I have been volunteering at a local organization which provides services to low income and homeless families across the valley. Throughout the past couple months, I have worked in several different areas of service and have observed both positive and negative aspects of the organization. The organization runs on minimal and ever-shrinking government funding, donations from the community, a small staff, and volunteer work. Because the organization gets most of its funds from the contributions of community members, the amount of money it has to work with is inconsistent from year to year.

The staff and volunteers must deal with the unpredictability of low funds and whatever donations happen come their way each day. This uncertainty and instability creates a chaotic environment at times. If one of the fourteen permanent staff members is gone, another staff member may have to juggle two different jobs that day. The association does a relatively good job at maintaining order and organization despite these complications. The staff is flexible and is able to work in any section of the facility. Almost every person involved works hard to help each individual who seeks services. The organization’s infrastructure allows for the staff to bend the rules at times in order to provide the best service possible for each client. If the organization is not able to provide services to a person who is seeking its help, the staff members make sure to refer the person to another place that may be able to help. They do the best they can with what they have.

The organization was founded (over a hundred years ago) with the concept of helping the “worthy poor” and some traces of this idea can still be observed in the intentions of the association today. The association provides free educational programs for individuals including basic life skills, parenting classes, money management, employment readiness, computer classes, counseling, and anger management. Providing these types of classes indicates that the clients need to be “fixed” in a sense. Though it does focus somewhat on fixing the problems of the individual, this organization clearly recognizes that homelessness is structural problem. In fact, one of the brochures about the organization describes the causes of family homelessness as “the combined effects of lack of affordable housing, extreme poverty, decreasing government supports, changing demographics of the family, the challenges of raising children alone, domestic violence, and fractured social supports.” The fact that the organization even acknowledges that homelessness is a structural problem sets it apart from other agencies of its kind.

In my time at this agency, I feel that I have not been as helpful as I have the potential to be. I believe this is because, when a volunteer becomes involved in the organization, they are asked which area(s) they would most prefer to work in but are not asked specifically what skills they can contribute to the organization. I am sure that many of the regular volunteers who have worked at the agency for an extended period of time have found their niche in the organization, but the temporary volunteers, who only work for a few months and then leave, do not make as much of an impact as they have the potential to make. I talked to one of the staff members and he said that one of the hardest issues that the organization faces is the fact that many of the volunteers it receives only work during the school year (September through May) because of affiliations with high schools and the university. This leads to very sparse pools of volunteers during the summer months, which is problematic for the organization. It makes do with what it receives, but it cannot help clients as thoroughly as it would like when there is not an adequate supply of volunteers.