Several years ago, I worked at the Chamber of Commerce here in my town. It was a job that I was not expecting, mainly because my mom was the Executive Director at that time. At any rate, there I was working part time in the same office as my mother…it all worked out well, but it was certainly an experience that I am glad to have had. Working in the Chamber industry is “different” than any other office job, it is hard to explain other than it’s just “different”. That job helped make me better qualified for where I am in my current job as church secretary (which I was also doing while I was at the Chamber). I know that you are probably wondering how in the world that is possible…but allow me to elaborate.
One of the things that a Chamber Office does is put on community events, such as here we have Harvest Festival, so our Chamber Office coordinates the parade, Arts in the Park, among other activities and all of these things require volunteers for various things to get done. During my time at the Chamber Office, part of my job was parade line up, which required upwards of 20 volunteers…just for that ONE event of the day. The first year that I was with the Chamber we had a Pig Wrestling event…what??… we live in Nebraska, cows are much too temperamental to try and wrestle. I digress…that was a huge undertaking and required A LOT of volunteers. It was a good time and definitely something to watch, quite comical actually. The next year, we did not have that event, one of the main reasons that we didn’t was because we could not get the volunteers needed to pull it off. Many people complained that the event wouldn’t be held, but when asked if they would like to volunteer there answer was “No”.
It is the same way at church. I rely on volunteers EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. and I appreciate them immensely, more than they will ever know. Just like with the Pig Wrestling event, there have been events that people enjoyed participating in, but when the next year rolls around and said event isn’t happening, people are bummed because “that was so fun!” but when asked if they would like to volunteer their answer is “No”.
Events, fundraisers, etc. don’t just happen…it takes hard work, long hours, and people A.K.A. volunteers to make things work. My suggestion is the next time something that you enjoy is not happening, instead of complaining about it, offer to volunteer!! You might just make someone else happy in the process. It’s funny how nobody notices what you do until you don’t do it.
Keeping it Real 