Lydia Likes It

The volunteering life {how to find your gigs}

If you're looking for love, you can log on to any of a number of apps (among them Tinder, OKCupid, Her, Match.com -- there's even one called Coffee Meets Bagel) and swipe your way to a first date.

If you're looking for a project, a program, or an event that could use a little bit of your volunteer time, Volunteer Match is the site for you. Want to help a charity at a Springsteen concert? Teach a child to read? Prep meals for homebound seniors? Whether you have a couple of hours, or a couple of hours each week or each month, Volunteer Match has options for you.

Get started by signing up for their listings email. When you receive it, you can select your areas of interest. I always check Education and Literacy, and Immigrants and Refugees, and sometimes Community or Seniors; they have listings for Arts, Animals, Human Rights, Technology, Health, Women, Veterans and more. Review the list of current opportunities, and if anything floats your boat, the site will send a notice of your interest to the organization. I usually hear back from the contact person within a day or two, and can continue the conversation from there.

Some of the things I've done through Volunteer Match were one time only, like the day last June when my husband Ted and I, and our friend Linda, signed up to help with a Boston history event for school kids on Boston Common. Organized by the Friends of the Public Garden, Making History on the Common invited 700 Boston public school students in grades 3-5 to learn about Boston history in the first public park in the US. Ted and I were assigned to the oh-so-popular snack tent; Linda went to the equally popular public protests tent. We spent a morning being part of this fun and well-run annual event, and I'll definitely sign up again next year.

I've also found one-off volunteer gigs with Cradles to Crayons and Room to Grow. One year, for Martin Luther King Day, Ted and I signed up for a morning of assembling math and science kits for public school students. And I connected through Volunteer Match with my first ESOL opportunity with Jewish Vocational Services, which turned into a longterm commitment that I love.

Why not give Volunteer Match a try for your own area? Start by entering your city on the home page, and see what's there for you.

Next Spring, Ted and I might sign up to help on Duckling Day (pictured above). Want to join us?

The volunteering life {one on one}

Right at the moment, I'm enjoying a summer break from my regular ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) volunteer gigs. I'm nearly finished with a new edition of There's a what in my where?, a book I wrote in 2022, and the postcard group is working away on important campaigns all around the country. However, working with English learners fills my heart with a special joy, and has become a bedrock of my volunteering life.

Most of my work continues to be on Zoom, but there were occasional in-person class meetings last term, and everyone -- teachers and students -- enjoyed those quite a bit. (There might have been some fun snacks involved as well -- a different kind of cultural exchange. Peeps. Spicy Chinese sticky sticks. Candy corn. There were even home-baked cookies.) After meeting in person, four of the students got together for some pickleball! Others went out for a drink after classes. What great ways to practice their English.

Though I prefer the interchange of group classes, last week two opportunities to work one-on-one came my way. 

I received a WhatsApp message from a former student, a doctor who I met in one of the high-level hospital classes, asking if I would practice conversational English with him for an hour a week. He's no longer in the US, having returned to his home country a couple of months ago. I thought about it for, well, almost a minute before I wrote back yes, of course, I'd be happy to help. What will we talk about? Anything and everything, I imagine. Travel, politics, work, music, food, what's new in Boston since he left, what's happening in his home country. The weather. The usual things.

Earlier in the week I'd met with the ESOL manager from the International Institute of New England, the first agency I worked with when I began my journey into this type of volunteering in 2017. One area where they need help is job readiness: working with students in their refugee program (right now, mostly from Afghanistan, Haiti and Ukraine) to practice for job interviews, create resumes, and fill out job applications. I would be an on-call person, to either meet with a student in person (my preference if we're practicing for interviews), or have a Zoom session. 

Both IINE and Jewish Vocational Services, through which I do the upper level hospital classes, need classroom volunteers at the beginner levels, but honestly, after five years of doing that work, I'm a bit burned out and taking a breather. I'm sure I'll go back to it at some point. For now, though, I like the idea of doing some one-on-one work this summer, and going back to the classroom in the higher level classes next Fall.

The volunteering life {when it rains...}

After a month of not working in any ESOL classes, with no Spring classes on my calendar, I had a mild case of antsy-pants. I figured it was time to gently knock on some doors and see who might want some of my volunteer time. My criteria? Must be working with adults. Must be working with a teacher who is a good communicator and has clear goals. Must be walking distance from my apartment, if the class meets in person. 

I sent notes to two Chinatown agencies, the Boston Public Library, and two agencies with workforce-focused programs where I've volunteered before. And within a couple of days, I'd heard from both of the workforce agencies. Jewish Vocational Services (JVS), where I've been working for five years, offered two different classes serving international research fellows at Mass General Hospital. A new volunteer manager at the International Institute of New England invited me to meet and talk about ESOL opportunities in the more elementary classes there.

JVS offered me a place in an accent reduction class I've done before, with a teacher who's new to me and new to teaching this class. There are two cohorts, both meeting in the afternoon, and I signed on to do both. And then, just a few hours after I agreed to that, the teacher I've been working with for the past year and a half invited me to join her in a higher level class than the one we've been doing previously. I couldn't turn down the opportunity to work with her, and to learn what the higher level class is all about.

So bingo bongo, just like that, I'm doing three classes this Spring! Two afternoons and one early evening, each week. The accent reduction classes meet on Zoom, and for the higher level class, three of twelve sessions will be in person. I've told the International Institute that I'll be available in June or July, which gives us plenty of time to sort out what I might want to do in their refugee and immigrant program.

The volunteering life {in-between times}

For the first time in six years, except for the months when I had to take some time off in early 2020, I found myself between ESOL classes in February and March. I've been volunteering as a teaching assistant in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes at several levels, in-person and on Zoom, with the very beginners in programs for refugees -- learning the alphabet, how to write their names, how to tell time -- up to MD/PhD international research fellows at local hospitals, who need more practice with spoken English in professional and social settings.

The only thing these classes have had in common -- other than highly motivated students -- is that, for the past few years, they've both met on Tuesday, one in the morning, the other in the evening. 

The class for the hospital researchers ended in January, and the next session hadn't been scheduled yet. And I'd decided at the end of last year to leave the beginner class, and focus on finding an opportunity to lead a conversation group for beginner or advanced beginner English learners. (If you've read my book, The Galactic Frying Pan, you'll understand my decision.)

So, after a month of waiting, earlier this month I spent a few days putting out feelers with several agencies -- including one I worked with for a few years pre-pandemic -- and as a result, several opportunities have come through. Spring looks to be very busy! The moral of this story is Don't be afraid to ask for what you want.

In the meantime, I'm working with the postcard group and the new Chinatown advocacy project, and another book idea is percolating. Stay tuned for updates.

The volunteering life {something old and new}

For the first few years after retirement, my husband Ted spent most of his time volunteering in the bicycling community with a nonprofit organization called Bikes Not Bombs. BnB concentrated on two areas: bike programs for Boston youth; and international donation of used bikes and bike parts to countries in Central America and Africa.

With a change in leadership, BnB began to prioritize local activities over international projects, and Ted's interest waned. A serious bicycle accident forced him to take time off, and to think about what might come next for him.

For many years, Ted had been a member of The Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest libraries in the United States, founded in 1807. Currently located on Beacon Hill, a short walk from our apartment, the Athenaeum houses a collection of more than half a million books (from the 1800s to contemporary publications), plus art, photography, rare books and special collections (Audubon prints, artist books and more). There's a children's library, reading rooms, and a full program of gallery talks by artists and authors.

And there are tours, open to the public. Art and architecture tours, and special-interest tours, attract visitors from all around the world. The tours are led by docents, well-trained guides who introduce visitors to the history and resources of this 200-year-old library. Last year Ted, a frequent library user and long-time member, was invited to become a docent.

After more than 30 hours of classes and training, Ted had to pass two tests in order to earn his docent name tag. One was a general art and architecture tour for some of the library staff, and the other was a short, in-depth talk about any one piece of art or sculpture of his choosing. Now he gives a couple of tours each month. The Athenaeum recently expanded into an adjacent building, so there has been additional training and exploration to adapt the art and architecture tour to the new space. 

Now that he's a docent, Ted has become interested in visiting other libraries and museums, and taking docent tours whenever available. Some docents are great storytellers. Some are terrible at sticking to a narrative. Some read notes from a tablet. Every docent is different, and Ted learns something from each of them.

Old library, new opportunity. It all happened at just the right time, and Ted -- a history major and trivia buff -- has settled into a great new volunteering life.