Most charities want people who can promise a whole day every week. Fewer and fewer people can. A group in Tainan decided to try the opposite and asked for two hours, once a month, with no long-term promise at all.
In the first year 340 people signed up, four times the number the old system had attracted. Only a third stayed beyond twelve months, but the manager is not worried. She says a short, pleasant experience makes people return later, often once their own children have grown up.
Other groups are now copying the idea, though a few complain that training so many newcomers is expensive.
Sunday 14 April, 8:00 a.m. — meet at the car park by the lighthouse
We finish at eleven, and hot soup is served in the beach hut afterwards. Please bring your own cup.
If heavy rain is forecast, the event moves to the following Sunday. A message will be sent by nine o'clock on Saturday evening.
Dear Mr. Yeh,
On behalf of everyone at the Riverside Reading Club, thank you for the forty books you sent last week.
We have kept twenty-eight of them for our own shelves. The rest are picture books for very young children, so we have passed them to the hospital play room; we thought you would rather see them used than stored.
May I ask one more favor? Several of our helpers would love to hear how you built up such a collection. Would you consider giving a short talk one Thursday evening in June?
With thanks,
Amy Ko
Hours given by volunteers in four programs last year.
| Program | Volunteers | Total hours |
|---|---|---|
| Meal delivery | 34 | 2,720 |
| Reading to children | 52 | 1,560 |
| Garden care | 18 | 900 |
| Office help | 9 | 1,080 |
Meal delivery runs every day of the year; the other three programs stop during August.