A volunteer is valuable no matter how many hours you donate. Sometimes the most important jobs are the smallest or the ones that can be done at home late at night.
I am "at Home" and realize that many people at our school have "dual jobs...home/outside the home". I value those volunteers even more because they are giving up the few precious free minutes they may have to help with a project.
I actually have a problem with other "at home" moms who do no volunteering, but feel free to complain or comment on the jobs the rest of us do! Believe it or not, my kindergartener's class could not find a homeroom mom this year, so two of us who already put in hundreds of hours at the school have picked up the slack! And most of these mothers are home all day!
Your child is lucky to have a parent who wants to be involved!
Well, I will echo everyone one and say any help is better than nothing. Just think, the time you are able to help out just might save a president or other from going over the edge. There are times when I say I just can't do it anymore and i look up and hear comes the occational volunteer through the door to help out for awhile and that allows everyone to get through the year. We ask that everyone try to help with even one event if they can and it help the entirePTO. Keep it up and thank you.
All levels of volunteering help tremendously. I find that in my PTO there is a small number of regulars (with a high burn-out factor), but an enormous number of occasional volunteers. Just remember that it is better to not commit but show up anyway than to commit and NOT show up! Keep up your level of volunteering that fits in with your schedule. Sometimes just being there with a checkbook at a fundraiser is a mighty effort and a big help!
I completely value part-time volunteers. You are the one's we can call for that extra help on a big project. And you usually don't have to go through the burn-out phase. So you are always enthusiastic.
I find out who these people are from the get go. Then I know who to call and when. I also get to know these people and their schedule, that way I know when they may be available.
You are absolutely right- we do not have any idea of the other demands in people's lives. But, I applaud you for your interest and desire to be involved. I would contact any of the chairpeople of certain events that interest you at your school and offer to help in small doses- as your schedule permits. The actual coordinator of an event will have a good idea how to break their event into smaller pieces for you to lend a hand. And be honest with them... I would rather have someone tell me their limitations (time, driving, don't like to be out at night) than not know and put us all in a position of mixed expectations. I wish you the best!
I can understand your frustration if people are making excuses not to be involved. I would be ashamed to use working as an excuse not to be involved in my child's education, and I hope most other parents feel that way. But you can't know how demanding another person's work is. And you never know what else is going on in their lives. We are in the middle of a custody case, my husband just had major back surgery and has been off work for eight months, I'm trying to freelance to keep up with the bills in additon to working full time in a job that takes me out of town several times a year, and I'm helping my mom take care of my elderly grandmother. Do I have time to organize a book fair? As much as I would like to, I hope you can see that I honestly don't. That's why I originally asked in this thread about how PTO organizers who do have the time feel about occasional volunteering--against all odds, and in spite of the fact that some parents honestly don't know how they're going to find the time. Maybe what I'm saying is that I want to help so badly it hurts. To the PTO folks at my daughters school, I want to say, "Please help me find a way--even if it's just occassionally for a short amount of time."
