Volunteer status

he lived in Alaska, he was born in Oregon, he was homeless, is homeless, a drug addict, worked at Mercedes and supported two lazy girl's rent. He sat down next to me and with his Safeway sushi, started talking and before I knew it my hr was up.

I started my volunteering at the Young Adult Homeless Shelter tonight in the University District. I had no idea what to expect and had the hardest time finding parking and finding the spot. I was almost about to call to cancel but I was so close....yet still like 15min late. I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, all of the volunteers were "U-Dub" students but as soon as I sat down and starting chattering away, time passed by so fast. One guy in particular, the one that was born in Alaska, we got along so good. The whole experience for the 2.5 hrs I was there was very eye opening. They had lost "privileges" cuz they found a needle in the bathroom, so they didn't have a movie that night, or shower privileges or a smoke break. One of the volunteers started playing the piano and had to stop cuz that was in the conditions as well. They have a "Homelessness 101" class given 2x/month that all volunteers are required to attend and as the guy started listing off all of the drugs and rehab that he'd been through, I caught myself speechless. So I'm going to attend next Wednesday night...

Saturday afternoon, I went to PBS to take pledges for their Live Broadcast. It was a cooking show. I thought it would be an interesting event. Little did I know that all of the other volunteers attending that shift were all in the same organized high school (girl) troupe....therefore, I felt oddly outta place. Especially since the one lady that wasn't in their group, got moved last minute, so I was literally sitting front row, by myself for like 4 1/2 hrs. But at least the Producer introduced himself after awhile and emailed me after the show as well for more opportunities, so hopefully it wasn't all for a one-time deal. I like the make the networking benefits apparent to me...if not during, at least after.

This morning, I went back to PD and put in another 4 1/2 hrs. The only hard part about their place is location, it's prime location but parking is harder. I think I may try to go in 1/wk and do a full day instead next week vs. 2 half-days or some virtual maybe. Half of today was promoting their myspace with event listings and so forth, so it's not hard, it's all about getting their word out right now and record maintenance. I get along with the team (3 people) well though and it's fun, so it's something, I'm going to try to maintain.