Reply to Did Covid disrupt the parent volunteer pipeline

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Covid exposed even more inequity but also slowed it all down and allowed people to focus inward and not on their community. I see this in the PTA. We have 40-50 parents who volunteer out of a school of 400 families and most of these parents can just put their kid into a paid activity or go to a fun paid festival on weekends instead of setting up for a festival on school grounds. Free to all students and benefitting all the families that cant volunteer or financially contribute due to multiple jobs, many kids etc. We are all burned out now but not many new families are stepping up.[/quote]

Can you really blame those people for not wanting to burn themselves out for others who can’t or won’t pitch but want to enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labor?[b] People felt taken advantage of in these largely thankless roles. T[/b]here wasn’t much upside for people who would like to enjoy their weekends with their families too.[/quote]

And I'd add, unoften unnecessary roles too that feel made up at times. if a volunteer wants to tell the community that we "need" to have this fesitval and is going to run it, that's fine, but don't asume we all agree with "need"[/quote]

Exactly. And there seems to be an attitude in here that some people owe it to others to put on an event because other kids “need” it. The other parents don’t have any skin in the game but are able to show up for 2 hours to have fun with their own families and for this reason, other people need to donate large amounts of their own personal time and often money to make this happen. Why exactly? I’d like to enjoy the events with my family too, but I’m often working. If another parent can show up for 2 hours then they too can help out for an hour to make it a success. Otherwise, what’s the point? Does anyone really need this fall festival, spring fling, fun fest, put on by a small amount of volunteers who feel put upon and not appreciated? Hardly anyone ever says “thanks!” There’s usually just input about how it could have been better or what was lacking.[/quote]

Based on many posts it seems like people would rather pay for enrichment than volunteer themselves. I'd argue that's incredibly sad, because it limits their circle and their kids' circles to other people who can also pay for that specific type of enrichment. It reduces the feeling of "we're community because we all live here/go to this school/are part of this local youth club" that comes from volunteer run organizations. It means fewer of the all important [url=https://optimumjoy.com/blog/the-benefits-of-weak-ties/]weak ties[/url] people need. But all everyone sees is the hour taken to put on the Fun Fest.

Obviously sometimes Pinterest Parents go overboard with tiny details - my kid really doesn't care if the donut holes for the winter class party look like snowmen or not but I know the picture looked cute on your Instagram. But the broad fact of these events really is important. We have to fight against the loneliness epidemic somehow, and I'd argue these free labor driven volunteering events are one way people can do it. Meet other people you wouldn't normally hang out with, provide something for your community, get a sense of a job well done (yeah, even if the freeloading parents are annoying complainers), give your kids another chance to see that kid from class that just maybe they might be friends with. [/quote]

But if you’ve ever organized the Fun Fest you see the dark side of how many hours it takes to pull off vs the enjoyment given. The same people doing the set up, running the show, are also the people doing the clean up. Not to mention the hours involved in planning, securing vendors, getting the decorations, organizing food, etc. Just so other people can swoop in for an hour or two and “feel like a community”. To the people putting on the show it’s a pretty poor return on investment. Their weekends are precious too and these types of things no longer feel worth it. There’s not really a sense of “we’re all in this together” when such a small number of people do the heavy lifting.[/quote]

But do you hear what some of us are saying? We will come out of respect (and yes, because it's fun) but we don't necessarily think its' worth your time, either -- but you seem to. This whole martyr, "it takes a village and our KIDS NEED THIS" -- many of us don't agree with the latter in caps[/quote]

I absolutely don’t think our kids NEED this which is why I won’t do it anymore. Someone else above is arguing what a travesty it is that people only want to do pay to play activities and that leaves out other kids from the former community events OTHER parents put in the blood, sweat, and tears to pull off. No, I don’t think those kids or any of them need these community events.

Specifically I’m talking about this PP: “ Based on many posts it seems like people would rather pay for enrichment than volunteer themselves. I'd argue that's incredibly sad, because it limits their circle and their kids' circles to other people who can also pay for that specific type of enrichment. It reduces the feeling of "we're community”

I don’t think other families owe those kids events or need to martyr themselves to pull off for sake of community when people like you say “we’ll come out of respect” which goes to show how little most people value these events.[/quote]

I don't think that poster thinking it's sad implies she's a martyr or demanding other people to be martyrs. She's just pointing out that these events offer something she values, which is being around all kinds of people, providing events for kids whose parents maybe otherwise don't have the capacity to be involved, and creating more weak ties, which may be lost if fewer people volunteer.

It seems like she thinks those benefits to her family and community outweigh the costs to her, such as hard work, people complaining, people not appreciating the events, etc. Her post was good food for thought.[/quote]

Then that is the perfect person to step up to be the committee chairperson to take on the planning or some type of leadership role to make it happen. I didn’t get the sense she was putting in the work.[/quote]

Discussed poster here. While I haven't run Fun Fair (or whatever your school calls it) specifically I have done equally demanding things - and I say that based on discussions with my friends who [b]have[/b] run Fun Fair who have come to complain about the gathering of sponsors, the finding of vendors, and all the other pain that goes into planning. Definitely done other big committee chairperson roles. Otherwise yes, I'd be an utter hypocrite. And FWIW everyone I know who has done those big events always says afterward it was worth it for our specific community. Everyone. I've never heard anyone say they thought the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.[/quote]

If this is all running smoothly at your school and everyone volunteers and enjoys it, what’s the issue? If you’re not experiencing the burnout and lack of volunteerism then not sure what’s going on.[/quote]

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