool drama club, and I was photo editor for the VaHomeschoolers magazine (our statewide homeschool support organization).

I've long been planning, for my later years, to volunteer in a NICU or similar to rock babies, because holding my own babies, as well as other people's babies, has been one of my most favorite things in life.
 
Do you volunteer or have you in the past?
I've done a lot in the past. I'm trying to do a little bit of now as I can but it's hard to be helpful when you're always home (for medical reasons).

What have you volunteered doing?
I've done a lot of photography for various events. One of my favorites was covering the Girl Scouts event with my university's Enviro Club, especially since we got to ride in one of the professor's self-converted electric car. I've also taken pictures for a special education preschool (including mini photo shoots for their Mother's Day photo cubes), Program Board at my university, and I even was a guest photographer at University Press.

My family was very active with Relay for Life and the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks pre-COVID. My mom was on Planning Committee and I usually helped with decorating our team's booth. The year I borrowed a school projector to make Big Ben for our Peter Pan booth was great. I've tabled with their Advocacy Branch, collecting signatures for petitions at the events, and spent a lot of time just running stuff to people's camp sites with a wagon.

I'm trying to get involved with a local organization that does advocacy for my son's genetic condition. It's hard because he takes all of my time and attention but I can at least help with logistics via email.

Any places you'd love to volunteer at if given the chance?
I interned at an environmental education center one summer as part of my degree and I would love to go back and volunteer with my son, especially if my then-supervisor's sons could volunteer with us.

Any memorable volunteering experiences you've had?
One year at Relay for Life, we discovered a family of burrowing owls watching us walk our laps in the middle of the night. It was such a meaningful experience, especially since I lost my great-aunt who loved owls to cancer as a kid.

I also loved the year I was photographing Relay for Planning Committee and was invited to eat dinner in the Survivors tent with my friend (who is a survivor). I don't think I ate much but I did get to photograph the gorgeous cake that was donated before anyone got into it.
 
What have you volunteered doing?

As a teenager, I volunteered at the large Veterans hospital, helping transport soldiers from one place to another. Thankfully, the colored lines on the floor guided the way; without them, I’d probably still be lost in that maze of endless hallways.

As a teacher I was always volunteering for school related activities for the kids.

After retiring and moving to the PNW I volunteered for 10 years at the County Library. It was actually a great way to make friends

Any memorable volunteering experiences you've had?

I helped another teacher with a photoshop class one semester and loved watching what those teens could create. I learned a lot too?
 
The only volunteering I've done was with the local genealogical society back in the 1990's. Unfortunately, when I do volunteer, I go overboard and burn myself out. Back then, I started with being the treasurer. Then I took on the quarterly newsletter and setting up a website. I had no life except that and my job. I had to drop it all. And, after I dropped it all I realized that it had also been causing anxiety/depression (since I was also dealing with my mother's illness/death during this time).

Although several years ago, I started helping my cousin with a project at church. She is writing a book on the history of the church from when it was founded in the 1830's. During those initial days of going thru file folders, I realized that some of the records were more suitable for excel spreadsheets and not necessarily for a historical book. I checked with the pastor and he liked the idea of me extracting "the book" (office records of the church membership) onto a spreadsheet. At the time the church had gone through disaffiliation from the UMC and "the book" had been scanned to a PDF file to give to the UMC. They gave me a copy to work on. I also was allowed access to the membership cards (which are now the old member cards as new cards were filled out for anyone that wanted to stay with the new independent church). I did get all the active membership cards extracted before my first surgery but have not gone back to work on the inactive cards. I also have gotten 3 of the 4 sections of "the book" extracted and am working on the largest section (membership records). Besides seeing that the church gets a copy of these records, a copy is going to the genealogy society since they are a wealth of information genealogically! My cousin has moved on with researching/organizing church files/writing her book all by herself.

I have rejoined the genealogy society and they needed someone to fill an office spot in 2024 so I said yes. The trustee position really doesn't do a whole lot so it isn't taking up much time. I've learned to say no and limit what I do because it isn't always a good thing for me to take on a whole lot.
 
I've packaged food for a food bank, was the treasurer for our high school band boosters, volunteered to help people with their taxes and cultivated donors for a foster care charity and for other charity fundraisers, to name a few. I enjoy volunteering but I'm doing a little less of it right now since work is super busy. I have considered becoming a CASA - an advocate for kids in the court system - but that's a big commitment and I'm a little afraid I'd take it too much to heart.
 
Do you volunteer or have you in the past?
Yes

What have you volunteered doing?
I volunteer by serving in my church in different capacities. I also help our local elementary school with their weekly newsletter.

Any places you'd love to volunteer at if given the chance?
I loved helping in my kids' classes when they were little so I'd love to volunteer with little kids again.

Any memorable volunteering experiences you've had?
I volunteered as a tutor at our local library in high school and it was my favorite.
 
HavaDrPepper said:
I've learned to say no and limit what I do because it isn't always a good thing for me to take on a whole lot.
Click to expand...

Knowing when to be honest with yourself and say no is a good thing. It's something I had to learn myself years ago to avoid total burnout and reliance on me by others
 
I've done a lot of volunteering for my kids schools and for my school. I'd love to do more outside of schools, but work gets in the way lol. Now that I'm pretty much an empty nester, I may have more time to do those things.
 
I've done lots of volunteering over the years. Most of it is with my church now. I'm the secretary on church council now and have been on that board for the last about 7 years now. It's coming up on reelection in June and I'm deciding if I want to sign up for another 3 year stint. Lol. I'm also in the choir and help out with a monthly craft class too. I used to teach Sunday school and also helped organizing a big community event in the fall for the kids. I definitely like the stuff I'm volunteering to do now better than the stuff with the young kids... my current roles fit my talents way better, so they make me happier to do them, ya know?
 
What have you volunteered doing? Girl Scout co-leader for my daughter, then for my granddaughter; various roles in Cub and Boy Scouts; helped out at school ... field trip chaperone, class volunteer, helped Chase's 5th grade class run the school store one morning a week; team mom

Any places you'd love to volunteer at if given the chance? I've thought about going back and volunteering with Chase's cub scout pack they always need volunteers.
 
I was a volunteer at our local animal shelter and fostered two cats. I would love to, but my husband really doesn't want more animals in the house.
 
I have been in many different PTA roles over the years (Council president, Region secretary, Local secretary, I've run local and council level Reflections, headed up teacher appreciation week, etc.) and I've volunteered in other ways at my kids schools. I'm currently part of the high school band boosters as the Recognition Committee chair. I also volunteer in various ways at my church, and I'm going to start volunteering at a local family crisis center soon.
 
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