I Organized a Volunteer Project for Co-Workers

Last year, a friend gave me a mug that says, “Stop me before I volunteer again.” It’s too late though—I’m hooked. Since I was a child, community service has been a passion. I’ve collected toys, planned programs for a media organization, taken care of children with HIV, made sandwiches for homeless people, donated old coats and blankets to shelters, taken homeless children to the movies. You name it, I’ve either done it or organized others to do it.

So it isn’t really surprising that I got my office involved in volunteering. While working for a weekly newspaper in Atlanta in the mid-1990s, I was searching for a new experience with children. I found the local Ronald McDonald House, an organization that houses families of patients being treated at children’s hospitals. I began spending a few hours one evening a week there. Each night, area churches, groups of friends, companies and other caring souls donated dinners to the residents. We in-house volunteers would serve and often eat with the residents. The dinner volunteers enjoyed bringing the meals and knowing their food brought comfort. While speaking about it with a friend at work, I decided my officemates would enjoy the opportunity to help too.

Organizing coworkers can be like herding cats. Everyone is going in different directions. People figure they spend enough time with each other during the day and just want to get home, for goodness’ sakes. But volunteering with your coworkers can boost office morale and make you all feel better about working together.

Here’s what I did: I arranged with my boss to get a minute to speak about the Ronald McDonald House during a regular monthly office meeting. I passed around a sign-up sheet and encouraged coworkers to get their significant others and friends to help too. Lo and behold, they were enthusiastic. Soon my company was on the house calendar the last Wednesday of every month. I assigned people different tasks (“Fran, you brought dessert last time so this time you get the main course.”), and each person was responsible for dropping off his or her dish. Often, we stayed and ate with residents, which was encouraged.