April: Recognizing All Volunteers

-

This week April 21-27, 2013 is National Volunteer Week. I can't let this week pass by without recognizing all my friends who are volunteers. For the past five and half years, I have been given the privilege of being a volunteer at Utah's largest hospital. Before that I was a volunteer on multiple fronts for my children's schools and for health issues.  The position of volunteer gives you the opportunity to become a member of a team because you wanted to be on that team.

I have met the most interesting and dedicated individuals on every
volunteer assignment. The ages of these volunteers range from 16-96. The talent pool is phenomenal. The gratitude received is richer than any paycheck.

Giving with your heart and soul to a group, organization, or a person is a high calling. Volunteers do not ask for anything. They are doers. They are people who are problem solvers, empathizers, ‘roll-up your sleeves and get dirty’ kind of folks. You sometimes can't tell the difference between a staff member and a volunteer because the volunteer blends seamlessly into the team. 

Volunteers smile on the job. No matter what may be going on in their personal life while on volunteer hours they are gracious, open, and cooperative. Volunteers are present. They know when they are needed. In some circumstances, they simply show up.

So before today ends share this blog with a friend that is a volunteer. Let them know that you know that they are an important contributor to life. Without our volunteers much of the stuff of everyday living wouldn't get done. 

Let me know in the ‘comment section’ if you are a volunteer. Share with us your feelings about being a volunteer.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be Strategic: Write A Holiday Memory

-
Image
The momentum of the holidays propels us into a frenzy of cooking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, entertaining, cleaning, and overindulging. Writing becomes an after thought in the midst of multiple "to do" lists.

BREATH. Schedule a break, whittle some time for your writing. Utilize these small chunks of time to "Write A Memory."  Exercise your creativity with the keyboard or a paper and a writing instrument to describe a "who, what, where, or how" about the Holiday Season. Find a quiet place and expound on the following events of the season or better still, scribe about something you experienced that day or during the season "to be jolly."

Cookie Exchange: Do you participate in this activity? Why or Why not? If you did, what was your choice of cookie? Who participates your exchange? Decorating the Outside of Your House: Who does it? How do you prepare for it? Describe the feelings and emotions of the participants of this outdoor activity.Gift wr…
Read more

December 2016 Book Review: Maeve's Times

-
Image
Warning to all writers who scribe thoughts on bits and scraps of paper and throw them in a box to rewrite later.  Those bits and scraps may be published posthumously.  Maeve Binchy's husband, Gordon Snell, found her "to do later" box. He built a biography of her life with her thoughts, articles, and ramblings.

Maeve's Times is dated and referenced making it easy to follow. Thank you Mr. Snell for sharing insights into her professional and personal life. Her spirit lives on with her words.

 This author captured my attention with Copper Beeches. Maeve Binchy wrote about what she saw, lived, and felt. Her stories reflected both Irish country and city life. Each book made me feel better about people. She wrote about hard times and working through them. She wrote about love and love lost. Her book Minding Frankie demonstrates a community pulling together to help a neighbor. Any of her titles are a "goodread."


Read more

Writer's $ense: Is My Book Ready?

-
Image
Yesterday, I used the WORD's handy feature to listen to my book. This great tool helped me finesse the final (hopefully) edit of my first novel. It allowed me to pick 'the lint and sticky stuff' out of my book. Many writers praise the exercise of reading your work aloud. This practice doesn't work for me. I substitute missing words and read words that don't exist. WORD reads the story as written and it is written. This editing drill helps on multiple levels. I find sequencing errors, conversation gaps, missing words, verb incongruities, just to name a few.

After reading articles, collecting checklists, eliciting beta readers, hiring an editor, and listening to my critique group input, my novel reach its final stage. Yes, there is a cover to finalize, acknowledgements to write, a synopsis to polish, a summary to hone, but this book no longer needs my full attention.

My novel may be ready, but there is still much to do. My marketing plan needs tweaking not to mentio…
Read more