Free Essay on Insights and Recommendations of a Volunteer Experience

This essay is about the Taste on Wheels event that is normally held in Washington DC. According to Eventbrite (2016) website, this years event happened on Sunday, June 26, 2016, from 11 AM to 4 PM at the Yards 1300 1st St SE in Washington DC. Taste on Wheels is an event whereby more that twenty trucks line up to showcase and celebrate the various vibrant foods in Mid Atlantic. Signature tasteful items that go for 3 dollars are sold, and a free drink is served to anyone who purchases a ticket of admission. Such events offer excellent opportunities for volunteering, and in the long run, an individual can do a personal evaluation of the importance of the event and volunteering exercise. There are various reasons as to why people volunteer. Based on this kind of an event, volunteering can be good for ones health since through such intensive events, a lot of movement and activity is involved and hence an individual burns excess calories. The various foods and items offered offers a wide variety of choices and information on types of foods that are healthy for an individual. Volunteering also creates an avenue through which someone can boost their careers. This is the case for such an event since various aspects of the career options are covered such as hospitality with regards to the various foods offered, customer service with regards to how attendees are handled, public relations as pertains to publicity of the event and also community service. New skills can be learned through volunteering (Martin 2013). Most employers tend to prefer employing individuals who have vast volunteering experience since it comes with soft skills such as people and problem-solving skills, flexibility and teamwork. A call to volunteering is a call to make a difference since there is no monetary attachment to it as it also inculcates a sense of ownership especially if you volunteer from your locality. Volunteering is also a way of giving back to a course that one believes in since one volunteers in courses that are passionate to themselves which in return leads to making a positive impact and change in the world.

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Volunteering in such an event offers an opportunity to make a difference or change someones life especially when you come across someone or interact with someone who has a negative opinion about volunteering or has never volunteered altogether (Ford 2007). Volunteering in such an event leads to making connections to various people from all walks of life, some of whom might be your potential future business partners or employers. This helps in furthering ones career growth and path. Such connections also lead to fostering relationships which are real. Volunteering also aids an individual in exploring more and for such an event, exploring can be in terms of new foods, drinks, culture or even ways of life that the locals lead (Anderson and Jill 2015). Volunteering in such events could make an individual to be inspired in various ways. Inspirations to one day organize and facilitate such an event individually in a totally different area with a totally different theme could arise. Volunteering is also a means of having fun especially if you are engaged in something that you are interested in or something that you love doing (Lauren, 2016).

In such an event, the creation of strong communication channels is very crucial so as to create extensive awareness about the event to the general public. Volunteering in such a department calls for thorough knowledge of the various channels of communication. Creating a web portal or intranet comes in handy especially to the organizers since any new, old or updated information and issues are easily shared amongst the organizers. Volunteers can also conduct face to face meetings within the assigned area or locality so as to create awareness of the event. In this mode of communication, queries and clarifications are answered immediately. Addressing emails from prospective attendees who are trying to seek clarity is also another form of communication. The challenge with this is that it can be quite taxing to respond to large volumes and amounts of emails within a specified tight time frame. Use of internal office mailing can serve as a means of communication as well. To act as a volunteer to distribute posters for the said event can be advantageous since the posters are pinned in areas that witness a lot of flow of people or where people tend to converge in large numbers. Such posters need to be attractive, readable, clear and illustrative so as to reach its intended purpose. Delivery of newsletters and postcards can also serve as a means of communication. Newsletters serve to relay an overview of the purpose of the event together with brief discussions of upcoming and past Taste of wheels events. Use of radio and television networks to relay such an event is critical as this has the potential to reach a large number of potential attendees especially when it is aired during prime time. The downside of this mode is that it can be out of reach for a volunteer since this calls for the main event organizers to engage with the local television and radio networks.

It is important to note that such events create a platform for exposure for various individuals or groups. Volunteers gain hospitality exposure through the various types of drinks and foods offered together with the professional experience that the volunteer has perhaps studied. Presenters gain the exposure of meeting new items that they seem to have no idea that they existed. Organizers gain the exposure of how to handle new challenges that present arise whenever such an event is held. Attendees gain the exposure of witnessing and experiencing new stuff that is offered from the many trucks.

In conclusion, volunteering is very noble and informative based on my experience and the above elaborated personal experience. The exercise is also an eye-opener with regards to the possibility of undertaking to be a volunteer for an event that revolves around pleasure and merry-making. In as much as volunteering for such an event is quite taxing, time-consuming and hectic, it is worth noting that given a chance, one would love to be part of it once more. As pertains to a recommendation, it is important to keep individuals who are below the minimum alcohol taking age away from alcohol consuming situations. Security needs to be top notch, and organizers need to ensure that the day to day livelihood patterns of individuals who are not attending the event.

References

Anderson Leith and Fox Jill (2015). Volunteering

Eventbrite (2016) Taste on Wheels - DC's Largest Outdoor Brunch!

Retrieved from https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taste-on-wheels-dcs-largest-outdoor-brunch-tickets-25930448670#Lauren Melnick (2016). 16 Excellent Reasons To Volunteer In 2016

Retrieved from http://www.gvi.co.uk/blog/16-excellent-reasons-to-volunteer-2016/Leonie Martin (2013). Volunteering - The Essential Guide

Liz Ford (2007). The "Guardian" Guide to Volunteering