The Joys of Volunteering

A couple of months ago, David and I joined our Neighborhood Association, also known as the NCPCA which stands for North City Park Civic Association. Upon joining, we found out that the President's wife needed help with the newsletter. Here's where David and I jumped at the chance to do some volunteer work.

The newsletter is 6 pages and runs every month. I project manage it, gather the articles, edit them all, then pass it on to David who does the full layout. I take it back, edit it again, send it to print and have it delivered to the President's house where his wife has a group of volunteers that hand deliver it to 1,400 homes in our neighborhood. Labor intensive? Um yeah. You can view January and February here.

The last time we volunteered was two years ago to pack Baskets of Joy that are delivered to the needy during the Holidays. Unfortunately David had signed us up for this event that started at 7am, the day after our annual holiday party. When we arrived, still drunk from the night before, we were too late to stuff the baskets. Not wanting to leave without helping, we were put to work delivering the baskets in the downtown area. It was a meager 4 hours out of our day, yet the majority of the people loved getting their gifts.

It makes us wish we had more time to get out there and do more for people. What can you do in your city?