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Many hands make light work
Did you ever think to yourself how much more you could accomplish in your day if you just had another pair of hands? Did you ever undertake a task knowing at the outset that it would go faster and better if you just had a little help? If so, you have some idea how many of our volunteer organizations in Uxbridge Township feel. Too many of them have been struggling along for years with the same small core group of people shouldering the bulk of the work. We do mean work, whether it be organizing events or meetings, fund-raising, keeping records or the myriad other activities that are necessary for a volunteer organization to remain in existence.
To be sure, those who undertake these tasks enjoy what they are doing and find a great deal of pleasure in belonging to whatever group they have aligned themselves with. Nevertheless, at some point, it's nice to take a break now and then, even from something one enjoys. Someone who looks forward to a leisurely nine holes of golf might not find the prospect of 36 holes quite as tempting.
However, for a good number of the township's volunteers, 36 holes is what they have been facing for years. A good example is the Uxbridge Historical Society, the folks who bring you, among other things, the annual Heritage Days festival at the museum grounds. For a long time, it has been the same few who have dedicated themselves to preserving and promoting our local heritage. Just recently, a number of these good people, almost all of them seniors, decided they had to step down: they were just becoming burned out. The Optimist Club of Uxbridge chugged along for years with a membership so low they didn't even bother meeting in someone's living room: the kitchen table did just fine. But they hung in and luckily their numbers have since increased considerably.
The Lucy Maud Montgomery Society consists almost entirely of senior women who, over the past few years, have worked so diligently that the Leaskdale manse now looks the way it did when the author lived there and they now own the old Leaskdale Presbyterian church, thanks to their innovative fund-raising - and a lot of hard work. There are, of course, many other service clubs and community organizations which we don't have room to mention here, but we can almost guarantee they could all use new members, new volunteers. Not because they don't have the enthusiasm anymore, but because many of them are, as the saying goes, getting on in years. The prime example of this are the wonderful men and women - mostly women - of the Cottage Hospital Auxiliary. The next time you buy a tag from one of these good people, take a close look at their age and ask yourself if it is right that someone of advanced age should be standing outside a bank or store for two hours at a stretch, no matter what the cause.
If there is one thing all of the volunteer organizations in the township share in common, it is this: they are working for the good of the community, the community that you call home. And there is that word again: "working". Yes, they enjoy what they do and they revel in the friendships and companionship they find in engaging with like-minded people. But when the workload becomes onerous, some of the joy is lost. We are sure not one of these organizations would try to use guilt as a strategy to draw in new members. But we at the Cosmos have no such compunction. So here is the guilt trip.
How would your children participate in organized sports if not for the countless volunteers who run practices, set up schedules, arrange venues and the like? Would your walks along the trail system be as enjoyable if not for the work of volunteers who keep them well marked and cleared of obstacles? Would our local hospital be the little gem it is if not for the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised by the Auxiliary? What would you do without the Santa Claus parade, Huck Finn Day, the Duck Derby, the Fall Fair, the Highlands of Durham Games and on and on? All require volunteers.
As a final thought, if you have ever attended graduation ceremonies at Uxbridge Secondary School, you will have noticed the large number of scholarships that are handed out to students by our service clubs and community organizations.
Surely some of you (most of you?) have a couple of hours to spare each month to make the workload easier. If you do, you will find some group who not only could use your help but whose activities fit in with your own interests. Joining a group will gain you three things: new friendships, self-esteem and the gratitude of a community. And if you decide to join any of the varied organizations out there, please tell them the Cosmos sent you.
July 14, 2011
