Volunteering & Volunteer Students

Talking to myself - again! I need to whine and since no one is reading this anyway, I'll use it as a diary for a bit. If you should accidentally stumble across this - I'm trying to have a sense of humor? But it's so hard! The truth is I've struggled all week to stay optimistic.

This project, for all the good intentions, has been a total disaster. For that I take full responsibility. My inexperience at this has been the major problem. You live and you learn!

What have I learned? First, when three grandkids beg you to help them with a community service project, seek help immediately. Every town has at least one good psychiatrist! You should be able to find help, maybe on a sliding fee based on your income. If even a good shrink can't convince you to run away, then gather your family, your friends, neighbors, strangers, and anyone else you can sweet-talk into helping. Know this: there are many people in the world who can and will say no to you. You are looking for the ones who can't resist your sweet smile, who get caught up in your passion for the project, or those you can put on a guilt trip about all the little kids who need help.

The second thing I learned, these projects cost money. Your money initially. And there are no sliding fees based on your income. Chances are if something is needed for the project, you're going to pay full price.

From here, this list is in random order, not necessarily the most important first. Got it? I didn't get it but I got it now! Well, at least I'm learning...

Free publicity: Do not assume that your local newspaper is as charmed by your kids' compassion for others as you are. They aren't. Just calling to tell them about these wonderful kids doing this wonderful thing is not enough. As already noted, I finally resorted to a snippy email to an editor. I got what I wanted - but what do you want to bet that next time I call them it will be time for payback? Or maybe leaving out half the information was the payback?

The schools: School administrators aren't as fascinated with the America's Promise report Every Child Every Promise as I. Neither are they as maniacal as I about service learning or the value of community service to our youth.  I think they are too busy trying to teach the little darlings how to spell without spell-check; how to do math without a calculator; birth control for twelve year olds; why they should learn about the American Revolution instead of the war in Iraq, the implications of Iran, China, Turkey, children dying of hunger and hunger-related diseases, and world illiteracy. I don't mean that as criticism. At least I don't think so. Those things are not on the state tests. They are, however, the social issues my grandchildren's generation will have to address. Seeing as how it was 'my' generation that messed up our moral standards, and my children's me-generation that doesn't know how to get off the pot...oh, where are the smilies when you need them? I meant that as whether to get off or stay on, but pot is an issue with them, too. No?

How far off topic am I willing to go? Ummm. Ok. The schools. Two months before the date of the kids' project, the principal told me she would be happy to send flyers home with the kids. She did not tell me then, or during the following half dozen conversations about it, that I had to have the flyer approved by the superintendent, pay to have the copies made, and deliver them in bundles of 25.

So it was that only a few days before the project date, I learned of this when I called to let her know it was time to send out the flyers. Then when I called the super's office, I got his secretary who told me what to do. Then when I asked that she give him a message to call me she asked, "What do you want to speak with him about?" Duh, flyers? But she said, "I just told you what to do. You don't need to speak with him." "I want to speak with him if you don't mind." "Well, he'll just tell you the same thing I just told you." This lady obviously does not know I'm a registered voter and they have a levy coming up? Almost speechless, I said, "My number is xxx-xxxx. My name is Mae Miller. Tell the superintendent to call me." and hung up.

He did call, and he did not tell me the same thing, but what he did tell me was just as useless. It seems I 'could have' had a memo in the monthly bulletins from the schools "if" I had let them know in time. And he would be happy to send a couple flyers to each school and have the principals make an announcement about it. Of course, I had to provide the flyers, but at least it was 'doable' at the last minute.

Unfortunately, as soon as I hung up from our chat, the phone rang. It was my cardiologist's office telling me my ICD (pacemaker/defibrillator) wasn't exactly recalled but might have a problem. A deadly problem apparently since on the news they told of five people dead with this model of ICD probably a contributing factor.

As a Public Service announcement, the problem is breakage of the leads - the little wires from the device to the heart. If they fracture, either you get no shock when you need it, or it over-reacts. Approximately 235,000 people are affected.

The risk of having it removed is greater than the risk of device failure - so the devices are being programmed to audibly beep if the wires fracture or the battery gets too low.

Now I will beep at precisely 9:10 AM if it malfunctions. The beep sounds a little like the London bobby cars. Cute.

So I have survived the initial 'shock' of being told the thing might kill me but probably won't and accepted that there's nothing I can do about it. Anyway, it's kind of neat. It stores 'events' for months, so they were able to tell me it had paced my heart over 10,000 times. The technician gave me an exact figure but I was a bit distracted by the thought that my heart had actually needed pacing. But - next comes the cardiologist. I have to go Nov 1st for a heart cath. Lovely. I really don't want to do this...

I tell this simply to illustrate that this has not been a great week. It rained four of the days we were to be outside WalMart collecting coats. And today - my son borrowed my van - and the brake line went kaput - so we're not at WalMart again.  

I am so discouraged. It's temporary. A day of rest, forced though it may be, will do wonders. And I have a few ideas about how to pull this project off - in spite of my inexperience, rain, faulty ICD's, and cardiologists.

Besides, I exaggerate. It has not been a 'total disaster'. We have collected some coats, just not as many as we want. We have collected some lap blankets, just not as many as we want. And we collected money which we didn't intend to do at all. Money to purchase caps and gloves to go with the coats. And I did give some of the people my phone number when they said they had coats but couldn't get them to us during the times we would be at WalMart. And there's still a collection box at Sav-a-Lot that can stay as long as we want. Hardly a total disaster. See, I feel better already!