From Sandy Vivian: Every job has its quirks and fits and starts with good and not so good days, but in this new job as Outreach Coordinator, I get lots of perks.
And those perks, quite simply, are the people. Truly. Really. It kind of astounds me.
I was sitting in Starbucks the other night with a volunteer who is a single mother with a demanding full time corporate job…and here she is committing to spend some of her “spare time” to help us get our database up and running. She was so earnest about pitching in, that, in the middle of the conversation, she touched me so that my eyes welled up. Trying to recover quickly, so hopefully she wouldn’t think I’m some kind of nut(!)…I couldn’t help but marvel at her willingness to do more than she already does.
I spent several years before coming to After the Harvest caring for my elderly mother and so my world became pretty small. Now, my world is much bigger and filling quickly with caring people who volunteer to pick beans and who volunteer to build databases-all with the same goal in mind.
This is the e-mail that I received after the Starbucks meeting: “It was so great to meet with you yesterday! I am really excited about your organization and the prospect of helping you focus less on the mountainous task of building out your (database) and more on connecting donors, volunteers, pantries and the families who need good, healthy food!”
Like I said—astounding!
