Serial Volunteers

At first glance at my Google calendar, I didn't have much hope for the orientation of Heal the Bay to be very interesting. I wasn't terribly jazzed about attending it after a whole day at work, but I was more or less committed to attending it. Jane and I were joking that the attendees will mostly consist of high school students and overly optimistic do-gooders. The crowd did not disappoint our expectations, as we were dead-on.

The leader of the orientation asked what our motivation was and why we were interested in Heal the Bay. Most people gave such generic answers like "I wanted to volunteer." I was very proud of Jane when she responded in her usual cheery manner: "because I like aquariums!" Since she raised the bar on an original answer, I had to one-up it. So I said, "I'm here to see if I can get my company involved." Not humorous, but it sure caught the attention of the organizers. I wanted to turn around to the vegan do-gooders and tell them "take that bitches!" I'm sure they were not amused that a corporate whore was basking in the limelight.

The meeting turned out to be more amusing and educational than I thought. The volunteer coordinator was a little bit too honest at times, saying that the volunteers didn't really need to know that much, and that a "warm body" was all that was needed for some functions. The vegan uber-volunteer showed off his knowledge about local Santa Monica businesses using corn-based plates and plastic utensils. Then there were the overly attentive volunteers who madly took notes on everything the coordinator said. And of course, the high school students who were there for a class project seemed to be more interested in getting a signature from the coordinator than actually listening to the presentation.

I was half-expecting to see pictures of dead fishes or a post-mortem photo of a bird with its stomach's contents laid out (bottle caps, lighters, balloons, etc.). Or maybe even a video of a dying dolphin, hell why not an algae bloom? But the video was optimistic and surprisingly cheerful.

They do their beach clean-ups once a month on the third Saturday. Perhaps Jane and I will participate in these clean-ups one of these days. Preferably when I'm not hung over and ready to keel over. If anybody else is interested, you're more than welcome to join.