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Time, time, time, see what's become of me...

For those of you who recognize those words as the opening lyrics to the 1966 song Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon and Garfunkel and then again in 1987 by The Bangles, you'll know that the very next line is:

While I looked around for my possibilities

Yesterday I established, pretty firmly, that we have a need for volunteers in our community but were struggling to find people to help out. Some of you today are looking around for your own possibilities to volunteer but finding the time is your biggest challenge. I'm here to tell you that it's important to remember that every contribution counts, no matter how small.


Let's do the math: if 10 people each gave 30 minutes of their time, even one time per year, that's 5 hours of volunteer effort. A little goes a long way!

Volunteering for your HOA can be a rewarding experience that allows you to give back to your community while also meeting new people. Think of it like building a puzzle. Each person's effort is like a puzzle piece that fits together with others to create a beautiful picture. Whether you have a lot of time to give or just a little, you can play a contributing part in building a strong and vibrant community.


For example, if you have a green thumb, consider volunteering for landscaping tasks such as planting, pruning, and brush clearing. You can also share your design skills to help beautify your neighborhood. Even just giving an hour or two of your time, spread out over a longer period can make a significant difference.


Events are another area where volunteers can make a big impact. Whether it's planning, preparing, decorating, or simply turning up afterwards to help with cleaning up, there are always plenty of tasks to be done. Volunteering for events is also a great way to meet new people and build community spirit.


Elections are only held once a year, but they are a critical part of HOA governance. Volunteering to help with canvassing, collecting, sorting, opening envelopes, and counting votes is an important way to ensure a fair and democratic process. This is also a great opportunity to meet your neighbors and strengthen community bonds.


The social committee is another area where volunteers can make a big difference. From organizing events to managing finances, there are always tasks to be done. Even just taking and organizing minutes can be a big help. You can also share your expertise in areas like accounting, marketing, or design to help improve the community.


Finally, there are plenty of small tasks that can make a big difference. Delivering a physical newsletter or checking in on homebound residents can brighten someone's day and help them feel connected to their community and these are just two - there's so much more we can do.


Not everything needs to take hours. Not everything has a regular, repeatable schedule. If we knew, who and how many, at what times, for a variety of different tasks throughout the calendar year, we could plan a schedule (or the one-off's) that works to benefit everybody.


Maybe your possibility is that you can find some time to share; to help, to meet new people, to get involved. The possibility is that you come out of the experience with new friends, new skills, greater confidence and happy.


By working together, we can create a strong and vibrant community that we can all be proud to call home. So, whether you have a lot of time to give or just a little, consider volunteering for your HOA today!


Here's what I'm thinking: If you would be willing to possibly volunteer, give us your name and your email address. As volunteer opportunities arise anywhere throughout the neighborhood, we'll send an email letting you know the open tasks, dates, expected durations and as much other information as we can, and you choose, which tasks based on your skills and availability, task duration and so on. Does that seem like a reasonable enough request? Have we both found our possibilities? I hope so.



LAST MINUTE UPDATE: By the way, the thing I was trying to articulate above, already has a name. I should have known. It's called Micro-Volunteering and there's a whole movement and possibly even scheduling tools that can help us, so I'm off to check them out.

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