You're very welcome. I've been in a couple situations very similar to yours. It's hard when you want to help and think you have some great ideas and you just get ignored. Makes you want to check to see if your mouthwash is working! Stay inspired-those kids are worth every second of your efforts!
Thanks for the quick reply. It sounds like you know exactly what I'm talking about. I appreciate the advice and will definitely use it! Yours also dlf! From bummed to inspired, many thanks!
Unfortunately I think this type of situation happens quite frequently. There are always those volunteers who seem to want it done "their way" and will do whatever they can to be in control. Excluding volunteers like that is a quick way to lose some potentially very valuable people. It can also give your group that dreaded "clique" reputation.
First of all, shame on the coordinator of the project for not reining in these two and making sure that meetings were at convenient times for everyone or at least varied(some during the day, some in the evening).
Next time you find a project you want to help with, look for a portion that you would like to do and let the coordinator of the project know that. Be assertive and say for example "I'd be happy to handle finding donors for the food. If you have names of specific businesses, I can take them now and get to work." Don't wait for someone to call you, you call them. Maybe even offer to be the project coordinator and then YOU can make sure that everyone who volunteers gets included.
Stay in there and keep volunteering. It's too bad this project didn't turn out the way you had hoped, but maybe a future project will be the fun and exciting volunteer opportunity you are looking for!
I'm bummed. I volunteered for a project at my childs school. The project had approximatley 6 volunteers. Unfortunatley it was dominated by 2 individuals (neither one the coordinator of the project). I said something in what I believed to be in a polite way but they felt they were doing the project for their child and it didn't matter if they made anyone mad in dominating the project. So since then I have not heard anything on the project which should be wrapping up. I was really excited to help out too! On top of that, the respect of other parents who volunteered and worked during the day were not respected. Meetings were scheduled and held when volunteers were known to be at work. I totally understand sometimes that needs to happen but all of them? I tried to arrange where I picked up the information afterwards but that didn't work at all. I don't want to ruffle any feathers or cause any problems but what do you do when you volunteer and they don't let you help out?
