Recently I had the opportunity to volunteer at the third annual Poppy Jasper Film Festival in Morgan Hill.
Well, let’s just say this alleged opportunity came about because my friend Angela and I went to the movies where she made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Namely, would I like to help at the festival or would I rather spend my time hitch-hiking home. From San Jose. In the rain.
Well, no, I just made that up; Angela would never do that. But I’m sure you have been in this position before. A good friend is working her heart out for a cause, and she is seeking volunteers. So how can you refuse a good friend and a good cause without feeling like a big old Scrooge, for heavens sake!
You see, I had regretfully sworn off all volunteer activities for a most compelling reason: while going innocently about my business – and totally unbeknownst to me – I had apparently been transmitting, “Hey! Here’s a live one,” for the past couple of decades. This unfortunate detail caused me to be tapped by gazillions of organizations dedicated to doing good deeds for the community. And for our kids; and the animals, the environment; you name it. Yes, I had become a volunteer junkie.
If truth be told, however, I had not devoted too much time recently to community service, so I figured it was about my turn in the barrel again. After all, people give countless hours of their time for years on end and still maintain a modicum of mental stability. Besides, maybe I could wear a bag over my head. If no one recognized me, I could perhaps avoid falling back into that old trap where my name mysteriously shows up on some master list of potential volunteer victims.
So I agreed to lend whatever skills I could scrape together in the name of art. And, I am happy to report, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I worked with other volunteers, some who are at it year round putting the festival together, as well as others like me who work in bursts of a few hours here and there, acting fundamentally as a support group to the organizers, lending our collective hands to the endeavor.
One reward of working at the festival included being exposed to good – and I do mean good – short films, a couple of which left us squirming to some extent because they forced us to feel our own complacency just a bit too keenly. There were uproariously funny films, too. Where else, for instance, would you find a documentary about how Rhode Island picked its state bird (the Rhode Island Red Rooster) or watch silly toy birds flocking about a la Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (well, not quite, but close) or an animated short social commentary about the meat industry featuring a chicken with – what else! – cleavage?
But the Poppy Jasper Film Festival is just one example of what would be lost without the assistance of countless folks who volunteer their time seeking ways to bring quality events to our small, but growing town. It would be impossible to pick a single event this year that stands out as being the best because there have been, literally, so many exceptional ones.
If you have had kids in public school, you already know about the work required to augment the district’s sorely limited funds. Volunteers at our daughters’ grade school sold soft drinks at the massively popular Mushroom Mardi Gras to raise money. One year we got wild and crazy and sold ears of corn roasted on barbecues set up behind our booth. That year the event was held at the site where Mervyns and Target now sit, the only time at that location – thank goodness, because gale-force winds were blowing upwards of, if I had to venture a guess, six bazillion miles an hour, and there was some serious anxiety that if all those ears of corn got airborne, festival attendees would be getting clobbered left and right by six-inch aluminum-foil covered missiles trailing melted butter. Everybody went home with grit in their hair and teeth – but we also had tons of fun while doing something valuable for our kids.
In April our beautiful community is the site for the AAUW annual Wildflower Run that helps support education for women and girls, followed up in May by the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life of Morgan Hill. I’ve participated in both events and was touched by the devotion of so many friends and neighbors who oversee these benefits.
And who hasn’t enjoyed the annual Independence Day parade through Morgan Hill – a huge volunteer commitment endeavor – or the entertaining Taste of Morgan Hill that is held downtown each September. This event has grown enormously in size and popularity since its inception a few years ago and brings with it fun for the whole family.
As the year rolls on toward the finish line, we have yet another opportunity to see why Morgan Hill is such a terrific place to live when the Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting happens on December 2. Again, the people working to present this event are many.
I have only scratched the surface in describing how active our culturally diverse community volunteers have been – and you and I are the beneficiaries of their generosity. We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude.
So how then, do we decide which one of Morgan Hill’s events is the best? In my book, the decision is unanimous. All of them deserve a huge standing ovation and a colossal award for a job well done – as well as our continued enthusiastic support as patrons or volunteers or both. Without even being asked.
Gale Hammond is a 23-year Morgan Hill resident. Reach her at
Ga*********@ao*.com
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