doing community service 360 or so days out the year is a fulfilling experience that I enjoy.
but then there are a handful of days where i get annoyed at the people that come out to serve.
you ever heard of CME church-goers? they the ones that only go to church on christmas, mother's day, and easter. church is filled beyond capacity. they busy like gyms in january.
anyway
about 4 or 5 days out the year you get this surgence of people coming out and it changes the experience.
i have to check myself and try not to be annoyed at the selfie takers that show up mostly for the photo op. you can't hand the man a plate of food before you've made him stop and look in the direction a camera.
then you got well meaning organizations that aren't equipped to deal with the ridiculous number of volunteers that showed up to help. it's a logistical nightmare.
this year i'm sparing myself the aggravation. i signed up to pick up enough food to feed an entire senior citizen building and then drop it off at that building. i prefer that because it minimizes the confusion of being in a large area where the volunteers equal or outnumber the people there to eat. that's a nightmare i endured one too many times.
and back to the photo ops. not only do you got individuals taking flicks for social media but you got groups & organizations grouped up to take pictures. which in itself ain't that bad until you notice that the mofos posing for the most pictures did the least amount of work.
aiight, i'm done.
you doing any community service this weekend?
*** I ain't lyin. This shit i'm making up is true...
1. "This post is too real. " In response to Reply # 0
I refuse to volunteer on holidays based on the underestimated demand alone. A line of hungry/cold folks watching you close up shop early due to incompetence and poor planning is something I never want to experience again.
2. "one of the things i like about City Harvest..." In response to Reply # 0
..is that they talk about these very same things (orientation AND the start of every charitable event).
we live in a world where over-sharing is the new norm, but some things aren't appropriate. i take a handful of pics at each event to help spread awareness, but that's about it.
in addition to City Harvest i also volunteer with The Bowery Mission. we just wrapped the annual Cranksgiving event this past wkd.
6. "my bad..." In response to Reply # 4 Wed Nov-23-16 03:22 PM by CyrenYoung
..i should've linked the website in my initial reply.
for those that don't know, Cranksgiving is basically a scavenger hunt on 2 wheels in support of local charities (NYC: The Bowery Mission) and their effort to help the less fortunate. its challenging, hilarious, and fun! its basically presented alley-cat style, with riders of all ages/experience participating.
watching hundreds of cyclist race through the streets of manhattan is one thing, but the look on the faces of people in local stores as we mob through in search of items listed on the manifest is pure comedy.
5. "This is an annoying aspect of volunteerism, period" In response to Reply # 0
its not just during the holidays.
i've worked for a couple of orgs that heavily used volunteers as an aspect of their work. There's a couple reasons to do this:
1.) To give reliable and consistent and civically minded people a way to serve their communities. Consistent, hard working volunteers who grow with the org are awesome and they really do add value to the org in terms of their good spirits and through helping us to save money in some staffing areas.
2.) To give occasional volunteers a way to serve their communities. The quality of this group can range from awesome (i.e. really enthusiastic and hard working youth group, highly skilled volunteers who donate their construction or accounting or computer skills, etc.) to completely useless depending on how hard-working they are and how well they pay attention to instructions and their general attitudes.
3.) To give corporate groups/social groups the chance to "team build", get out of the office, and take "impact" photos (with "inner-city" children, with urban gardens, with food bank food or worse as you mentioned, food pantry clients, etc.) so that their marketing teams can show how dedicated the org is to corporate social responsibility (which may be true or may not). Generally these corporate groups will overload what ever org they're volunteering at for a couple of days and also give a donation (that's part donation, part compensation for our volunteer managers having to herd their employees around for the day.) Large corporate groups that don't also donate are ridiculous and shouldn't be allowed.
People think organizing volunteers and managing volunteer projects and programs is easy bc volunteers work for free, but it's actually pretty hard work that a lot of thought and planning goes into it. People who do the job well should be respected. (I am not a volunteer manager.)
>doing community service 360 or so days out the year is a >fulfilling experience that I enjoy. > >but then there are a handful of days where i get annoyed at >the people that come out to serve. > >you ever heard of CME church-goers? they the ones that only go >to church on christmas, mother's day, and easter. church is >filled beyond capacity. they busy like gyms in january. > >anyway > >about 4 or 5 days out the year you get this surgence of people >coming out and it changes the experience. > >i have to check myself and try not to be annoyed at the selfie >takers that show up mostly for the photo op. you can't hand >the man a plate of food before you've made him stop and look >in the direction a camera. > >then you got well meaning organizations that aren't equipped >to deal with the ridiculous number of volunteers that showed >up to help. it's a logistical nightmare. > >this year i'm sparing myself the aggravation. i signed up to >pick up enough food to feed an entire senior citizen building >and then drop it off at that building. i prefer that because >it minimizes the confusion of being in a large area where the >volunteers equal or outnumber the people there to eat. that's >a nightmare i endured one too many times. > >and back to the photo ops. not only do you got individuals >taking flicks for social media but you got groups & >organizations grouped up to take pictures. which in itself >ain't that bad until you notice that the mofos posing for the >most pictures did the least amount of work. > >aiight, i'm done. > >you doing any community service this weekend? > > > >*** >I ain't lyin. This shit i'm making up is true...
-- the untold want by life and land ne'er granted now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79632 posts
Wed Nov-23-16 02:45 PM
7. "I'm tempted to ask a friend on FB if she is volunteering this year" In response to Reply # 0
Last thanksgiving she posted that she always talks about volunteering but "next" Thanksgiving she was really going to volunteer.
on facebook of course...
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
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