And Margaret got Involvement with a capital I! Margaret
has led a remarkable range of projects for L.A. Works
including Activities with Children and Teens at Alegria, Angels
Flight, Shelter First and Grammercy Place. She's
led Activities with Seniors including Alliance Nursing
Center and Culver Assisted Living. She's even
led Animal Interaction with Friends of Animals. We
asked her why she leads such a range of projects:
"The
activities with children and seniors has been especially
challenging and rewarding. It’s
challenging to deal directly with people whom you’ve
never met and to come up with an activity or craft
that will help with the interaction. When the
activity goes smoothly and people have fun then it’s
always a very satisfying experience. It’s
similar to a theatre experience where a play has a
beginning, a middle and an end, and people gather to
participate in the experience.
I lead
a lot of different projects because I have many interests. I’m
interested in various charitable organizations and
what they do and how they do it. I also choose
different projects because I want to work with a
particular segment of the population such as kids
and seniors. Sometimes I don’t
want to have that much human interaction so I’ll
volunteer for the animal projects or the home improvement
and gardening projects. I didn’t lead an
Alexendria House project but I volunteered and got
enormous satisfaction from organizing their storage
rooms. Occasionally I’ll lead a project
that isn’t being picked because I’m curious
as to why it’s being overlooked – those
are usually very satisfying experiences."
Volunteers
like Margaret are the life blood of an organization
like L.A. Works. We asked her what she gets from
the 'volunteer experience'.
"I
believe we get many benefits from being citizens
of the most powerful democracy in the world and
we owe it to the universe to give something back
to the community even it it’s only for an
hour or two.
There
are a lot of really good organizations out there
that do tremendous community service. If anything,
it makes me feel that the world isn’t such a
harsh place and when lots of volunteers show up to
help it always gives me a feeling of hope. Volunteers
are “can do” people and it’s nice
to be around their energy. A person can’t
get too depressed when they experience these phenomena.
Volunteering
gives me self-confidence and helps me to focus on
my other goals. This is a bit of
a conundrum because I’m always rushed to come
up with an activity and I’m always wondering
how I’ll manage to get everything done but it
always works out and I have plenty of time to handle
my other responsibilities.
The
recipients seem to really appreciate our efforts
and I’ve learned that sometimes the kids
and seniors simply enjoy having someone pay attention
to them even if it’s only for an hour or
two. Many
of these recipients are amazingly hip or smart or humorous
and I always learn something from them. Plus,
I don’t have children and my parents have passed-away
so volunteering with children and seniors helps to
enrich my life."
Leading
the broad range of Projects that Margaret does takes
confidence and ingenuity. We asked her if she had
any tips for her fellow and future Project Leaders:
"Be
organized but flexible. I always do a lot
of pre-planning. I’ve learned to have a
Plan A and Plan B. Someone may not like the craft
I have planned so I’ll bring some coloring books. Having
a structured activity (however loose) is good because
it gives your volunteers a goal and time frame with
which to work.
Make
sure your volunteers have something to do even
if it means that you have to step aside from the
activity. There’s
nothing worse then having volunteers standing around
doing nothing. The volunteers that show up are “doers” and
they get discouraged if they don’t have anything
to do. I set-up everything, like the craft materials
and the instructions, and then let the volunteers execute
the activity.
Keep
in communication. E-mail your volunteers
beforehand with the general plan and then e-mail
a thank you note. I
give cross streets of the addresses and parking information
too. It’s helpful."
Each month we find ourselves in danger
of having to cancel a project due to the lack of a
leader -- and each month Margaret seems to step in
and try something new. Margaret is a wonderful example
of someone unafraid to step in, get involved, and make
a difference! Thanks Margaret, for your continued leadership
and can-do attitude!
Past
Project Leaders Recognition Pages
June, 2004 - Ellen Dugas
May, 2004 - Luis de Avila
April, 2004 - Mandana Dayani
Mar, 2004 - Cindy Finocchi
Feb, 2004 - Viet
Hoang
Jan, 2004 - Teresa
Castelli
Dec. 2003 - Mary Lawler
Nov. 2003 - Jose
Valencia
Oct, 2003 - Dustin
Manhart
Sept, 2003 - Marc Weinberg
Aug, 2003 - Mark
Kimura
July, 2003 - Jay
Ross
June, 2003 - Meghan
Lee
May, 2003 - Ray
Ng
April, 2003 - David
Trilling
March, 2003 -
Tom Hoctor
February, 2003 -
Kayo Shiraishi-Adachi
January, 2003 -
Henry Meyer
December, 2002 -
Suzanne Studer
November, 2002 - Ed Simon
October, 2002 - Bobbi Marin |
