Post by Jon on Apr 22, 2009 15:23:37 GMT -8
I know all of you are probably thinking "sheesh, heres Jon with another long drawn out post, about silly cars sliding in the forest". Your right, this will grow into that in late May, but right now I have coming asking help from the mighty Pistons Wild.
One of the very apparent things at the Olympus Rally is the severe shortage of volunteers. I assume the same issue happens in every type of racing, but volunteers are what keep this thing happening. Given these races run on public land mostly, theres no recouping of costs through admission fee's. Merchandise, product licensing, and entrance fee's only get you so far. In order to keep entrance fee's as low as possible and bring as many competitors as possible, Rally coordinators / promoters rely heavily on volunteers.
One of the things I heard is that not only was there a shortage of people that actually signed up to help, quite a few of those who did sign up didn't show for what ever reason. Day 1 we where 6 volunteers short. Day 2, I don't know how short we where but with the huge crowd (More than was expected thats for sure), we where definitely short handed.
Volunteering is cool. It feels good, it helps a good cause, you'll probably see some exciting things no one else will see, and you meet some good people who also like to help. Besides the feel good aspect of it, you do get a bag of swag, you do get to interact with the teams more than a spectator, you get a fashionable yet functional orange vest for the day, you get to go to the awards banquet for free and yes... you get a free meal. I am sure that none of this on the board here need those extra tangible things to help out, but maybe some others that you know could use that extra motivation.
One of the issues I immediately see (and will work on trying to get fixed) is that while they need volunteers, it's not easy to volunteer. Well... let me re-phrase. You need to be persistent. Even though the Oregon rally is only 23 days a way, theres still not information on how to volunteer on line yet. I'll try and get that fixed, but for now, is there anyone that would be interested in volunteering with me? I know we are all busy, and I know silly cars sliding in the gravel isn't everyones cup of tea... and thats cool. What I would ask is that if you can't make it, if you could at least mention this to one person, mention that you get all of this goodness for free, and yes... help me sell the concept of volunteering to at least one person, I swear I will shorten my future posts by at least one sentence... ;D
If you can make it, or know someone who can, for now put them in touch with me through here or via email at Halleaux at live dot com. It would be cool to see a strong Pistons Wild showing but even just a couple folks would help out a lot! Honestly, the volunteers I did met are close to burn out, and without them and others to fill in the ranks these races simply wont continue in the future.
Thanks
One of the very apparent things at the Olympus Rally is the severe shortage of volunteers. I assume the same issue happens in every type of racing, but volunteers are what keep this thing happening. Given these races run on public land mostly, theres no recouping of costs through admission fee's. Merchandise, product licensing, and entrance fee's only get you so far. In order to keep entrance fee's as low as possible and bring as many competitors as possible, Rally coordinators / promoters rely heavily on volunteers.
One of the things I heard is that not only was there a shortage of people that actually signed up to help, quite a few of those who did sign up didn't show for what ever reason. Day 1 we where 6 volunteers short. Day 2, I don't know how short we where but with the huge crowd (More than was expected thats for sure), we where definitely short handed.
Volunteering is cool. It feels good, it helps a good cause, you'll probably see some exciting things no one else will see, and you meet some good people who also like to help. Besides the feel good aspect of it, you do get a bag of swag, you do get to interact with the teams more than a spectator, you get a fashionable yet functional orange vest for the day, you get to go to the awards banquet for free and yes... you get a free meal. I am sure that none of this on the board here need those extra tangible things to help out, but maybe some others that you know could use that extra motivation.
One of the issues I immediately see (and will work on trying to get fixed) is that while they need volunteers, it's not easy to volunteer. Well... let me re-phrase. You need to be persistent. Even though the Oregon rally is only 23 days a way, theres still not information on how to volunteer on line yet. I'll try and get that fixed, but for now, is there anyone that would be interested in volunteering with me? I know we are all busy, and I know silly cars sliding in the gravel isn't everyones cup of tea... and thats cool. What I would ask is that if you can't make it, if you could at least mention this to one person, mention that you get all of this goodness for free, and yes... help me sell the concept of volunteering to at least one person, I swear I will shorten my future posts by at least one sentence... ;D
If you can make it, or know someone who can, for now put them in touch with me through here or via email at Halleaux at live dot com. It would be cool to see a strong Pistons Wild showing but even just a couple folks would help out a lot! Honestly, the volunteers I did met are close to burn out, and without them and others to fill in the ranks these races simply wont continue in the future.
Thanks