Sunday, January 29, 2012

Volunteers And The Difference They Make

At the Furniture Bank, they asked me to coordinate volunteers on Monday nights and weekends. So far it has been an incredible experience and breaks up the monotony. However, recently I been thinking about the volunteers role in maintaining the Furniture Bank. More importantly, Do volunteers think their making a difference? This question came up when one of my housemates politely turned down my offer for the DOOR house to cleanup the Furniture Bank warehouse in February. In his eyes, he didn't think it was beneficial to the families that came to through the Furniture Bank. His response caught me off guard. I know the volunteers work is essential, but volunteers  it must be hard not to witness the fruits of their labor. They don't get to see how much easier for our clients to locate furniture they need after the warehouse is reorganized. Or the smiles in their faces when they come through the door and see a clean space. Also, the Furniture Bank is a small organization with about 8 people full time. We could not operate efficiently without volunteers. I try to say this the groups that come to the warehouse. Hopefully, they understand they have an essential role in our organization.

This is the inside of the warehouse. At the bottom left are the tables volunteers. Most of the tables will be gone by next week.

This is the mattress section of the warehouse. We currently have a steady stream of mattresses  being donated by original mattress factory. 

This is our workshop. Volunteers come in here and make the tables you see in the picture above.  

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