Cohousing-L Mailing List: Volunteering for the Cohousing Association--it's doable, valuable and very much appreciated....

[Joani Blank (joani]

 A week ago, Melanie Mindlin wrote the email below to 
this list. I'm following up with my enthusiastic 
support for you to volunteer. I've been a volunteer 
with the Cohousing Association in various capacities 
for many years now My biggest volunteer jobs have been 
serving on the Board for 8 years, the Tours program for 
the Association, and serving as Conference Chair in 2006.

There are new volunteer opportunities that are almost 
this big, and perhaps one of those she mentioned has 
caught your attention, but there are also much less 
daunting tasks, so let me tell about some of those I've 
done and am doing; jobs that are much smaller, but that 
have been really fun and very rewarding.

For the last couple of years I've listened to and 
responded to (or forwarded to the right person) all the 
calls that come into the Coho/US voicemail. This job 
usually takes a total of 5 minutes or less (!) a week 
because most of the 3-5 messages a week I just forward 
(the voicemail messages come by email on Google Voice)  
But every three weeks or so, I get to have a fairly 
lengthy conversation with someone who is very eager to 
get more involved in cohousing, but who needs some 
customized help with next steps, or who needs some 
support finding what they need on our website.

Then, just this June, I got to do a variety of 
volunteer jobs at the conference (because I really like 
variety). Melanie is fun to work with and very 
supportive, and she will find a task for you that meets 
your talents and interests and that you can do in the 
time you have available to help.

Joani Blank
Swan's Market Cohousing
Oakland, CA
(I've lived in two cohousing communities for a total of 
18 years and have visited 55--not a typo--others in the 
US and Canada)

Please respond directly to Melanie (her address below 
with part of her original message) in case you missed it.
> Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:46:02 -0700
> From: Melanie Mindlin<sassetta [at] mind.net>
> Subject: [C-L]_ CohoUS has volunteer opportunities
>
> Greetings Cohousing Enthusiasts,
>
>         CohoUS depends on the enthusiastic support of our volunteers who donate 
> their time, expertise and creativity to promote the cohousing  movement, 
> support individuals and groups in creating communities, and  support existing 
> communities with networking and ongoing skills. Many readers of CohoL have 
> volunteered with CohoUS in the past, and  we are deeply grateful for all you 
> have done.
>         We are currently making an effort to find some volunteers to help us 
> with projects that are a high priority for CohoUS.  Please have a  look at 
> these volunteer opportunities and consider whether you might  be able to give a 
> little of your time to supporting the work of your national cohousing 
> organization.
> 2011 Conference Banquet and Auction Team

> We have many of the key people on board for the 2011 Conference Team  now, but 
> need to find a few folks to help with the Banquet and
> Auction that takes place each year at the conference.  The auction is
> very important to CohoUS as it provides a significant part of the
> annual funding for the organization.  We need help with finding items
> to auction and with planning and staging the event itself.
>
> Bus Tours assistants
>         The intrepid Neil Planchon, organizer of our bus tours throughout the 
> country, is seeking assistants in each region to help him set up  and provide 
> these fabulous tours.  You would help arrange visits with communities, prepare 
> materials, do advertising and promotion, and  assist during the tours 
> themselves.  There are opportunities for work  trade and learning to become a 
> tour leader yourself.  Assistants are  needed for tours in Seattle, Portland 
> (OR), Boulder, New England,  Chapel Hil and San Francisco.
>
> 2011 Conference Website Management
>         We are seeking someone to assist the manager of the 2011 conference  
> website.  This person should feel comfortable adding and changing  text and 
> have a knowledge of basic html.  You would not be
> responsible for writing the content or design of the pages.
>
>         If you are able to offer your help with any of these positions, or  if 
> you would like more information, please write back so we can  discuss this 
> further.  I hope to hear from you.
>
> Sincerely,
> Melanie Mindlin
> CohoUS Volunteer Coordinator