Volunteer Stuff On My Mind

Lately something that has been on my mind has been the fact that there seems to be a lack of interest in volunteering across the board.  Not that it is a lack of interest in volunteering per se but there is a noticeable lack of people helping out in their community.  There is a lot of great organizations out there that do a very broad spectrum of activities.  There is bound to be something out there for everyone.  I've done everything from work at a pet kennel, to art shows, to music concerts, to the circus.  There is a lot of them.

As I've mentioned, there seems to be a general degrading of the volunteer army that are partaking in helping out their community for a cause or any cause.  I just wish I knew what I could do to help draw people into some of these great organizations.  If there are ANY questions about any organization that I volunteer for...just ask.  I've got all the organizations that I participate in on my other page here.  Anything that I can do, let me know.  I know that I'm not perfect by any means but I will sure as hell try.  This whole volunteering this is something that I LOVE doing and being a part of stuff and being there to be of assistance.  I want as many people to enjoy some of the things that I experience as well.

I want to do more and I need more folks to help out as well.  I don't want to have to drag people out kicking and screaming.  People just need to use a few hours helping out there community.  Bring the kids, bring the family.  Organizations will gladly take all the help they can get.

Towel Day, Volunteering, and ISTP

First off: Happy Towel Day!   Particularly for all you Hitchhikers of the Galaxy.

Second this whole volunteer thing is still pretty dern interesting.  I'm always finding events or finally getting around to just signing up for stuff.  Finally signed up for the St. Louis Bluesweek Festival.  I've known about it for a while back when it was the Rib America thing that went all Memorial Day weekend long.  Stuff happened and it became Bluesweek.  I've always been a little torn about volunteering for it in the past few years because I'm always got a boomerang tournament to attend on Memorial Day weekend.  Specifically the Gateway Classic; going on 26 consecutive years thus far.

Anyways the St. Louis Blues week is a good event.  Good music and food.  They still do the whole BBQ and ribs thing.  Tasty for mouth and ears.  Yeah I was working it but I do fit in time to hang out and enjoy stuff.  I probably enjoy it that much more because I'm volunteering for it.

Not really that odd I think.  I am an ISTP.  It's interesting to think about everyonce and a while to think about the whole Brigs Meyers personality things sometimes.  Sure they are generic and cover lots of people like horoscope.  I do think I fit in with the various descriptions of the ISTP (link and other link and another other link) out there.  I'm an adventurer that likes to tinker and understand enough for me to get good at doing stuff.  But also don't like getting stuck into routines and following strict rules.

 But it's late and I probably should proof read but I just wanted to get it out there.

FIRST World Championships 2013

Another year in the books for volunteering at the FIRST Robotics World Championships.  Easily one of my favorite events to volunteer for.  It's usually the one event I try to get on for multiple days for either the Regional St. Louis competition or World event depending on how much time off I have banked up at work.

It starts with a challenge that is given to each of the different levels (JFLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC) and based on some theme.   This year was a combination of ascending higher and mobility.  The FTC were moving rings from one rack to another tic-tac-toe like board.  The FRC were shooting flying discs at holes 15 feet high or so.  It's great to see the ingenuity that the students bring to the table to create the robots and accomplish their goals.  The students only get about 3 months to accomplish these goals and do the tasks at hand.  By the time these teams get to the World Championships the machines they create are pretty awesome.  Wish I could of been doing this cool stuff as a student.  In lieu of that, I shall volunteer for FIRST Robotics.

Kiwanis should almost start supporting teams or the organization.  But that's just me.

Speech Topics and Curiosities

Just digging around the interwebs, researching a project 2 for either Humorously Speaking or The Entertaining Speaker manuals. I've got a case of the writer's block.  Not that I even know what I'm even writing about.  Seems like it's the hardest part sometimes to come up with stuff to write about.  At this point I've written/talked about a lot of boomerangs, volunteering, or juggling.  Don't really feel that I want to go over those again.

Strange Folk Festival 2012

Spent last weekend at the Strange Folk Festival.  I got to help out with setting up the 10 different bands that the event had.  Special thanks go out to the The Luminary Center for the Arts for also helping out with the bands and getting them scheduled to preform and a bit of the set up.  Really need to learn more about sound engineering but I'm getting there.

Both days seemed to have a very nice sized crowd in attendance.  Lots of interesting vendors this year showing off their warez.  Very cool event as always.

Volunteer hour wise it put me at 300 hours on the nose.  Pretty rare to land exactly on a number but cool.

Think the complaint towards the event being gay friendly is crap.  It's everybody friendly and it happen to use Nyan Cat as part of the advertising.  Because NyanCat is funny in an annoying way.

KDHX, Thursdays @ The Intersection, and JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound

Volunteered at yet another very cool KDHX and Grand Center event that featured  JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound.  It also happend to be a fairwell party for one of the KDHX fellers.  It was a good show with very awesome soulful sounds.  The band had a merch table for your collections and I did pretty well there.   Love volunteering at a radio station.  Get to see a lot of great events around town and hang out with awesome people.

Art On The Square 2012

The Art On The Square 2012 has commenced for the year.  Pretty interesting to see an area go from regular car traffic to fully packed with people and artists over a four day period.  There is so much that goes on behind the scenes to make it happen.  While just showing up you don't fully get how much goes on.  Volunteering for these events gives a different perspective on these events.

KDHX Midwest Mayhem

Got a chance to hang out at the KDHX's Midwest Mayhem last night.  That is a neat event.  Lot's of music and people and burlesque from Show Me Burlesque.  The City Museum is a pretty neat place.  There is so much to explore in there.  It's an easy place to get lost in.  There's big whales, fake caves, turtles, tunnels, and fake trees.  It is a neat place to just hang out.  Lots of slides too.  One that is 3 stories high and one that is about 6 stories tall.  The 6 story one is worth the walk up the 6 flights of spiral stairs.  If you want to come hang out next year, support local, independent music with KDHX.

US First Robotics Competion 2012

Pretty cool event this year at the US First Robotics Championships.  Got to be a part of the Expedition Team.  Pretty cool.  Get to experience a lot of different events over several days.  Actually got to see part and be part of the competition this year.

First day got to be a pit runner for the FIRST Lego League (FLL).  Mostly involved queuing up teams to go to their practice events.  Involved a lot of running around as one might expect.  Ultimately I helped these kids that worked really hard to get to their rounds while being the awesome leader that I am.

The afternoon involved the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) as a field reseter for the official first day of completion for them.  These are the high school kids with the smaller bots.  Their mission was to "bowl" over crates to release raquet balls and stack the crates back up right side up with at least one ball in them.  There's more to it than that and a lot of was to score lots of points.

Three out of four is not bad....

Busy day for March 31, 2012.... Started at 7:15am with a Kiwanis Blood Drive.  Got the room all set up and situated for the drive. Food table was stocked with snacks, food, and coffee.  The problem was that the supply truck for the Red Cross never showed up.  GRRRRR.  Don't know the details of what happened yet but I will let you know when I find out.  Early April Fools Joke?

Next up Toastmasters Division 6 contest.  Got to be the Sergeant at Arms and Ballot counter.  Escorted contestants to the sound proof booth and preparation areas.  Interesting experience for doing both duties for the first time for the Toastmasters at a contest.  The after contest hang out was cool at the IHOP too.  Tasty.

Also helping KDHX with their phone drive to collect funds for the station.  It's a 10 day process biannually.  It's a great station.  Member supported.  They can play pretty much anything, as long as it complies with the rules of broadcasting stuff.  You should give it a listen.  I'd bet there is something there for you, if you give it a sufficiently long listen.

Three out of four events that happened successfully is not bad at all.

FIRST Robotics Regional March 2012

This past weekend the FIRST Robotics Regional competition were held this past weekend (March 22 - 24, 2012).  It is a neat event.  This years goal for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the Rebound Rumble, where teams are tasked with collecting and shooting foam basketballs into basketball hoops.  The first day had more cooperation on some of the bridges.  It got more interesting as the day progressed and bugs got worked out of the robots.  The second day really got good.  Robots were tweaked and got better in time.  Scores evened out between the red and blue teams.  There were many more rounds where there were higher scores of 50+ points for teams.  The final rounds really got good with really good shooting and balancing on bridges.  Teams really got aggressive on defense and attempting to get three bots on the balancing bridges.  Lots of robot tipping as well.

It is a neat even to volunteer for.  Sign up to volunteer for them if you get a chance at www.usfirst.org

Edit (4/15/2012):
Finally got around to emptying the camera.  Photos are below of some of the neat stuff going on.

2011 Volunteer Approximate Stats.

Since I do a lot of Volunteering I figure that I would post how many hours that I have put up in a consolidated post.

August 2011 through December 2011 Total: 90 Hours

These are the events that I have logged information for.  These are what contribute to the 90 hours of volunteer time.  I have volunteering at the following:

Midwest Salute To The Arts
Kiwanis of O'Fallon and Fairview Heights
Red Cross
Salvation Army
Pork With Passion
Wingsfest
KDHX
Sheldon Concert Hall
Shiloh Homecomming
Strange Folk Festival
Belleville Chilli Cookoff

Unfortunately I didn't think to start logging events till August of 2011.  Not fully sure of all the organizations that I helped out before August of 2011 but I'm certain that I did help out with the following organizations.  It also means that I probably have more that 100+ hours of volunteer time for 2011.  Alas I'll never be sure. It all helped me get good at volunteering.  Keep an eye out for 2012's stats

Pre-Logging
FIRST Robotics
Art On The Square
Wine, Dine, And Jazz

Strange Folk Festival 2011

Another volunteer opportunity in the can from the Strange Folk Festival. Lots of interesting art and Strange People. Got to hangout backstage of the music and help with the setup of bands. Watched over booths for an artist and sold a few pieces of art in the process. Even helped out KDHX on the street team. Gave away CDs, stickers, temporary tattoos, and a few t-shirts.

There is a certain aspect to these events that really draw me in. It hits a nerve just right where I think I am almost maximally optimal. Being in the moment, making things happen. Its this idea that is where I think a part of my ISTP mindset just comes alive. Need to figure a way to possibly monetize this idea that I like being part of the action hands on. There is the short term purpose that drives me there but I get to walk away and do something different at the end of the day or the next weekend. Really like the hands on aspect of these events,the chance to see some cool "stuff" (not really always stuff but could be ideas or a neat product or food). The people, they are always pretty cool at these events and always out to make the event really work out.

It's all just a really neat adventure at these events. I've really only just started.

On a side note, let me know you're out there and post a comment about something or a question.

More volunteer opportunities....

This past weekend I gave blood for the O'Fallon Kiwanis and worked at the local homecoming. Prior weekend I was at Off Broadway giving away stickers for KDHX and at Wingsfest in Fairview Heights. All very cool events and lots of opportunities to meet lots of interesting people, interesting music, behind the scenes, and I love this stuff. Just being involved doing thing to bring people together.

With all of these people coming together and organizations that need more members, there could be unlimited possibilities for cooperation. If we could only step outside our boundaries and reach out to others. Events that need more volunteers. Getting a group of people that come alone instead of coming out in groups.

What if instead of focusing on a particular area, an organization(s) over an area teams up and work on the area. We scratch your area and we scratch our area. Not just one town but many more. A team up of sorts. Organizations can reach out to other organizations to utilize the unique skill sets and missions. Toastmasters that emcee a Kiwanis auction or local concert. Some weird skill set of two or more organizations that improve the whole. There are hand full of organizations over a single town that have similar purpose but don't interact with each other but each struggle with membership and getting new ideas.

What if you needed more members only required opening up to more people? Truly building a stronger community by sharing and combining forces. Utilizing talents that we can all provide in our unique way. I'm one guy dedicated to being more open to my area. Using all the skill I've learned to pay it all forward. I can't do it alone but I can sure try.

In a nutshell what I am saying is that: if you want an community presence have a presence in your community. It doesn't have to be anything expensive but people just have to step out.

Salute to the Arts Weekend

Busy weekend this past weekend. (Aug 25 - 28, 2011) The 25th was a setup day just setting up tables chairs, pulling electrical chord for artists, and just making the location look awesome. Went really quick but I didn't get their till 2pm. Only put in 4 hours that day.

I had to get to prior obligations to the O'Fallon Toastmasters and the humorous speech/table topics contest. I did place in both categories. Won myself a few gift cards. Think the system could be tweaked a bit but that's is a matter to bring up with the group specifically.

Anyway...Saturday (Aug 27) for the Salute to the Arts, I was helping the Fairview Heights, Illinois Kiwanis setup their ice cream booth and photo booth. Think it went pretty well throughout the day but the crowd seemed small outside the main event.

Sunday (Aug 28) was a Salute day once again. Helped out some of the artists with breaks and beverages. Watched their pieces as they took off for whatever. Followed though to also tear down the event. Consolidated the tables, chairs, plants, any rental equipment. Helped the musicians a bit to move their equipment.

All in all a good weekend, glad it wasn't raining like it was for the Art On The Square (Art On The Square Post). Weather started warm and in the mid 90's for the first few days but got down to mid 80's for the later days of the event.

Link to the event for future reference Midwest Salute to the Arts. Don't mind the erroneous title it does still say "Midwest Salute To The Masters", it has been brought to their attention for correction.

It's been a busy June... Part 1

I've been taking summer classes this summer.  One of the classes met three days a week for three hours for 5 weeks.  It was a public relations visual communications class.  Interesting, dense, and moved quick.  Think I learned a lot about analyzing visual communications and got some insight of the historical perspective of it all.  It's done now.

Still have five weeks of learning about Oracle Database management.  Meets up one day a week for four and a half hours.  Not bad but it can be a long day.

As for the weekends it started with the Wine, Dine, and Jazz on June 10, 11, and 12.  Did a lot for them.  Started on the 10th with setting up canopies for some of the food vendors.  There was a lot of sand bag moving but it paid off.  Got to explore one of the basements one of the old buildings that are in Belleville, IL, it was a dark musty basement.  Part of the reason I like volunteering is the chance to explore things you wouldn't normally see on a day to day basis.  Also help sort sponsor ads to prepare the folks the next day to set up.

The second day (11th), I got water into coolers.  I also got to be the parking assistant for the bands.  The bands had to park and unload their equipment somewhere and I was the guy that help them out getting their stuff out near the stage.  Got to hang out backstage and pass water up to the bands.

When that portion was done I got to help sell some wine tokens.  Got to feed the people handling people but I also got to sell a few tokens to the crowds.  Also rearranged some of the wine glasses that were being sold.  After the festivities I helped move stuff inside for the night like the wine glasses and papers.

After all of that was done some of us got to hang out and get a few beers while we waited for the storms to roll in.  The winds were pretty bad.  Some of the canopies were thrown pretty far.  Helped out with some of the storm cleanup in preparation for the workers that were going to hang out that morning and reset all the canopies and umbrellas that were knocked over.

On the 12th, the city and Mayor Eckert had some of his city teams out resetting all of the tables and canopies.  I helped pull the wine glasses, event papers, more sponsor ads, and more water.  Reset some of the sponsor ads.  Went back to parking and band assistant.  Got to sample some of the awesome bbq and wines.  After the event shut down we tore down all of the canopies and moved buckets and sand back to the trailers.  Moved picnic tables.  Helped tear down the stage and move some of the band equipment.

The following morning me and a few others put the last of the umbrellas, buckets, stands, tables, ads, and poles back into the trailers.  We moved water to its final resting place for the next event.  We loaded all of the leftover glasses into vehicles for storage elsewhere.  I moved event art into the Art On The Square Building.  Basically cleaned up after the event.

Overall it was a pretty neat event.  The Wine, Dine, and Jazz event and Art On The Square Events were both very neat events.

Art On The Square May 13-15, 2011

Helped out with this years Art In The Square in Belleville, IL. It was an interesting experience. Worked at the event three of the four days. The 12th, 13th, and 14th. The 12 was a Thursday and I helped set up canopies with windbreakers. Moved sandbags to weight them down, Set up flags for sponsor tents.

On the 13th, I moved more sandbags to weight down umbrella stands and umbrellas. Rearranged a few canopies and set up a few of the smaller stages. I also got to vote in the High School Art Fair that was being held at the event.

The last day of the event on the 14th we tore down all of the canopies, removed the covers, and loaded poles into trailers. We put the covers into the abandoned Meridith home to dry out.

Only bad part about the weekend was that it was raining and was cold. All of the artists and volunteers stuck it out. The event still hit it's target amount for the event.

Sound pretty dull but it is the nut shell of what I did at the event. I thought it was interesting. Got to work on several teams that hauled butt to get all of this done in the span of several hours.