Yep – Karens galore! I didn’t even want to join the PTA Board but my wife made me when they were looking for a treasurer (I’m a CPA and great with numbers). The next year the President moved on to middle school and suddenly I became President. I still don’t know how that happened. Haha!

1 – leading a busy life, I find I need 9 days a week and 28 hours a day sometimes to fit in my usual routine, never mind adding more to it!

2 – It really can be inconvenient, which – honestly – doesn’t encourage you to rush back.

3 – Some of the ‘long term’ volunteers can be decidedly… Set in their ways – which can make you feel awkward at best, and downright frustrated at worst!

But when you have a good day, or see the gratitude in someone’s eyes – it is so worth it!

So cool to hear! Working with the youth is something I’d like to try. If my wife and I end up adopting, I’m sure I’ll be exposed to a bunch more youth programs where I can help out :)

Thanks for what you do! Have a great week!
Joel

Nice to hear, Steve. I’m sure you have a ton of experience to offer boards and great private sector management skills from your past workplace to bring over to the non-profit side. Must be frustrating at times, but glad you see the greater good.

I volunteered on 2 boards in Los Angeles for emergency planning and business preparedness. This was back in my disaster management days. It was definitely thankless, but I made life-long connections and friends. I hope to do it again one day. I was the outreach/membership director, which was in line with my sales skills and background :)

Hahaha! I’m imagining a room full of Karens. Must have been very tough. But thank you for doing that and putting in the time. Glad you saw a lot of the good side!

Amazing Chris, thanks for sharing. And thank you for your work! It’s great when parents “force” their kids to volunteer – it teaches so much! :)