DRaider90
Uwharrie Off-Road Volunteering
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
- Location
- Weddington, NC
A goal for this year is to change the general attitude about Volunteering.
Because our Volunteer group is different than what most would expect from a Volunteer group. Say you volunteer to do trash pick up on a local street, or your group adopts a highway. You clean up the trash, and you are happy with the fact you did your part and helped keep our streets/highways clean. Volunteers are just looked upon as unpaid workers in most cases by the outside community. This is and shouldn't be the case in our situation.
Our volunteer group is a privileged group that has access to information and resources that the average wheeler doesn't. Volunteering at Uwharrie allows us to network with the Forest Service. Now days its not about what you know, but who you know.
Just by regularly attending the work days you get a wealth of insight and information that most don't. Just imagine how many people don't know we are getting a new trail? Or how many people had no clue there was going to be contractor work going on. They probably showed up one day planning on riding Rocky Mnt Loop or Falls Dam and were sorely disappointed.
And thanks to the local community you get recognition while out and about. Thanks to Terry the Hotdog Guy, Chris Cagle, and others this is happening. And don't forget about the relationship you build with the Forest Service. When you see a Forest Ranger out there outside of the work days its nicer to be the one stopping to chit chat, than the random person wondering what the Forest Service is out and about for.
I am not talking about being boastful, prideful, or an ass because of it. But we need to hold our heads high knowing we are doing something to help keep out trails open while others choose not to. If other wheelers out there see us taking pride in what we do, they may just wonder enough what is going on and end up getting involved. Because we can't do this job alone, we need as many people to help as possible. And if we can influence the attitude of the general wheeling public about what we do, we can have an impact on getting more people out there.
A lot of the people that don't get out there and volunteer think stuff like our signs, stickers, etc are a waste of time. That raising awareness isn't something to worry about. But in reality it all goes toward making an impact on the wheeling public that see us out there. Bottom line is the impact we make is by how we represent ourselves. If we go out there as an organized group, and do the work with pride it will make a difference.
I don't want to use the club terminology, because we don't have fees/dues, etc. But if you think about it, the people that regularly attend the work days do form a tightly knit group of like minded wheelers. And we are always happy to add to the group.
So next time you think about volunteering remember not only are you helping keep our trails open, you are networking/building relationships with the Forest Service and a great group of like minded wheelers.
Because our Volunteer group is different than what most would expect from a Volunteer group. Say you volunteer to do trash pick up on a local street, or your group adopts a highway. You clean up the trash, and you are happy with the fact you did your part and helped keep our streets/highways clean. Volunteers are just looked upon as unpaid workers in most cases by the outside community. This is and shouldn't be the case in our situation.
Our volunteer group is a privileged group that has access to information and resources that the average wheeler doesn't. Volunteering at Uwharrie allows us to network with the Forest Service. Now days its not about what you know, but who you know.
Just by regularly attending the work days you get a wealth of insight and information that most don't. Just imagine how many people don't know we are getting a new trail? Or how many people had no clue there was going to be contractor work going on. They probably showed up one day planning on riding Rocky Mnt Loop or Falls Dam and were sorely disappointed.
And thanks to the local community you get recognition while out and about. Thanks to Terry the Hotdog Guy, Chris Cagle, and others this is happening. And don't forget about the relationship you build with the Forest Service. When you see a Forest Ranger out there outside of the work days its nicer to be the one stopping to chit chat, than the random person wondering what the Forest Service is out and about for.
I am not talking about being boastful, prideful, or an ass because of it. But we need to hold our heads high knowing we are doing something to help keep out trails open while others choose not to. If other wheelers out there see us taking pride in what we do, they may just wonder enough what is going on and end up getting involved. Because we can't do this job alone, we need as many people to help as possible. And if we can influence the attitude of the general wheeling public about what we do, we can have an impact on getting more people out there.
A lot of the people that don't get out there and volunteer think stuff like our signs, stickers, etc are a waste of time. That raising awareness isn't something to worry about. But in reality it all goes toward making an impact on the wheeling public that see us out there. Bottom line is the impact we make is by how we represent ourselves. If we go out there as an organized group, and do the work with pride it will make a difference.
I don't want to use the club terminology, because we don't have fees/dues, etc. But if you think about it, the people that regularly attend the work days do form a tightly knit group of like minded wheelers. And we are always happy to add to the group.
So next time you think about volunteering remember not only are you helping keep our trails open, you are networking/building relationships with the Forest Service and a great group of like minded wheelers.
