The pros and cons of volunteering.

Ruth n Jersey

Ruth n Jersey

Well-known Member
Location
Northern New Jersey
I was wondering how many of you volunteer and really enjoy it? I'm definitely not a joiner but when the kids were small I volunteered for school functions as well as a few with the church and library. None of it was a positive experience. I'm not the type who wants to play chief but many people do. Bickering about this or that prolonging meetings to over an hour which could have been done in 15 minutes
People who spread themselves so thin with other activities that half the time they don't know what the meeting pertains to.
People who say they will follow through with a task and don't.
One time I volunteered to bring a Christmas tree to the classroom. A lady piped up and said she could get one delivered at no charge on the day it was needed. Fine, no problem until a member called me the last minute and said the other women couldn't do it. I didn't want to disappoint the kids so I went out in the sleet and snow to get one.
Another time I offered to lend a group my large coffee urn. A lady told me she would return it because they needed one for two meetings that day. Not being a part of the 2nd meeting I left.
The urn bounced around in her trunk for almost a month and was returned after I asked several times and I doubt they even rinsed it out.
Don't even get me started on the Brownies and Cub scouts.
Volunteering is not for me.
I'd rather do my good deeds one on one. If a friend is ill,I'll call and ask if they need anything. Bring my old blankets and food to the local animal shelter or bring canned goods for the poor.
I never joined looking for a pat on the back but I didn't think it was to much to ask for the other members to be responsible and follow through and do their part.
 

The only thing I volunteer for are things that are fun for me or that I’m good at. For instance, I’m volunteering to play my saxophone this Christmas and make some cookies. In fact I volunteer to make cookies every year.

Sometimes I volunteer to carve things to give away as gifts for others. Since they are fun things for me to do, I never feel bitter about the giving of my time & effort.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
I was wondering how many of you volunteer and really enjoy it? I'm definitely not a joiner but when the kids were small I volunteered for school functions as well as a few with the church and library. None of it was a positive experience. I'm not the type who wants to play chief but many people do. Bickering about this or that prolonging meetings to over an hour which could have been done in 15 minutes
People who spread themselves so thin with other activities that half the time they don't know what the meeting pertains to.
People who say they will follow through with a task and don't.
One time I volunteered to bring a Christmas tree to the classroom. A lady piped up and said she could get one delivered at no charge on the day it was needed. Fine, no problem until a member called me the last minute and said the other women couldn't do it. I didn't want to disappoint the kids so I went out in the sleet and snow to get one.
Another time I offered to lend a group my large coffee urn. A lady told me she would return it because they needed one for two meetings that day. Not being a part of the 2nd meeting I left.
The urn bounced around in her trunk for almost a month and was returned after I asked several times and I doubt they even rinsed it out.
Don't even get me started on the Brownies and Cub scouts.
Volunteering is not for me.
I'd rather do my good deeds one on one. If a friend is ill,I'll call and ask if they need anything. Bring my old blankets and food to the local animal shelter or bring canned goods for the poor.
I never joined looking for a pat on the back but I didn't think it was to much to ask for the other members to be responsible and follow through and do their part.
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I volunteered at a local hospital and at a local senior center. I retired from work and had to be doing something. All I did at the hospital is make a couple pots of coffee and answer the phone while I sat there for 3 hours. At the senior center, I volunteered to be leader of a card playing group for going on 4 years. Keeps me busy and I don't mind it. A few hick ups here and there but, that happens at work.
 

Keesha said:
The only thing I volunteer for are things that are fun for me or that I’m good at.
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Like Keesha said, I only volunteer for one event because I like it and I like the people I volunteer with. In Kansas City each year I help with a festival called WaterFire that hosts performing arts and features burning wood fires on Brush Creek. My part is with the "Northland Navy" that staff the boats used to set up the fire braziers in the creek, build the wood stacks, light the fires and keep them burning for 3 hours. All told, set up, festival time and tear down takes up about 25-30 hours. Two years ago we drew a crowd of 15,000 people.

It is a lot of work for such a relatively short performance time, but to get it all together and pull it off, to see the faces of the crowd watching and work with a bunch of dedicated volunteers make it worthwhile. Oh yeah, I happened on my birthday this year!

Go to https://waterfirekc.org/ to get an idea of what we do.

Here's a pic from this past festival

WaterFire - 2019.jpg
 
I've been a volunteer most of my adult life
When I was working,on my 2 days off,I would volunteer Tues mornings at a local soup kitchen called'loaves&fishes' located in basement of a local church.After 7 yrs on/off,I came back after I retired in '11,the kitchen closed in 2013.Thurs mornings,I would be in my church business office,helping the female staff members doing all sorts of 'jobs'.After I retired, I've continued on Thurs,added Fri as well. The ladies have given me more'jobs' to do,even have my own mailbx
After I retired,I volunteered every Mon morning at the city mission in downtown Buffalo.I was never told during my orientation ,3 months was part of the volunteer program.I found out the 1st Mon I started in the kitchen.What really ticked me off,other volunteers who had signed up on Mon never showed.The head volunteer woman I worked didn't seem upset by it.I constantly asked for a 'fatigue mat' because I was standing alot,my right partial knee was getting stiff&sore.After that,I started to sit. They finally put the mat in the kitchen 3 wks before I left.I did the 3 months, but didn't enjoy it as much as I did in the beginning
 
When I retired I tried being a volunteer and found that I was an unpaid slave doing the work that the paid staff should have been doing.

I was also more efficient than many of the paid staff members and was able to complete a full days task in a couple of hours.

To be fair I only tried one agency for approx. a year, it could be a much different experience with another group of people.
 
People who hire volunteers can be very picky where I live. They don't want to train you. You are expected to work the hours no one else wants and jobs no one else wants to do. I applied to be a volunteer many times and was turned down.. One school hired me, then never called Now I.help an ESL student learn English.
The RSVP program may be in your area--for seniors.
 
Aunt Bea said:
When I retired I tried being a volunteer and found that I was an unpaid slave doing the work that the paid staff should have been doing.

I was also more efficient than many of the paid staff members and was able to complete a full days task in a couple of hours.

To be fair I only tried one agency for approx. a year, it could be a much different experience with another group of people.
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I had the identical experience, Aunt Bea. It was anything but rewarding.

One particularly irritating aspect of it was interminable meetings that went on and on while people who had no idea how to organize anything argued about utter trivia and nothing ever was resolved. Utter waste of time and energy.

It's no wonder some of those "agencies" are always short on money -- they have no idea of what they are doing or how to it.

Needless to say, I quit.
 
I volunteered as an usher for the Austin Symphony, Gaslight Theater, Zach Scott Theater, Paramount Theater. Things were cool, the first time around. I did it for twelve years. Then, I got too busy, working in my band and tattoo shop. Years later, I took a go at doing it all again. No way! That time around, I was expected to go through a lengthy interviewing process, and submit to a security check to see if I was qualified to donate my time! Uh, no. They lost a great usher who actually did his job, while other ushers stood around chatting. I also drove patients to radiation sessions, but when the head of the program retired, the new guy's style was not to my liking.
 
I enjoyed my voluntary work, I was appreciated and treated very well until a staff change which meant I was working with a young lady who seemed to have a problem with me being a senior, I lasted one shift and was out of there, that’s one good aspect of volunteering, you don’t have to do it and you don’t have to put up with any unpleasantness
 
In my own experience, plus that of others, volunteers don't get appreciated much. I've done it a few times, and have felt kind of invisible. It's supposed to be a good way to make friends, but I haven't found it to be true. I knew someone who did a lot of volunteer work, and her co-workers would go out on the town, and invite everyone but the volunteers. It really sucked.
 
I've thought about it. But frankly, I like being able to pick up and go, and not worry about someone else's schedule. At this stage of my life, I don't want to be told what to do or when or how to do it, so my volunteering consists of taking my grands to appointments and such. And I know I'm appreciated.
 
Back in my days of working for and being on the boards of non-profit organizations, one of the things I did frequently was being a "volunteer coordinator" for events, races, walk-a-thons, etc.

I was lucky back then because I had some good sources for volunteers. I had a couple of high school Resource Officers on speed dial. They could always round me up a bunch of high school kids who needed community service hours for service clubs or scholarship requirements and they would also be there to make sure they worked. My best resource was the Community Resource Officer at the Navy base in Orlando. At the drop of a hat, he could deliver me 30 recruits, nicely dressed in their whites, and so ravenously grateful to get off base for a few hours they were DELIGHTED to do anything and do it well. The fact that there would be a couple of S.P.'s there too didn't hurt.

The worst were the parents who would drop off children to "volunteer" and sneak off for a few hours. I hated to be a grinch, but unsupervised 12-year-old boys are seldom a big help.

I don't volunteer much any more. I really need to get back into that. I like "one-off" occasions, rather than an on-going job. My last volunteer job was hours of attaching oranges to floats for the Citrus Bowl Parade. I couldn't move my fingers for hours afterward. I'm leaving that job to the young'uns.
 
Don't volunteer ever! I think that volunteering is free labour for a lot of things. When I worked I was promised free time when I retired. Now I have so many hobbies (lucky me) that volunteering is about the last thing on my mind. I think society hates people relaxing & having a good time so the propaganda is out there that we should volunteer for some good cause. HA!
 
Election time is just about a year away. I would like to volunteer for a candidate. But I am disabled, and my time would be limited. I'm not sure what I could do. I can't picture myself on the phone, with a script. Uh uh. No way. Has anyone helped work on a campaign? My grandfather worked on Jack Kennedy's Senatorial campaigns.
 
I'm just a behind the counter guy, ladling soup and handing out warm clothing.
Don't care the politics or mechanics.
Folks need fed, clothed

I'm there

The pro; it's a feel good, for the giver and the receiver

The con; there aren't any
 
I volunteer with the hospital chaplaincy service, a monthly food bank event, and with the university extension office. I love it, probably because it's my primary source of social contact.
 
For the record, I admire people who volunteer their time as long as that is what they want to do. Hey, they go out & do good things, talk to other people & feel useful instead of sitting at home & watching 12 hours of soaps (women) or 12 hours of sports (men). As for me, I was in education in my working career. I dealt with students, parents, administrators, etc. every day. Now, I enjoy my hobbies: travelling, reading books, recording music, playing my guitar & singing, walking, watching ROKU TV in the evening & spending about an hour each day on this internet. Guess, I'm lucky but I do not intend to die working.
 
I volunteer two days a week in an office here in my town. I like it and it gets me out some.
 

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