Hard to find Vols (was) RE: Re[4]: [at-l] Kennebec Bridge

[nealb at midlandstech.com (William Neal)]

Know what you mean Weary.  

Had a friend who had to "fire" a good-guy from a youth program.  Not because
he did anything really wrong, but he kept refusing to stop hugging the kids.
He kept say that kids needed hugs.  And he was right.  But due to the area's
laws, insurance regulations, some troubles in other groups, etc., my friend,
as an excutive, had to "fire" this good guy.  My friend, in return, got
stomped on (verbally) by the community.  My friend got so disgusted, he
quit.  The group ended up wasting away since no-one was willing to take on
all the duties for $0.00.

And there are times during the coldest weather, the local "wandering"
shelter has trouble finding volunteers for that night's duties.  And there
are rumors that it may not be here next winter (this in a state capital)
because the people who run it are getting tired of getting vols. and
materials and finding a place to locate it.

Plus I almost quit helping with monthly homeless dinners the St. Vicent De
Paul society puts on.  I had a doctor's appointment and decided to get there
late because I assumed there would be plenty of men who could take the
garbage out.  There was not.  And there were few women there.  So I had a
New York City pile of garbage to shelp to the dumpster. People did not show
up because they thought someone else would and because their group had paid
the $200 to sponsor it: One time part of one group did show it -- 2 Den
mothers and their 8 little Girl Scouts.   

And back when my Dad's fraternal insurance group (WOW) built a clubhouse,
Dad and a same-age friend of his put in most of the work because the 20s and
30s year olds would only put in a couple of hours: Dad had 300+ hours and
his friend had 100+.  And the average 20-40 put in less than 30; in fact,
no-one else put in near 100 hours.  The trouble was Dad and his friend both
had had major coronary attacks.  Then the group got mad when Dad made the
decesion to hire a contractor to pour some cement.

Vols. make good and bad decesions.  And sometimes it is hard to understand
why.  While professionals should be vigorously watched and, if necessary,
pursued, more understanding and lee-way should be given vols.: It would have
been cheaper for Dad to mix the cement and pour it himself.  But he was fed
up and he hired the contractor to do the job because he knew he could not
get the volunteer crew to do the job.  He never knew if 1 or 10 would show
up.

William, The Turtle

PS	They laid off Dad when he threatened to quit WOW.  He was the only
who would do a lot of the work -- including selling 50%+ of their annual
fruitcake sale (where most of their money came from).

P2S	SORRY for this rant.  I get so upset because people blame the vols.
for problems when often it has to do with something out of their control.
Or because others want the benefits without doing the work.  Not that I
haven't seen (*^*&% vols., but that's another story....
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob C. [mailto:ellen@clinic.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 10:32 AM
To: Jim and/or Ginny Owen
Cc: at-l@backcountry.net
Subject: Re[4]: [at-l] Kennebec Bridge


>"... but you seem to be  perfectly willing to continue with a useless
pissing
>match.  Why?" asks Jim.

Well, I don't agree that it's a useless pissing match. But the answer to
"why"
is that I think it important to defend volunteer decision-makers from
unsubstantiated attacks, since it is increasingly difficult to find people
willing to take on these critically important jobs. I don't want volunteer
control and maintenance of the Appalachian Trail to end, and it will if
users
discourage those who do the work needed to keep this a volunteer trail.

Weary



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