Volunteer Work

I was walking around my town the other day and happened to pass by our little museum, which is being remodeled. The museum has photos and artifacts from way back when the town was founded, and the volunteers working on this project are old enough to look like they had lived through those times themselves. They seem to be the only ones that want these memories to live on. Right next to the museum is the town gym, with all the buff guys and gals in their spandex outfits and expensive sneakers, getting in and out of their SUVs with their water bottles, cell phones, and perfect bodies.. As I pass by the museum, I notice an old woman painting the interior of a window. She had paint all over herself, and I could see by the short and uneven brush strokes, that she hadn't done that much painting. So I went inside and introduced myself to "Marge", supervisor and coordinator of the museum remodeling project. You should have seen her face light up when I told her I was a painting contractor and would be willing to donate some time to help finish up the museum!! She ran to the back to show me the wallpaper samples she had picked, told me about the problems she was having with matching paint to the wallpaper, etc. I watched myself tell her how I could do that, help with the paper, knock out the ceilings, pick out colors for the trim.. and all for free!! Part of me was thinking, Diana, this is insane!! You don't have time for all this volunteer work right now!! But the other (and obviously stronger) part of me really wanted to help this woman and her committee realize their dream of making the museum beautiful. I gave her my phone number and she will call me as soon as the plaster cures in 6-8 weeks, which puts me at the end of May, beginning June, the busiest time for a painter. But you know what? I felt so totally happy when I walked out of that museum!! I do a lot of volunteer work in my town, especially in my kid's schools, where I have been working in the classrooms for the past 7 years, for 2 hours every week. I have a wonderful connection with the kids and I love when they (yes, even the 13 year olds) run up to me in the grocery store, or yell and wave when I drive by on the street. That makes it all worthwhile, nobody could put a price tag on that feeling!! I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to working with, and getting to know "Marge" and her crew of 70-something year old volunteers. I have worked for older people before, and always felt like I had to be extra careful, all those cliches about old people, they are cranky, picky, don't want to spend money..etc. I am 33 years old and haven't had all that much experience with the elderly, my grandparents are all dead and my parents are in their 50's, of the healthy, ever-so-fit Baby Boomer Generation. I have always felt awkward around old people. I have just finished reading the book, "Tuesdays with Morrie", (it's on the New York Times Best Seller List, a wonderful read which I strongly recommend to everyone!!) and it has totally changed the way I look at old people. "Tuesdays with Morrie" inspired me to stop and talk to Marge in the first place, to see her and her crew as people, just like me and you, only they have been here for a very long time. I can't wait to work with them side by side, extract stories from them, find out what they are about, what they've been through, what they've learned, and make friends with them. I think the fact that we will be working on a museum, a tribute to them, their parents and even their grandparents and great grandparents, will be the perfect setting for some great tales. So, I will be telling my customers, around the end of May, beginning of June, that I will be taking an afternoon off here and there, to go help with the museum. I'm even looking forward to doing that. Maybe I'll inspire someone else along the way to do something for the community, for the kids, for the elderly.. and you can't put a price tag on that either!!

Diana Schraner

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