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Giving What We Can

I got up at five o’clock—O Dark-Hundred—Saturday morning to drive downtown and work at the registration table for our Rotary Club’s 13th annual Sacramento Century Bicycle Challenge. I’ve helped with registration eleven of those thirteen years, missing only when I was out of town. My part was straightforward—welcome riders and give them their packets.

I was greeted at the parking garage by volunteers who had gotten up much earlier. Others had been fencing off the area and setting up tents, tables, food, water, porta-potties, and lights. It’s hard to register someone in the pitch black—which it is at six in the morning.

And that was only the work I could see. Before any of us arrived on Capitol Mall, people had spent hours preregistering riders, marking routes, preparing rest stops, and organizing packets. After the riders returned, a festival with music, food, wine, and beer would be waiting. Stations were set up to secure their bicycles so they could relax and enjoy the fun. Saturday night and Sunday, more volunteers would take everything down and transport it to storage. It’s a huge logistical puzzle, with each piece needing attention.

The work is worth it. Our ride benefits the Sacramento Crisis Nursery program. We have raised over a million dollars since Susan Sheridan, our very brave club president in 2014, suggested changing our major fundraising activity to a bicycle ride. She envisioned something that would involve the community and had the potential to raise over $100,000 annually. It was a BIG change—replacing a fundraising tradition that had been part of our club for thirty years.

The ride became a major success—a legacy program. Sponsors joined, and we attracted cyclists who love to ride, love to support children, and appreciate a supported riding experience. They choose from four distances, ranging from sixteen to one hundred miles, following routes through the Delta wine country before returning downtown. Most of us will never meet the families who benefit from this day of riding and giving.

Our annual Rotary golf tournament, begun in 1922, has contributed over $4 million to support programs for children with disabilities. That’s more than a century of service, and this year we added pickleball to the event. I appreciate those totals—and the generations of volunteers who made them possible. How much donated time is represented by every dollar raised?

Recently, I was asked to track the hours our Rotary members contribute to the community. It sounds like a simple matter of collecting numbers and adding them up. Yet the more I think about it, the more I realize how much those numbers represent.

I gave a few hours Saturday morning and came home. Some of my fellow members were working the entire day, with responsibilities stretching into the days before and after the event. My contribution was smaller, but it still had a place. We do what we can, and together those contributions make the whole thing possible.

I see that same generosity of spirit in Sacramento’s Assistance League, where I am a new volunteer. They are proud to say the organization has no paid staff. Our resale store, Fabulous Finds on Fulton, looks like a boutique, with professional displays and carefully selected merchandise.

The store is the heart of that fundraising. Every item someone sorts, prepares, displays, or sells helps fund programs that provide clothing and school supplies, support foster youth moving toward independence, and offer community college scholarships. Those are just a few of the ways the organization serves our community.

My neighbor shops for supplies that go into the Fresh Start bins for foster youth and women fleeing sex trafficking. Other members tutor in schools. I help with marketing and public relations materials. I don’t work in the store or shop for the bins, but give me a message that needs to be honed, and I’m all in.

Each of us finds the way we can give back. Some bring practical skills, patience, or organizational experience. Others know how to make a person feel welcome. A community needs all of those things, often working together in ways we may never see.

As I was writing this, I began to wonder what a day without volunteers would look like. At Assistance League, the store would stay closed. Supplies would wait to be gathered, and students would miss their tutors. At our bicycle ride, registration tables and rest stops would have no one to staff them. Work we seldom think about would suddenly become visible through its absence.

Without volunteers, many of these organizations might never have come into being. Someone saw a need and believed they could make a difference—just as our club president did when proposing the bicycle ride. They shared an idea, enrolled others willing to help, and began building something together. The giving began long before any of us took our turn, and it continues because people keep showing up.

Over the years, my volunteering has taken different forms. Little League, PTA, my church, and Realtor Association events benefiting nonprofits all had their place in my life. The opportunities changed as my children grew and my own circumstances changed. Looking back, I can see how much of community life depends on people agreeing to take a turn.

Most of my Rotary colleagues are hardworking professionals. They give generously of their time, talents, and treasure while managing careers and other responsibilities. Some, like me, are retired and still want to contribute. We arrive with different schedules and abilities, but we find places where we can help.

I’ve heard people say, over and over, that they don’t want to volunteer after retirement because they don’t want to be tied to a schedule again. I understand that. After years of having our days shaped by work, the freedom to decide how to spend our time is precious.

Some volunteer jobs do require a regular commitment. The store needs people it can count on, and students benefit from tutors who return. But other opportunities involve a single morning, a particular project, or a task we can complete at home. We can be honest about what we’re able to offer and find a way to contribute that fits our lives.

For me, volunteering also keeps me engaged in my community. Without the everyday connections my work once provided, I could easily become more isolated in retirement. Volunteering gives me a reason to step out, use skills I enjoy, and spend time with people who care. My contribution reaches beyond my own household. Multiplied by millions of volunteers, those contributions have a remarkable economic value.

According to AmeriCorps and the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans volunteering through organizations contributed nearly five billion hours between September 2022 and September 2023. The estimated economic value exceeded $167 billion. That extraordinary amount of work freely given doesn’t include every neighbor helping a neighbor or friend stepping in when someone needs a hand.

An hour at a registration table becomes part of that enormous total. So does an afternoon sorting clothing, tutoring a student, or gathering supplies for someone starting over. Each entry represents a person who made room in their day to help.

I may never meet the families who benefit from Saturday’s ride, or Assistance League, but I can give a few hours toward the care they need. This time, I helped at the registration table. Another time, I’ll help find the words. I’m grateful to have something to offer—and grateful for all the people offering what they can alongside me.

If this Cuppa Joy stirred something in you—a memory, a smile—I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.