Volunteering has rewards

Last spring I graduated from NAU-Yuma at a ripe old age (another story for another column).  After attending school part-time for seven years, I suddenly found myself with a fair amount of discretionary time on my hands.  I have always believed that community involvement is important and rewarding, so I started looking for some volunteer opportunities that would help me stay busy and hopefully make a meaningful difference to someone.

Over the years I’ve done my share of volunteering and found that the experience can vary widely in terms of the type of tasks to be performed, the level of busy-ness (versus boredom), the types of people you come in contact with and the level of satisfaction that you receive.  What I’ve come to know about myself is that I want to stay busy, I want to work with interesting and fun people and I want to go home at the end of the day feeling like I have helped make someone’s life a little better.  I’ve been auditioning volunteer opportunities to find a good fit that I can commit to for the long haul.  Last week, I had a chance to check out three very different causes.

On the weekend, there was a craft fair at the Heritage Branch Library on 3rd Avenue.  In addition to the craft booths, the Friends of the Library were also hosting a used book sale.  Since I have a very soft spot for anything related to books or reading, I thought this would be a fun and productive way to spend an afternoon, and it was.  I worked with a very nice lady who was also a new volunteer.  We were busy and had a great time.  When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a librarian, mainly because of the cool date stamp that they got to stamp in the books.  That double whack-whack as the stamp hit first the ink pad and then the book was music to my ears.  Unfortunately they didn’t give us a stamper for the sale, but I did actually have some people ask me to recommend a good book.  I could see myself with a second career as a book-recommender.  But first I would have to read all of them.

One of the things I enjoyed most that afternoon was the traffic in and out of the library – really, many more people than I expected to see.  It cheered me up because I have heard some school of thought that libraries are becoming obsolete.  It was exciting to see kids and adults alike coming out with armloads of books to take home.  After the sale we had to pack up all the leftover books (a good incentive to sell many, many books).  I was happy to learn that it was the last road show for these books.  The Friends are going to have their own used book shop inside the new main library when it opens next spring.  I’m hoping they will need a book-recommender.

A couple of days later I was scheduled to work at the recently opened thrift store of the Humane Society of Yuma.  My dog is a pound puppy and I have a lot of admiration for what those kind folks do for our local abandoned mutts.  I had gotten a call a few days earlier asking if I would be willing to work as a sorter/pricer.  Since I was totally new to thrift store culture, I was willing to do whatever they needed.  I found myself in a back room with a nice lady from Canada.  We were surrounded by lots of boxes and trash bags of stuff that needed sorting and pricing.  Frankly, it was amazing what we found, both in a good way and a bad way.

Those who visit thrift shops know that there are often treasures to be found at a great price.  Being a sorter/pricer gives you first shot at some real deals.  I even started a little pile for myself to buy.  But I have to say that I was also somewhat appalled at some of the sheer junk that we also came across.  I guess some people just can’t bring themselves to throw things away, but they should.  Items that are broken or stained deserve a one-way ticket to the landfill without a side trip through a thrift shop.  In my opinion, and I don’t represent the thrift shop people, it would be a lot more of a community service to just throw some of this stuff away rather than tying up the volunteer’s time.  The HSOY Thrift Shop is a very nice place.  They have merchandise arranged by type in different rooms.  Everything is inspected, cleaned and tested before being displayed on shelves. It’s really a classy place and I would encourage a visit.

The very next day, I traveled to YRMC to attend an orientation for new and returning NICU volunteers. The NICU is the neo-natal intensive care unit, the nursery for sick or premature babies.  My older son was a NICU baby twenty-eight years ago and I promised myself then that when the day came that I had time to spare I wanted to spend some of it there, rocking babies. After our orientation and tour, I was more eager than ever to get involved, but also wiser. The NICU is a scary place in some ways, and yet a very hopeful one.  Many of these babies are so tiny or sick that rocking by a civilian like me is out of the question. While some of the volunteers’ time is spent stocking supplies or folding laundry, there will be times when babies just need a human touch.  I hope to be able to pat a little back and, someday when I’ve earned the trust of the staff, feed or rock some of the less fragile patients.
 
It was a really fun and interesting week for me and what I’ve learned is that there are many, many interesting volunteer jobs.  It doesn’t matter what you choose to do, but I encourage everyone to get out and give a little of yourself.  It’s rewarding on many levels and it just plain feels good to help others.  Who of us doesn’t want to feel better these days?