A volunteer experience shared by Fred Kahler:
“The world on you depends” is a line from one of my favorite Doors songs, Riders on the Storm. But, looking back on my volunteer experiences, I think it applies. Often, it’s easy to think that one person can’t make a difference. But, when you dive in and get your hands dirty, you can see the impact you can make. For example, my experience last night [5/28/14] at the youth open shop. One of the kids came in with five dollars hoping to buy a bike. He wanted to volunteer, so we worked with him on getting a bike. Not a great bike, but a bike. By the time we worked on it with him, and with his help around the shop, he was mobile by the end of the shop night. He will be back for more upgrades in the future, but working together on that $5.00 bike, you would have thought that Christmas came early. He was so excited to see that the repair was going to happen that night, he was engaged and wanted to help the whole time. That was personally very gratifying to me. One volunteer in one organization making a small impact that could change a life or even grow from there as word spreads.”
-Fred Kahler, Youth Open Shop Volunteer and UBP Volunteer Coordinator