Give Me Your Money

Not you. No Worries.

I'm the area rep. for Barbara Ct and Kempton Rd here in the Sun Valley community. I volunteered to help out however I could, and I was elected to this position. It is official and comes with a badge. (It's rectangular. I'd rather have one that was shaped like a shield or a star, but what can you do?) My official responsibility is to hand out the newsletters to my neighbors. Another responsibility is to collect the annual dues for the HOA.

Our HOA is pretty low key. They mainly represent us to local politicians and law enforcement, hold monthly meetings. manage community property, signs, organize community patrols, etc. The dues are $10.00 a year. (a YEAR) It is also not mandatory that every household participate. So I have to ask whether people are volunteering to give me (see, look I have a badge) their money. I have always participated, but last night I met a number of people who didn't even know that there was an association. Gotta get the word out!

Last year only 104 out of the 440 homes in our neighborhood joined. Our goal this year is apparently 200, but I was only given 10 receipts; seems like low expectations. I sold them out last night, and only did half my route. I was pretty excited about that. I'll do the other half tonight.

One of the things that we've talked about in the Compassion Journey is our use of time. I've found that volunteering like this helps me use time to meet people, learn about their concerns and needs. It's a great adventure. I recommend it.

--Ben