Volunteers in Portland

Kimberley Wilson wrote up a nice feature in this week’s InPortland section of the Oregonian, featuring some of the heroes and heroines of volunteers. Most of those profiled offer their time and talents through Portland’s autonomous Neighborhood Associations, which several in-depth reviews have found to provide an efficient structure for citizen involvement. When the League of Women Voters conducted a two-year study, one component was asking League members to stop by their own Neighborhood Association and completing a survey. Several volunteers noted when returning their forms that they were pleasantly surprised by the good work being done, and planned to return to participate again. To find your Neighborhood Association, type in your address on Portland Maps, and your neigbhborhood is displayed in the top left of the header. Then visit the Office of Neighborhood Involvement’s Searchable directory to find out meeting times and locations. Many Neighborhood Associations don’t meet over the summer, but some have informal picnics and other social gatherings which can be an easy way to check out the volunteers and see if you want to join them. They can also be a great way to start volunteering, with something easy like helping with clean-up after the event.

Kimberley’s article focuses most on ongoing neighborhood volunteer needs like crime patrols and development monitoring. Part 2, published as a side-bar in the print edition, is written by Cassady Jeremias and notes there are other avenues for volunteering, including Hands On Portland. That organization has many ongoing volunteers and a few paid staff, but also depends more on drop-in/one-time volunteers than Neighborhood Associations. Linda Nettekovan, an awesome Neighborhood Association volunteer who lives in the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood in Southeast Portland, is quoted as saying, “Here in Portland, we’re missing both of those sets of volunteers: helpers, who pitch in when they’re asked to, and joiners, who help by being regularly involved.” That’s true, however I think there’s a third subgroup — people who help whenever they can, without being asked, but can’t do so on a regular basis. Hands On Portland and other groups like SOLV (Stop Oregon Litter & Vandalism), Friends of Trees, and VolunteerMatch facilitate matching projects with workers in this third group. Pretty much any Saturday morning in Portland, 52 weeks per year, you can find somewhere to volunteer for a couple of hours, without having to make a long-term commitment or become an organizer or Board member. Most weekdays and evenings, too. There are jobs for people-people, and tasks for those who dread talking to strangers. Even the most frail person can help with making sure participants sign the waiver forms and receive good instructions, or take care of reminder or thank-you calls, or stick stamps on postcards. And for some stressed-out folks, those kinds of activities can be as good for restoring equilibrium as watching the Ducks on Opening Day at Autzen Stadium.

Cassady notes that Portland’s overall volunteer rate is around 36%, with 40.5% of women and 30.8% of men reporting donating some of their time to community service. My guess is those numbers are low estimates. People volunteer in many ways and many places, some of which aren’t “counted” in recorded volunteer hours. As well as planting trees, advocating for transportation improvements or watershed health, and putting on social events in neighborhoods, volunteers tutor in schools, run sports teams and kids’ clubs, deliver Meals on Wheels, register voters, give blood, send letters to prisoners, buy wrapping paper they don’t need from the school kids on the block. And hundreds of other types of selfless activities. But the needs are almost always greater than the number of people willing to help.

The high school National Honor Society, and many honors and regular high school programs require a minimum of 20 hours of volunteer work per year. Think about it, 2 hours a month (with a month off in the winter and summmer) is less than a half hour per week, which isn’t much time to do something for nothing for someone. Note: for nothing. Having a paid job in a helping/public service profession isn’t the same thing. I’d like to see all elected officials participating in volunteer projects at least once a month — not the ceremonial first shovelful of dirt, but really helping for at least two hours. More people would volunteer if they could bend a decision-maker’s ear at the same time, and the politicians would understand neighborhoods and their needs so much more clearly.

You can put in your full month’s 2-hours-worth just showing up to a Neighborhood Association meeting, where you’ll likely learn about crime prevention and possible neighborhood improvements that might actually be of benefit to you personally, too. Pulling ivy and planting trees are better for cardiac health than the treadmill at the gym, because you get fresh air for your lungs and satisfaction for your spirit at the same time. If you’re not contributing your half hour per week (and reading – or writing – blogs doesn’t count)… what’s stopping you? And if you’re giving way too much, and reaching the point of burnout… how about taking time out from the tasks, and spend some time thinking about how to invite someone else to help for just one hour? I’m writing this blog, and ran for City Council last year, because one of my neighbors put a flier in my newspaper box saying why my participation in a meeting was important, 16 years ago. One of the most important tasks any of us does, in a job, family, or volunteer activity, is preparing others to step up when we move on. If you’ve been volunteering for a while, are you spending enough time passing on what you’ve learned?

You’re welcome to comment giving your favorite volunteer activities, or barriers to participation you’ve experienced, if you’d like.