365 True Things: 360/Volunteering

I wrote a few months ago about volunteering. I think volunteering is a wonderful service to the community, plus it helps us stay involved in the community and with a whole array of people we wouldn't otherwise come in contact with.

Today I attended an orientation at the local Red Cross office, to learn about volunteering with that worthy organization. There are various opportunities—which I would gladly tell you about, but that would involve going online, and the Red Cross website appears to be down. So: no exhaustive treatise today!

Suffice to say, I signed up (potentially) for disaster relief, international services, and assisting members of the armed services. I did not sign up for blood drives or teaching first aid and CPR. I'd rather work with people in need directly.

I have a couple of friends who were deployed to Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and said the time spent helping out was tremendous. One of those friends was almost deployed to the Texas flooding this weekend, but he couldn't commit to two weeks. Now that I'm "retired" (or whatever I am), I can commit to going away for good chunks of time. Maybe I'll get to learn how to drive a forklift! Or at least get to give people some good hugs.

Next step: an interview with the volunteer coordinator, and then with the local head(s) of whatever division(s) I sign on with. Apparently there are some online courses I need to take. And so forth.

But I filled out some paperwork, so now I am on the road to becoming a Red Cross volunteer.