Meghan K. Donovan is a creative spirit who moonlights as an administrative assistant, home care worker, and freelance writer. Besides Charity Entertainment Group's site, her work can be seen online at www.epitomemag.com She lives in Cleveland, Ohio
There's No Wrong Way to Volunteer – Just Different Ones
By Meghan K. Donovan
On a recent Saturday, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours volunteering for two different organizations. The two experiences were quite different, but the spirit behind them was the same.
My day started at 11:00, when I drove to a nearby suburb to help pack gift baskets for a live and silent auction/reverse raffle, to be presented by North Coast Community Homes, an organization that provides housing for people with developmental disabilities and mental illness. The theme was "Bourbon Street Bash," and so a good many of the baskets were done up in purple, green and gold and tarted up with masks and beads. I had fun trying to wrap odd shapes in cellophane and watching two other volunteers pack a small portable grill into a basket.
I had packed a few baskets when Mary, the volunteer coordinator, came in and took me aside. She oriented me to what I would be doing the night of the Bourbon Street Bash. I would be selling tickets for "Treat Yourself" (more commonly known as a "Chinese Raffle"). This would involve going to tables and convincing people to part with $20 to win a chance at packages ranging from minor-league baseball tickets to a pedicure gift certificate. It sounded like great fun, and I made a mental note to wear comfortable shoes that day (as I advised in my previous article about volunteering)
The staff and volunteers at North Coast Community Homes are a pleasant group to work with – enthusiastic and kindhearted. It was almost all women, some my age (early 30s) and younger, but most in their 40s and 50s, with a few older. The group that day was all white, many of them upper-middle-class or upper-class. None of them blinked an eye at paying $50 for a ticket (yes, we volunteers had to pay our own way).
Unfortunately, I could not stay long, as I had to leave for a volunteer kickoff for the Homeless Stand Down. I drove from Garfield Heights to the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland and walked into the chilly but spacious basement of Calvary Presbyterian Church. There was a looping PowerPoint presentation on a simple projector screen, and a fair-sized group mingling around a table with coffee, punch and cookies and another table with assorted flyers. I met the friendly InterAct Cleveland staff and the kindly grey-haired nun who was the executive director, had a pleasant chat with the women at my table, and talked to an acquaintance from previous volunteer gigs.
I was expecting a lengthy presentation and Q & A session, but was pleasantly surprised. Instead, a beautiful, regal African-American woman from Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless's speakers bureau spoke to us about her experiences being homeless. She was an elegant speaker (and as it turns out, sings gospel music as a sideline), but what caught my attention was what she said.
Usually, when I think of homeless people, I think of people who were poor to begin with and due to loss of job or disability benefits, domestic violence, ill health, or alcohol or drug addiction, were unable to stay in their homes. While this is sometimes true, this is not always the case.
Michelle, the woman who spoke, was educated and had a good job and her own home but lost her home due to predatory lending. She told us of problems that homeless people faced that I had never thought about – like being unable to get a job due to not having ID and a Social Security card, and not being able to get an ID due to lack of money and not having a permanent address. She told us of the panhandlers who made a surprising amount of money and the people who were too proud to panhandle. She told us about the squalid conditions in many shelters and the lack of hope she saw on people's faces.
I wanted to know more. How did she finally escape? How did she help herself and get the courage to accept help? What kinds of hazards did she survive?
Finally, Michelle challenged us to spend some time at homeless shelters and talk to the people there. The crowd was extremely motivated, and while some talked to Michelle and asked her questions, others flocked to the sign-up sheets to sign up for various committees for the Stand Down.
The audience for this presentation was also mostly female, but with a wider age range. I saw a few men, and even a few teenagers and college students. There was a wide socioeconomic cross-section. At my table, I talked with a single mother and a senior citizen. Here, the faces were mostly white, but there were a few brown and black faces as well.
I left feeling positive, and made my way to another place where I could be of service, but this time by spending money instead of time – a charity thrift store on the west side of Cleveland
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