The Great EsSkate - Volunteer Village
It takes a village to put together a Great EsSkate.
You can be part of the Great EsSkate Volunteer Village. Scroll down to
2011 Volunteer Needs
It takes a village to put together a Great EsSkate.
It takes people who, months in advance, plan and coordinate and schedule and meet and ask for money and get permits and drive-bike-skate routes and then do it again. It takes people who sign up, show up, do an amazing job in chaotic surroundings and quietly disappear when their stint is over. And it takes others who don't plan and meet ahead of time, don't sign up and show up, but just quietly do what needs to be done: do a good deed, lend a hand, see a need and say yes.
This is to the village of GES volunteers. As the volunteer coordinator, I actually signed some of you up, met you, worked with you, even thanked you personally. But I didn't meet or thank or even know about many of. All I can do is thank you now, belatedly, and invite your helpful, thoughtful, tireless, friendly selves back to the Great EsSkate 2010. We can't do it without you.
Without you, who would make sure there was endless water and bananas whenever we needed it? Who would sit at long tables for long hours to greet skaters, answer their questions and get them through registration - then remember their names next time you see them? Who would check wristbands and stuff goodie bags?
Who would organize 300 identical T-shirts? Who would open his office so we could get some last-minute copying done? Who would cheerfully wear silly hats and sell raffle tickets when everyone else was drinking/eating/socializing? Who would eat lunch out of the back of a pickup in order to be ready to work when someone gave the high sign?
You manned the demo skates and gave people a chance to try out the big wheels. You woke up early to register people Saturday morning while everyone else grabbed 40 more winks. You became a truck driver when we needed a truck driver. You skipped a skate so you could lend moral support to those who worked behind the scenes.
You decorated, you DJ'd, you drew dozens to your amazing Deco skate. You skated up front, you skated at the end, you skated the full length of the line (more than once), you shouted till you were hoarse, you herded skaters, you herded skate patrollers! You worried about food and tents and tables and chairs. You found venues when we were suddenly venue-less. When something didn't work out as planned, you punted (and it worked).
You kept things going when everyone around you said this year would be different, this year no one would come. You wrote press releases and created Web sites and took photos and called the media and designed flyers so that all roads led to the Great EsSkate. You captured us in photos and video so the story of this amazing event can be told, viewed, savored.
You shared your expertise - one more time - after six or seven or eight GESs, even though you were burned out and ready to hand it to someone new. You started our mornings with the calm strength and warm stretches of yoga on the beach. You showed the way to a novice skater, offering a pointer, or a hand, or a class.
You drove a car or a van or a truck so you'd be there if needed, and needed you were. You emptied vehicles and hauled boxes, then hauled them a few more times, then loaded them in and out of elevators, and then piled them all back into vehicles (and that was just Day One).
You made people laugh. You made people T-shirts. You helped clean up. You helped sum up. You offered a perspective that was badly needed. You did what needed to be done, without being asked - even when no one knew it.
How can we thank you? Just know that we know. And that as we put together another Great EsSkate, you're the village we want behind us.
Candice H. Richard
2011 Volunteer Coordinator
2011 Volunteer Needs
Please check back for a list of all that needs to be done to keep the Great EsSkate rolling. Contact candicehrichard@bellsouth.net to sign up as a volunteer. Tell her who you are, how to contact you and how you'd like to help.
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