I respect and appreciate Laura's post to the list. I too am a person who volunteers (usually more than 40 hours per week) on the issue of homelessness.
I too have found that the many of us who volunteer our time and expertise often have more grass roots and action oriented goals then those paid to serve in organization. Certainly there are paid staff in organizations that work long and hard. Anyway, Ms. Huseby makes a crucial point in the importance of volunteers in making real change. Often I am in meetings where we go around and give our agency identification. Usually I am the only one -- other then the folks I work with experiencing homelessness--who have no agency or organizational affiliation. My work on the Decrim Task Force of the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness was as a volunteer...I am not a member of that Advisory Board. Our core group in Decrim was made up of people who had or were currently experiencing homelessness. You would have thought they were getting paid big bucks with the way they consistently showed up for meetings, and worked diligently lobbying city hall, the MPD, the City Attorney, etc. This was a 3 year long haul task force..that completed the work we were charged to do and achieved and continues to achieve significant change in policy and attention. Over time the agency folks come to realize that those of us with no official label are sharp, intelligent and motivated by passion and a commitment to the issues. Peter McLaughlin is not impressed by labels...he is impressed by those who work hard and don't BS about issues important to this city and county and state. He can talk to people who make tons of money and wield that sort of power and he can talk to people who don't even have a place to stay at night,,,and he gives equal respect in both cases. The reason I avoid official membership is somewhat my own eccentricity--- I don't like much being constrained by organizational bureaucracy. The other is because I have so often seen organizations morph into myopic, stagnant entities that forget about who they are supposed to be serving and advocating with and for. I think Peter understands this dynamic and can ask the hard questions when action is not being taken and he also can handle being challenged. Margaret Hastings Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
