Volunteerism

The kids' go to a Catholic school and part of that schooling is a commitment to serve 20 hours as a family helping the school in some fashion throughout the year...or pay $12.50 per hour if you don't. We do not pay, I have always gotten 20 hours. It's hard though because as a working mom, a lot of the volunteer opps are during school hours and I obviously cannot do that very often. The last two years, I fulfilled a lot of my volunteer hours through the Junior Achievement program. This is a wonderful program that I have been involved in off and on since 1999. Last year, I took on the coordinator position for the school's program meaning that I lined up all the volunteers for each grade. It was a bit more work than I expected but I liked it, plus I was the volunteer for Keely's class (I did Quinn's class the year before). Getting to 20 hours was easy with that position. But then unexpectedly, the school principal and teachers decided not to continue that program this year leaving me with no position and at a bit of a loss for volunteer hours.

So now this year is underway and I noticed a few Board positions open so I inquired. Next thing I know I am Vice President of the HSA (Home and School Association, like PTO). Being on the Board automatically gets you 20 hours of service, but you put in way more than that. So we're all set, but now I am in the midst of lots of volunteering time. I really like it so far but I am definitely busy. I've put in almost 20 hours in the past 2 weeks as we prepared for an Information Fair last night. I made posters, prepared welcome gifts for new families and manned the HSA table at the event. It's a bit exhausting but fun too. I really like getting to know other moms and forming a circle of friends. We've been here 4 years now and I finally feel like an "insider". I have people I can count on for help when I need it, we have stores of babysitters built up, and I am making friends with common interests. These are nice things to have when you don't have family 5 minutes away.

So this was a long way of explaining what I have been so busy with these days, i.e. why I have not been writing on the blog as often. I don't feel like I am missing chronicling anything but I do feel a bit more absent and inconsistent than usual. I do expect things to slow down a bit here now that soccer is ending tomorrow, and most of my volunteer commitments are done for the moment. But in case you wonder why you're not reading any new material, at least you'll know what is likely keeping me busy :)