Volunteering

This past Friday and Saturday (I raced Sunday) I volunteered for the first time in probably a year or two. In other words, it's been waaaay too long. I volunteered with various groups I belonged to throughout college, including everything from serving food weekly at a homeless shelter, trash pickup on roadsides, yard cleanup for the elderly and helping during field day at a school for the blind. It was so much fun, and I got to meet so many really cool people along the way, but sometime after graduation and trying to figure out my next move, volunteering fell by the wayside. A few years later I started volunteering again, this time helping with the hydration stations at local 10Ks, half marathons and marathons. I ended up falling back in love with giving back.

This weekend, Katy BMX held a big racing packed weekend, so I volunteered after practice. I was sent to scoring (at the finish line), and when I went there Sally and some of the nicest ladies helped teach me how to score. During scoring, there are generally three people there, each with a clipboard, a pen, and a copy of the moto sheets. That way they can compare with each other to make sure everyone's finish got recorded correctly. It was tough work with some of the motos. If it was a close race we had to be on our game (one of the track owners, Kim, was also to record photo finishes in the case of a tough call).

It was a lot of fun learning how to do something new, and I also have so much respect for the scorers, that is a TOUGH job at times!

It makes me feel really great to volunteer, and I will definitely be looking for other local opportunities in the near future.

Have you ever volunteered, and if so, where?