Take some time out from your back-to-school shopping this Saturday for a different kind of shopping.
The Hollister Downtown Association Street Festival is this Saturday, from 10am to 5pm. San Benito Street will be blocked off for the event, which for over a dozen years has drawn people downtown to enjoy food booths, bands, bargains at the merchants’ sidewalk sale and a car show, this year hosting 125 lovingly restored classics and hot rods.
The different kind of shopping I’m talking about isn’t necessarily at the merchants, however, although the values there are hard to beat.
I’m talking about shopping among the various nonprofit organizations that will have information booths at the Street Festival.
Organizations in the past have included the San Benito County Historical Society, Friends of the Library, the two major political parties, and many others.
It’s a perfect opportunity to find an organization that calls your name, and start volunteering.
What? You say I must be out of my mind? Just because the kids are going back to school doesn’t mean you’ll have any extra time? You work a full time job and getting the kids out of your hair only means you’ll barely be able to catch up before the holidays hit us?
Well, I may be out of my mind, but not for suggesting volunteering. The time commitment, often as little as an hour a month, is balanced by many benefits. Here are the top ten.
10. You get to spend time with other adults.
9. You may get to do something semi-mindless, like stuffing envelopes, sorting books, or collating reports, which can promote a meditative calm.
8. You get to have a say in how an event is run. Miss the mist tent at this year’s Street Festival? Sign up for the committee and help find one for next year.
7. There are often refreshments.
6. If you work backstage at a children’s theater production, you will learn every word to all the songs. If you would like to hear my rendition of “Everything’s Comin’ Up Roses” from Gypsy, just ask.
5. You might find yourself in a position to wear a costume.
4. You might get to boss a few people around.
3. You might get to staff a booth at next year’s Street Festival, or the County Fair.
2. If you mentor a child, visit an elderly person, hold a baby or act as a buddy to someone with AIDS, you will know what human connection really means.
And the number one reason to volunteer:
1. The castle of a better future will include a brick with your name on it.
So this Saturday, between admiring the shiny cars and giving the kids a turn in the jump house, wander through the various booths and see if you can find a group that’s doing something that you want to do, too.
Elizabeth Gage, the Mobile Skeptic, writes a weekly column for the Hollister Free Lance.
