Please look after your volunteers!

Yes, I know there is a "Volunteers Week" somewhere in the calendar of events. I know there are "volunteers" who get those gongs for "service to the community" and I know there are many people who put in more than ten hours a week "serving others". They usually get some sort of recognition.

There are also all those quiet volunteers who make things happen. They do the dirty jobs. They do the things nobody else is very keen to do. They work "behind the scenes". 

I am thinking of someone I was talking to yesterday. I innocently inquired about a group she belonged to and how it was going.

"I've left," she told me. It was said quietly and I was not sure I was properly hearing what she said to me. She had been there for years. I have talked to the group on two occasions and she was always the one busy in the kitchen, clearing up after the afternoon tea.

Recently she was in hospital for eight days. I went to visit her. (It took two trains in each direction.) When I got there she was out of bed and helping the person in the next bed with their afternoon tea. One of the staff told me, "She's lovely. It's been a real help to have her around."

Not one member of the group she has done so much for had even inquired as to how she was. Yes, they knew where she was because she was not able to get to the meeting. She had sent an apology when she left a message to tell them how to get the tablecloths and tea towels she had washed and ironed. 

I know this because I spoke to another member of the group last night. She was upset over the resignation and said how useful this person had been. 

"Did you ever tell her that?" I asked.

"No, but she knew how much we appreciated her," was the response.

Really? There are people in the group who have been given "life membership" for far less.  

The person doing the washing up and putting the rubbish out is every bit as important as the person running the meeting. Unless you say "thank you" they won't know you appreciate them.