5. Volunteering
Katherine D. Bennett
(First published in the Lathrop News, August 22, 1996.)
I was talking to my friend, Carol, on the phone the other night, and she told me something truly shocking. Now the first thing you have to know is that Carol lives in California, and most things that happen in California are designed to shock Mid-Westerners. Well, also, I am easily astonished. Anyway, Carol told me that she had applied for and had been rejected as volunteer for a civic project. Can you imagine?
To add insult to injury, the application process had been lengthy and intense, First, she had to write a four page essay detailing her personal goals and philosophy, then there was an intensive background check, and then three separate interviews. To top it off, had she been accepted, she would have been required to pay the organization three hundred dollars!
We Missourians are much too smart to fall for that kinda’ stuff. I mean we have a fault line to that might wreck havoc on our state, but it won’t dump us in the ocean. Well, I digress.
Here in Missouri we have volunteer organizations that beg for helpers. When someone shows up, they are put right to work, and it doesn’t cost the individual one single penny. For instance, I was recently asked to help with the outdoor classroom and butterfly garden at the grade school. This is a great cause and it really benefits the children of our community. Just a few of us could make it that evening, but we needed no interviews and we were allowed to weed the entire garden at no cost to us. In California the whole adventure could have cost me, oh, say, thirty dollars.
Another group I’m familiar with it the Friends of Lathrop Park. This group has asked me to make signs, work at the games during the Day at the Park festivities, raffle tickets at the Antique Car and Tractor Show, and take a shift at the Friendship Festival activities. Again, no cost, no background check, no essay.
All of this volunteering could have cost me a stone cold fortune in California. All in all, I think we have a pretty good deal going on here. I think everyone should take advantage of it. We can volunteer all we want, free of charge, no essays, interviews, or confusing forms to fill out. Here’s another thing to consider, we are desperately needed, and will be welcomed with hospitality and gratitude.
Of course, if you want to feel like a trendy Californian, you can write me a good long essay, let me poke around in your business and pay me three hundred dollars. I’ll find something for you to do.