Are We That Good?

[Karl Strauss]

Am I the only one that has the feeling that Friends is running out of things to do in Chama?
An email last month, and article in Dispatch (Winter 2018) said/says that A Needs Assessment in Chama will be performed.
I'm sorry, I get that feeling of a Chin Scratch and the phrase "Hmm. What to do next?"

I also offer up as evidence that the 2019 project list -- admittedly just posted on FIDO << http://fctsfido.org/FIDO/proj_sched.php?public >> seems a bit lean compare to other years. (And yes, I concur that the list will grow some (but not a lot).

This will be my fifth straight year as a volunteer - can't wait to get started!

Thanks for listening.

Karl Strauss
Valencia CA

[Tom Casper]

Gees Karl, there is a lot of cars in the yard that need work so I doubt a shortage of work will appear soon. Remember it takes money & people to keep going. A covered car storage would help but it would need to be Gigantic to cover all that is there!

Tom C.

[Rich Murray]

Karl, maybe I've been laboring under a misconception but a "Needs Assessment" has always meant to me that there are X dollars and X plus places to spend it, where is it best spent

[Craig Kumler]

My vote goes to covered storage and an attached CRF. One can only dream!

[John Cole]

Karl, there is a real shortage of team leaders as well as people coming out to work sessions. I read that the Friends had 120 less volunteers last summer and many projects had to be postponed because of lack of workers. I think this summer's job listings are probably more realistic right now.

If every member invited someone new out, things will turn around in a hurry.

[Paul Davenport]

I agree with John that the work sessions' leaner projects lineup mostly reflects a lack of volunteers (and probably team leaders as well), not a shortage of work that could be done if we have the people to do it. I also share his call that we all recruit volunteers. Post your work session photos on social media and mention what you like about work sessions. Mention the work sessions to coworkers, relatives, friends and train buffs you know, and if they seem interested, give them the FIDO work projects lineup and webpage links to the Friends volunteer material that's online. Then help them get in touch with a project's team leader if they have questions about that project's work. And if a potential recruit wants to do a work session and a particular project, ask the project's TL to put the potential recruit on the TL's personnel wish-list in FIDO. My brother Jim, who also is a regular volunteer and who also has been a TL in recent years, and I have had four relatives join us on work sessions, and two of those now try to make it to Chama every year. And Jim is working on another one to come during E or F. Some of these people have minimal interest in trains, but I think they like spending time with family and/or like learning something new and doing worthwhile volunteer work with like-minded folks. In my first scheduled year as a TL, my project was canceled due to a lack of volunteers and I was told I needed to recruit. Since then, some of the people who have worked on my crew (tree/brush) have been Friends members who already had volunteered but others were newbies who I recruited one way or another. And now one of those is the team's assistant TL.

[Chris James]

Also consider sharing your copy of the Dispatch with like minded folks, friends (lower case F) and neighbors. It's really a 20-24 page recruitment brochure. Unless they are members (and get the Dispatch anyway), they can't access it here on the Forum (something I disagree with but it's not my decision to make). More than just the FIDO list, I think it really shows how much fun we are having and how much we get done, even with a reduced volunteer roster.

In selecting photos for the Dispatch that represent the projects or promote membership (such as the fee waiver on p. 4 of the latest issue, I try to show, whenever possible, a broad variety of Friends - young and old, male and female, and projects - easy and complex, clean and dirty, skilled and unskilled to show there's something here that anyone can do. So don't just read your Dispatch and file it away. Use it as a recruitment tool to twist a few arms so some new blood can come and twist a few bolts.