Lights! Camera! Action!

The redesigned CHO web site went "live" on February 25.  I note it here just in case I need that information at sometime in the future.

Overall, I guess I'm pretty pleased with it, though I do have some qualms over the slide shows.  I included them because:

• I wanted to put some human faces on our activity (and we can't use photos of our clients because we need to protect their privacy, so that left our volunteers)
• I wanted to give our volunteers some recognition
• I wanted to add a little visual interest to the pages that would otherwise just be words, words, words
• And maybe most important, I included them because I didn't know how to do it and I wanted to learn.

I think all those reasons (except maybe the last) are valid, but now that we've got the slide shows, I'm not really sure they help.  I wouldn't really be able to defend them very well against someone who thinks they are just plain distracting.

CHO needs help

Last month I put a notices in the town's newsletter and in some church bulletins in an effort to find new volunteers for CHO. They got a good response -- good enough that we'll be able to resume operations Saturday morning. I may need to raise more volunteers again some day, so I'll post them here in hopes that I might find them if I need them in the future:

CHO NEEDS HELP

The Committee for Helping Others (CHO) is itself in need. Specifically, most of CHO’s furniture operations have had to be suspended because of a shortage of volunteers. The furniture program collects donated items in the Vienna-Oakton area and distributes them to people in need. Most of its work- driving the truck, or helping to lug sofas, beds and dressers, frequently up and down stairs- is done on Saturdays between 9 a.m. and noon, and most (but by no means all) of the volunteers are male.

Last year, the program managed to recycle about 1,400 items. That’s 1,400 pieces of furniture that did NOT wind up in a landfill and 1,400 pieces of furniture that DID help some of the poorest people in our area. This year, that number may be close
to zero unless new volunteers are forthcoming.

If you think you might like to volunteer you can get more information about the program by calling xxx-xxx-xxxx or e-mailing xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx

That New Year's Resolution

Each year a lot of us resolve to be more giving and more caring than last year. It's not always easy to figure out how to do that, however. This year it is:

Twice a month, The Committee for Helping Others (CHO) collects gently used furniture and distributes it to those in need. Most volunteers participate three or four times a year, driving the CHO truck (a CDL is required) or lugging sofas and beds and dressers up and down stairs. Moving furniture isn't the hardest job in the world -- there is, after all, someone else on the other end of those sofas and beds and dressers -- but it's probably not the best thing for someone with a tricky back, or a bad heart. For those who don't have health issues, however, it's a great way to:

• provide some of the basic necessities to the neediest people in our community,
• help the environment by keeping that furniture out of a landfill, and
• get to know some pretty nice people.

You can learn more about volunteering -- no cost, no obligation -- from Dan Larkins at xxx-xxx-xxxx or at xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.

And no, in the actual ads, I didn't use xxx-xxx-xxxx.