Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Paid Volunteers

Heh. 

Applications to AmeriCorps have exploded with the plunging employment market. Last month, there were 9,731 applications submitted to the AmeriCorps online system, more than triple the 3,159 submitted in February 2008. In the AmeriCorps program, 75,000 people spend 10 months to a year helping build affordable homes or responding to disasters. Most receive an annual stipend of slightly less than $12,000.

Um, guys?  If you’re being paid, it’s not “volunteering.”  It’s a job.

(4) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1814 hrs
Off-Duty

  1. If you’re being paid, it’s not “volunteering.”  It’s a job.

    People volunteer for the U.S. military and they’re paid. Same kind of thing.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 31, 2009 at 2115 hrs


  2. When we refer to “volunteering” for military service, it’s in contrast to being forcibly compelled to join via a draft.  Yes, they volunteer, but only in the same sense that I volunteered for my job.  In the end, it’s a job for which we are paid.

    Posted by Owen on March 31, 2009 at 2123 hrs


  3. It is the same use of “volunteering”.  As volunteering for service.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 01, 2009 at 0822 hrs


  4. At first, I saw this post as getting hung up on semantics - I looked around for a definition of “volunteer” (for example, members of volunteer fire departments get on-call, paid-call renumeration), and somewhere I saw that the definition of “volunteer” is by itself ambiguous. I was trying to find what the tipping point is, as far as when the stipend becomes significant enough to be considered a wage, as opposed to just reimbursement for minimal living expenses, etc.

    By the way, the “volunteer” as used for our Armed Services does refer to the method of recruitment - it wasn’t that long ago that the average American male was subject to being drafted (he always had the option to enlist - i.e., “volunteer” to join the service).

    Anyway, there is a much deeper & sinister plot here.  Think of ACORN on steroids.  Think of it as “community organizing” for political organizing.  Think of a whole new class of “recruit” to the cause - the lure of pay, insurance, education while “doing good for society” and being available for higher causes when needed.

    Here is something I tripped across today (I added some bolds):
    http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/apr/06/00020/

    But the average AmeriCorps member receives more than $15,000 a year in pay and other benefits, and almost 90 percent go on to work for government agencies or nonprofit groups. Rather than financial martyrdom, signing up for AmeriCorps is, for many, akin to a paid internship.

    During the Clinton administration, AmeriCorps members helped run a program in Buffalo that gave children $5 for each toy gun they brought in, as well as a certificate praising their decision not to play with these trinkets. In San Diego, AmeriCorps members busied themselves collecting used bras and panties for a homeless shelter. In Los Angeles, they foisted unreliable ultra-low-flush toilets on poor people.

    Among the program’s recent coups:

    In San Francisco, AmeriCorps members busy themselves mediating elementary school playground disputes.

    In Florida, AmeriCorps recruits in the Women in Distress program organized a poetry reading on the evils of domestic violence.

    In Oswego, New York, they set up a donation bin to gather used cellphones for victims of domestic violence.

    In Montana, members encouraged people to donate books to ship to Cameroon.

    In Lafayette, Louisiana, with help from the local Junior League, AmeriCorps led an effort to recycle prom dresses for high-school students.

    Didn’t mean to hijack this post like this, but I think we need to be vigilant about this one - with Obama’s election, I didn’t see the potential for a lot of young people quitting school or jobs at McDonalds to join ACORN style community organizing initiatives, but I think AmeriCorps has the potential to yield the same results.  That is why the act is called “GIVE” (Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education ).  It’s “give” me some government money.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 01, 2009 at 1324 hrs


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.