Volunteering, Why Do It?

View last winter of our compost
pile and uncovered hoop house.

Do you volunteer in your community?  It seems more prevalent today that youth are encouraged to participate in area activities.  I grew up in Monkton, a small rural town.  The minute school was out for the day, I would take a short bus ride home or to the family apple orchard where I would help as needed.  At a very young age there was always a task that even a youngster could do, whether I handed out samples of cider, stood on a milk crate to help press apple cider and eventually I wielded a knife to cut up cheese for customers or I tended the cash register.  In quiet moments, I would do homework or that would wait until I got home during the evenings.  I never gave volunteering much thought, because I was pretty darn busy.


Donna and Muffin with
one of the attic treasures.
Pals that I volunteered
with in Middlebury.


My misconception of volunteering encompassed helping out at a nursing home or maybe a hospital.  We didn't have either one of those in Monkton, still don't.  When I was a teen I briefly helped  an ageing citizen that had cancer.  I would go to his house to do his laundry, feed his myriad of cats and I would clean and cook an evening meal for him.  This only lasted a brief amount of time as his illness took him rather quickly.  It was the closest I got to volunteering in my youth and it's foggy to me now whether or not there was money that exchanged hands. 

College quickly came and went and then I was working.  And how tortured I felt  when I realized I was expected to earn a suitable income to sustain myself.  It interfered with my going out to bars, socializing and with my overall youthful feeling of how superior I was.  Volunteering?  What was that? 

It's interesting how a little bit of age, multiple jobs and a few relationships later and BAM....you start to think about the greater good of others.  Volunteering, how can I do that?  My first accidental volunteering came at a church.  I'm not religious so it's strange that this is where my first taste of real volunteering came from.  Family members belonged to a church in Middlebury and the ladies fellowship needed an extra hand sorting out their white elephant room for a yearly fundraiser.  I can sort through junk, as long as you don't ask me to sort through my own.  This is something I could do. 

Happy customer at a one
day Monkton Farmer's
market that I organized.

The money raised from this gig, helped with programs that fed and sheltered those less fortunate.  For almost ten years I helped with this event.  It was a few days out of my life each year, where I could go and give my time to help others.  It didn't even feel like I was giving up anything.  It was fun to catch up with a group of people that I only saw once a year and I was working towards a greater good.  Wow, talk about make me feel good. 

One winter I was laid-off from my work for a brief stint and to fill in time a friend and I volunteered at the Middlebury Coop.  We chit chatted with others all the while filling bags with fruits, frozen veggies and candy like substances that are supposed to be good for you.  You get a small discount off your coop grocery bill for doing this.  It's a different kind of volunteering.  But I did meet some new folks.

As I've mentioned in past blogs I have a new goal of late to be more home-based.  I'm trying my hand at growing some of my own food and working part-time from home.  For too long I've hopped in a car and sped away from my house, to work outside my community.  It became disconcerting to learn that I didn't know who my neighbors were. I've lived in this town for almost my entire life.  My family moved to Monkton when I was about five, I'm going to turn forty-one soon.



Monkton Girlscouts serving chili at the
2011 Monkton Chili Cook-Off.

 Last winter a neighbor asked me to help her with a local event, a chili cook-off sponsored by the Monkton Community Coffeehouse, and I was hooked.  In Monkton there is a vibrant community.  There are a number of businesses too.  Yet, you wouldn't know this if you don't have kids in school or if you have spent your working life getting in a car to commute to a job outside of town.

I have joined the Monkton Community Coffeehouse in an effort to meet my neighbors and to show other Monkton residents and communities beyond Monkton  what a gem I'm discovering Monkton to be.  The goal of the Coffeehouse is:
"To Bring The Community Together with Entertainment, Artistic and Educational Endeavors"

To date I've helped with a Chili Cook-Off, a Town-Wide Yard Sale, A free concert called Picnic In The Park, a one day Farmer's Market, a Garlic Festival and a holiday decorating contest called Monkton Get Lit.  This has all been a lot of work on my part.  I've worked with some great people on these events.  I've met people I didn't know lived in Monkton.  I've had fun.  I can stand in a room filled with townspeople and put a name to a face now.  Wow.  Volunteering!

What have I learned about volunteering?  Everyone has a skill set that they can share.  Not every volunteer job will be a perfect fit.  Be open to new ideas and give working with others a chance.  There are times that it can be frustrating. Payoffs can be huge.  An example, I worked on the Monkton Garlic Festival this past September and I discovered new businesses and farms, I met my current yoga instructor too.  I got to work with and talk with my neighbors as we served as ambassadors for the town of Monkton while scooping out pie, home-made garlic ice cream and garlic soup.  What a unique experience.  People can be generous, the musicians that played for the Garlic Festival donated their time (Tyler Bolles, Jamie Masefield and Doug Perkins). 

I helped my partner, Rob with
publicity for the Bread Loaf
Section of the Green Mountain
Club for a brief stint. 



Volunteer!  You will meet new people, maybe stretch your comfort zone.  Learn to do activities you never knew you could do.  I never would have imagined that I could add to my skill set:   how to feed 125 people on a skimpy budget or no budget, put up an army tent or learn how to ask in a professional manner how to get others to care about my community!  Imagine what you could do.

-Kathy Boyer and her eight spoiled chickens at Chicken Hill

Ps.
If you are near Monkton on January 28th, don't forget to attend the Monkton Community Coffeehouse's Third Annual Chili Cook-Off!    Thirteen  area restaurants/businesses  are competing this year and we have many amateur entries too.  Great food and entertainment.  A culinary tour under one roof at the Monkton Central School, 5:30pm. 

Also, the Coffeehouse is co-sponsoring creating a town flag for the up-coming 250th town anniversary.  If you are a creative individual, pick up a flag kit at the Monkton Town Hall, Library, MCS or the Monkton General Store.  You can design the flag that best depicts what Monkton is. 

Subscribe to Monkton Talk an online email newsletter serving the town of Monkton because we don't have Front Porch Forum like other local communities.  Send an email to Pearse at monkton.talk@gmail.com and say, please add me to the email list!  Currently over 300 people subscribe. 

Embracing The Monster Within Us As A Peaceful Warrior

Nearing the top of Camel's Hump December 25, 2010

Each year, about the time that winter starts to settle in and my regular jobs wrap up for the year, I am at a loss for what to do next.  AND then I recognize all the minutia that still needs to be dealt with.   How many of us get sick of doing the same task over and over again?  Most days we do these things because they just need to happen.  Meal planning, dishes, laundry, fire stoking, bills.  Some of us might enjoy these task.  And maybe on an upbeat day they don't phase me.  However, when I'm dealing with less daylight and we haven't quite made the transition into a real winter and  the onslaught of holiday food has taken hold,  I struggle with the monsters within. 



Camel's Hump is where
 Rob and I chose to get
married!

 In an effort to combat these monsters I  make promises, set high goals and quickly hit a brick wall.  Happy New Year, right? 

This year as I try to make friends with the darker time of the year I am reflecting on my accomplishments and taking time to recognize my strengths. And one of my strengths is my love for exploring nature through hiking. 

My partner and I have a few traditions that we've worked into our lives, and one of those is hiking on major holidays.  Whenever possible Christmas and Thanksgiving is celebrated on a mountain.  When I first met my husband, through a friend, we took the short walk up nearby Mount Philo and got acquainted.  As we continued our courtship we explored local  hikes:  Snake Mt, Camel's Hump, Mt Mansfield and several other peaks in the Southern part of the state where Rob had been residing. Going on seven years together, a constant in our lives is our love for hiking. It's taken us to rainforest, tropical islands and into desserts. 

Joshua Tree in California

Hiking is a metaphor for life for me.  So many experiences found on the trail I can relate back to my day to day existence and it gives me renewed energy.  Recently, we spent New Year's Day hiking up to Battell Mt in The Breadloaf Wilderness Area. 

Rob and I hiked  Catalina Island off
the coast of California

Rob and I drove to the trail in Ripton and noticed we were getting a late start.  Our morning had been spent dealing with a sick chicken and that minutia I mentioned earlier.  Rob had added water to the hot tub so we could return home and enjoy a soak after a day of hiking.  We neared our destination and realized the trail guide neglected to tell us that the road leading up to our planned hike was closed after Dec. 15th.  We would have to walk an additional 1.1 miles to get to the trail head. No big deal, we were planning on getting some exercise.  I worried how much time this would add to our outing.  We were expected somewhere later in the day and there was the worry of  loss of  daylight. 

Hiking in Costa
Rica, 2007

We walked on a snowmobile path that was a bit icy for the first leg of our journey.  Me grumbling, because it was an undesirable surface to walk upon.  The views along the way were beautiful and out of a foggy day came some blue sky, sure to cheer even the most glum person.  The hike provided multiple surprises.  Our journey wound us over roads, through fields, over water ways and into mystical mountain areas filled with ancient looking trees draped with moss.  As we neared our destination the temperature dropped and we noticed entire sides of trees were coated with unusual snow formations.  Treading to higher elevations my mole skin clad heels started to beat out a more cheerful mood.  I felt lighter and stronger, and a little exhausted! 

When we reached the lodge it was covered in snow and looked inviting, we walked in and were suprised to see that someone had left two unopened cans of beer on the cabin's table.  They had froze and exploded leaving the scent of poor quality beer stench in the close quarters.  It upset me that someone that would take the time to hike to such a beautiful place would be so rude, neglectful.  I tried to puzzle it out in my mind.  Did they think that they were leaving a gift to the next person that happened upon them, unaware that they would freeze and be of no use to the next person?  Was it laziness?  Had they intended to come back for them? 




Climbing the last bit to the summit on the
island  of  Saba

  We traversed higher up to the mountain summit and were temporarily lost because the trail became unclear and no other footsteps had passed this way since the newly fallen snow.  And HELLO, white hash marks marking the trails during the white of winter?  With some hunting and circling about we found the look out that told us we'd reached yet another summit.  Briefly we enjoyed our accomplishment and the views.  The fog that we'd been hiking in cleared for a brief moment and we turned the way in which we'd come.  As we descended the multiple layers of our upward journey, we visited each place with a fresh outlook and with the satisfying feeling that comes when a goal is reached.  What might have been a struggle on our upward climb filled us with feelings of joy and accomplishment as we passed back by. 



Skyline Lodge at Skylight Pond in the
Bread Loaf Wilderness

 With yet another gorgeous day spent out side I was able to witness the warrior in me combatting my inner monster.  That warrior knows that life is filled with bumps in the road, unexpected turns and late starts and up hill climbs filled with both surprises and disappointments.  

Happy New Year!
-From Chicken Hill Gardens