Take a selfish moment

I have been volunteering on the communications committee of the Red Shoe House of Winnipeg since the fall of 2001. Wow, I didn't realize it has been that long. Today I am ready to end my relationship with the house. It just drives me crazy.

Red Shoe House is a great charity. It is a home away from home for out of town families of sick children who need a place to stay while their child is at the Winnipeg Children's Hospital. The house charges only $10 a night for a room and it is conveniently located only a block away from the hospital. In addition to the affordable accomodations the house offers, families also benefit from the support of other families staying there going through similar situations.

I wrote the feature stories for the 3 issue/year newsletter on families who stayed at the house. After two years of working on the committee I was offered a job with The Agency, the ad agency for McDonald's (two of the people on the committee worked for The Agency). My dedication had payed off.

Today I no longer need the experience volunteering for the committee gives me, nor do I need the grief. We meet monthly at a time and location that is a little less than convenient. I sit through the entire sometimes 2 hour meeting only to finally receive my story assignment at the end. Recently however, they have decided to take a different approach with the family story which would see the family write it themselves. Great. What am I doing here?

The committee had pretty much wrapped up for the summer last month but a few weeks ago someone asked me if I could write the copy for an ad for the golf tournament. The golf tournament is put on by a separate golf committee. Why someone from that committee couldn't have written the ad I do not know. I was told the barest of details--time, date, location and given some collateral material to work from. So I borrowed and reworked and assembled, and sent it in. The response?

"I think they wanted something very brief announcing the date, time, place, cost – that kind of thing."

Fine. Square one. New slimmed down copy sent. Response is

"Looks good, a couple of things

- could we put if the public wants to make a donation they can also call.
- instead of putting the time down could we say if they are interested in golfing to call 774-4777.
- could we put a little blurb about what Red Shoe House is all about?"


I eventually sent in the original with a few sentences cut out. On second look it did seem wordy for an ad. This is the latest response

"I like it except for:

Red Shoe House is a home-away-from home for families from outside of Winnipeg who must come here for medical treatment for their children.

Could you replace the above sentence with something like .....

Red Shoe House is a home-away-from-home for families in Rural Manitoba with children undergoing life saving treatments at the Children's Hospital. Red Shoe House offers these children and their families a warm compassionate and comfortable home environment, at a nominal overnight fee. Parents find a place to rest and feel safe, while their children can lead as normal a life as possible."


So much for verbose.

I hate committee work. I hate quiting, but life is too short to waste time on doing something you're not enjoying. I don't work for The Agency anymore, I don't owe anyone anything. Sometimes I forget to be selfish when it counts.