It doesn't take long to go from the new girl to a professional volunteer.
If there is such a thing as a professional volunteer, I may be one.
Before I was a stay-at-home mom, I didn't have time to volunteer. When I left the paying workforce, it didn't take long for me to get swept up in the volunteerism hurricane.
Within my first few months at home, one of the moms at the bus stop suggested I ask for the job of hospitality chairman of our PTA. I felt honored that I was chosen and quickly made punch and cookies my life mission for the next nine months.
Then came bigger and better school positions - art room helper, library aide, after-school enrichment director, newsletter editor, and publishing center coordinator. Soon I was adding things at church - babysitting, Bible School teacher, CCD teacher, adult spirituality committee, web page editor and more newsletters - and in scouts - Girl Scout leader, Cub Scout den mother, publicity and still more newsletters. Next, I tackled the community, where I baked, sewed, served food to the homeless, promoted the symphony, made phone calls for campaigns, and put out even more newsletters.
I've been president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of one group or another. And I've done set-up, clean-up and everything in between. And most of that time I had a baby in my arms and a toddler holding onto my leg.
Because of that, my children, too, have gotten swept up in volunteerism. My son mans the phones at our local public television telethon and has dressed up like animals to teach kids about nature at our arboretum. My daughter has fished trash out of the Kentucky River, helped make campaign signs for a governor's race, visited nursing homes, and served lunch to the homeless.
Sixteen years of volunteer work has brought me a lot of satisfaction, and the revelation that:
1) I prefer to be the worker bee, given a task to do and not be in charge. I like the tangible reward of knowing that I'm doing something concrete that is helping others one small step at a time and
2) I don't want to do anymore newsletters.
