In the beginning I was very annoyed about my duties at the Ronald McDonald House of Lexington. I pretty much would just come in and clean for them. After further research (of the Louisville house because the Lexington branch did not have much published) I learned how much they rely on their volunteers. RMDH has a way lower percentage of overhead costs compared to a lot of the charities I have looked into. Meaning that, they don't pay their workers or executives very much. The workers at the house and lexington are pretty much all volunteers, minus the 3 managers who actually make a small hourly wage. With very limited resources they need volunteers like me to come and do the work they aren't staffed to do. I still don't enjoy washing bed sheets that people have slept in and cleaning the downstairs bathroom, but they need someone to do it or else the house wouldn't be able to function as well.
The second time I volunteered, there were slightly more exciting things that needed to be done. The group that came to cook didn't have all their people show up, so I got to help in the kitchen, which was kind of fun. Also, a bakery in downtown Lexington came and dropped off 300 doughnuts so I had to bag all of those (and take some home). RMDH is an awesome charity and does so much for their families, they're just not staffed the way they should be. And even though I don't have the most fun volunteering, they very much value my time and commitment.
Molly,
ReplyDeleteIt kinda stinks that you didn't get to do more, but awesome luck with the doughnuts. I definitely had a similar experience with my organization and not having much to do, but its great that you did some research into why it worked out that way. About how many volunteers tend to work there?
I think this is a great thing to uncover and learn about with the Ronald McDonald house. The economics of charities is a really interesting topic these days, as there is so much variation amongst them. Some charities really do a great job managing resources, using most or all of them towards the cause. This is in stark contrast to other charities who use a significant portion of their funds to market themselves and run advertisements. In extreme cases, this even gets to be more than 90% of expenditures *cough* Susan G Komen *cough*. Regardless, it sounds like you've gained the insight to be a really passionate volunteer, which is always great to see.
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