Hello members! As Treasurer my articles are usually centered around our finances, but today I want to hop on my soapbox and talk to you about volunteering and how it relates to our bottom line. Did you know ASH receives a good portion of our operating budget from donations received from our volunteer activities? This revenue is used to keep the lights on in the clubhouse and pay for building maintenance/repair, cover the costs of event like Springfest, Octoberfest, & our Holiday Party, and also provide the for the club equipment and gear that we loan and provide to members. As an all-volunteer club, it is imperative that we ALL do our part to ensure the club needs are met. The club does not function if we don’t have people volunteer for tasks such as representing the board or committee, speaking or brewing a calibration beer for a general meeting, taking a shift at a club event or festival, or judging/stewarding our BJCP competitions.
With 400+ members in the club, if everyone just gave 5 hours per YEAR, that would give the club 2000 volunteer hours per year (more than 83 days worth) which would more that cover our needs and we would never need to send out volunteer call to action as we would already have the people needed to do the work. I know it seems like an easily attainable number, however we consistently fall short and what usually ends up happening is the same 30 volunteers step-up and do 90% of the work. Hence the reason why you see these same people recognized at our annual holiday party and also selected to participate in activities like brewing with OHSO or hand-picked to judge/steward at commercial events.
Our Mission Statement includes recognizing homebrewing as a true art form through “information, education, and dedicated practice” and while that seems very easy as the majority of us have the commonality that is homebrewing, we also need to be ready to educate those who are not as like-minded but willing to listen. This is why volunteering for events and festivals are so important to our Mission as it gives us the platform to speak about our craft and in order to have that platform, we need to be willing to do the behind the secnes work that affords us that platform.
Think about it, 5 hours of volunteer time, or the equivalent of watching 2 feature films, is all your club is asking…have you given back to YOUR club yet?