2010 Olympics Volunteering - An Interview

Today I was interviewed over the telephone by a pleasant sounding young woman. The subject was my application to volunteer for the 2010 Olympics.

I remain open minded about what might transpire in the future but this interview has lead me to be less than optimistic. The questions posed to me did not seem to probe very deeply into my skillset or expertise. There were no questions about my software and web skills, no questions about BC Digital Divide, and the only question about my vast photography experience was, "What kind of camera do you have?" Anyone who thinks that the most important ingredient of a great photograph is the type of camera doesn't know a thing about photography.

Time will tell where this leads but my default position, until proven otherwise, is that volunteers without connections will end up as parking matrons for 8 hours at a time for $60,000+ automobiles that are arriving at the mountains. Sigh.

Not All Teenagers Are Lazy & Selfish

Too often these days it seems we all encounter or read about teenagers who are lazy, selfish, or worse. They live their lives with complete disrespect for everyone and everything else. In Vancouver this often takes the form of well to do Asian, South Asian, and White kids who purport to live their lives like Faux Inner City Black Gangstas.

Well, I'm very happy to report that there are exceptions to the rule. Staying with me this summer is an 18 year old Mexican teenager named Danny. I've known him since he was seven but I've never been so proud of him as I have this past weekend. So much happened but here are the highlights:

• We hauled 17 monitors out of storage, including some old 19" ones that were 55 lbs!
• Picked up 19 computers from one of our Vancouver techs, Bruce.
• Delivered 12 computers in Vancouver, Burnaby, and Richmond, to very happy recipients.
• Moved a large dining table and chairs from my uncle's place in Ladner.
  

And through it all Danny didn't complain once, didn't avoid work once, and didn't once ask when we'd be done. What a fine young fellow!



Sidebar: The most amusing part of his time here is the way 95% of people react when I tell them that he's from Mexico. The reaction is consistently the same: A curious stare, followed by an expression of disbelief, and then either asking me if I'm joking or asserting that "he doesn't look like any Mexican person I've ever seen".

BCDD Volunteer Featured in the News

Nitin Gandhi is a 25 year-old fellow who moved to Vancouver from New Delhi, India a few years ago. Back in January he responded to an ad I posted in the Ride Share section of Craiglist Vancouver. At first I thought he misunderstood what I was saying and believed that we were hiring for the position. But after our first conversation, I realized that he knew it was a completely volunteer gig. And he has been absolutely great ever since, driving to Merritt, Penticton, Kelowna, Kamloops, and Lillooet ... all on his own dime. Pretty amazing! The South Asian Post newspaper has just written a story about Nitin's efforts.

Volunteering for the 2010 Olympics

I just signed up to volunteer for the 2010 Olympics. It's a fairly extensive application but I like that because it indicates that they may actually be trying to make the best use of people's skills. Though the cynical part of me suspects that they'll just give Joe Public the "gopher" jobs and place all their well connected friends into the cush jobs.

With my experience running BC Digital Divide and my other extensive experience with Pocket Pollster (I actually offered them free use of it before and during the games), how they decide to utilize my particular skills and experience will be a good barometer of whether the cynical me is right or wrong. Let's hope the latter!

What Makes Volunteering All Worth While

In my work with BC Digital Divide, one meets all kinds of people: good, not very good, and everything in between. The ones that irritate me beyond belief are those who have seemingly (and unnecessarily) been on government assistance all of their lives. They've got the victim acting role down to a fine art and play it for all it's worth. In the worst cases, there's absolutely no gratitude. It's all about them, all about how hard done by they are. 3 words come to mind: Take, Take, Take!!!

But thankfully they're in the small minority of people we meet. Maybe we're just better at screening them out early on than government agencies are. Also, unlike government agencies, we actually don't have to respond to them.

The true gems are the ones that keep me motivated. Such is the case with a young Guatemalan family that has truly touched my heart. The parents, Manuel & Isabel, moved here about 12 years ago. They have a son, Brian, and a younger daughter, Shirley. They've become more than mere recipients to me. This evening I was visiting them and reminiscing about the party I held last weekend, which they attended. Because of some gifts I brought them on behalf of another friend, they gave me this little handmade gift to give to my friend's wife. She's a music teacher and in fact, just purchased some xylophones for her classes. She will be very touched.



No real moral here other than for all of us to ignore the selfish, greedy, rude folks we encounter every day and instead focus our hearts & minds on the great ones we encounter perhaps a bit less frequently.