Volunteers | The Human Spirit is AMAZING!
I have been amazed every year as I announce at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, at the level of investment of the Horse Show Committee's volunteers. There is one small group headed up by Bryan DeKay of Renue Carpet (he deserves the plug) that gives up well over a week of their lives to set up, reset and take down the bleachers, thousands of hours of donated labor just to get the exhibit hall set up for the shows and they are just a small group of the over 300 people that are needed to make just the Horse Show events happen.
This is usually a big open space, the dirt, bleachers (which need to be reset on Monday), the fencing are all set up by volunteers. Almost all (99%) the people you see wearing badges on the grounds are volunteers.
These are people that are taking vacation days to be here and unfortunately I think that fact is being forgotten more and more. We have a wide variety of people that volunteer from every walk and stage of life. We even have high school kids in the youth connection program working along side retired people that volunteer almost everyday.
Why are we here? Why does Bryan's crew do such amazing things? Because at the end of almost every show and the main point for us being here, is to raise money for college scholarships. So at the end of the show today, a few lucky kids will have a chunk if not all of their college paid for!
I think the willingness of these volunteers is creating what could be significant problem. Every year I see more and more being asked of these volunteers and because the end result is so noble, they do it. I am seeing cracks in the gropus spirit, unfortunately. I had an encounter this morning with a supervisor and when I tried to confront him, he laughed and walked away as I am sure he was thinking of everything else he needed to do. We are in brand new buildings and I see people longing for the old buildings that leaked and smelled, because it was more set up the catered to what we do. I understand what a great resource these facilities are for the county, but I would love to find a way to restore some of what we had in old Barns 2 and 5. And yes I announced in the cold wet bard, and in a tent, and I miss it. OK, I said it, I am officially and old curmudgeon missing the past. I am sure in future years we will hit our stride and will not be able to imagine how we did it in those old, cold, and wet barns.
My wake up call for today:
In my 20's I was put in charge of a group of over 300 volunteers. I freaked! I started reading books and talking to some seasoned professionals because I had no clue how do do that. I was told to treat them as highly valued employees. You sometimes need to set expectations and discuss if they are not met and sometimes fire them, but most of all you need to keep them informed and part of the process respecting their time as if it was your own.
I am noticing that with the numbers of volunteers, some people forget the respect that each volunteer deserves, but more importantly to respect their time investment. I don't care if it is the unemployed volunteer looking for something to do or the President of a Company, everyone deserves to be heard and their investment respected. Everyone has somewhere else that they could be.
This was a good lesson for me this morning as I was just asked to step in again as the interim Executive Director of the Randolph Metrocom Chamber. I need to remember that our volunteers are the lifeblood of the chamber as we help our members grow their businesses!
Come visit me at the RODEO!
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