Volunteering is hard...

... but not for the reasons I expected. The company I work for has ponied up and offered TWO WEEKS paid vacation for the first 100 people in the company who will use one week of paid leave (that we already have earned) if we volunteer with the Red Cross to go to the gulf coast. Let me say that again ... my company is willing to let 100 of its employees go volunteer with the Red Cross for 3 weeks, all paid leave. Corporate America ain't all bad.

I can't seem to get anywhere with my local Red Cross, though. The nearest chapter (an hour away) has a huge staff of ONE, and won't be offering ANY training for the foreseeable future. The other chapter is at least 2 hours away (in Nashville, TN) and their web site is very clear that they won't be sending people to the region, since many have evacuated to TN.

I got in contact with a chapter 2.5 hours away, but they won't be offering ORIENTATION until Sept. 20. They'll e-mail me more info. Are you kidding me?!?!? It'll all be over by then...

For one thing, I can understand that no organization (not the Red Cross, not FEMA - nobody) can funnel people into the area within 24 hours. There's a level or coordination involved that I most likely can't fathom.

Even with that in mind, though ... it's still frustrating. Polluted water doesn't scare me. I'm willing to GO. RIGHT NOW. I'd like to be able to do so while I'm all fired up. Since that's evidently not going to happen, time will tell where, if anywhere, this goes. I'd hate to think such an offer from my company would be wasted, though.