Volunteer work is addictive. It's the perfect cyclical nature of giving for the sake of giving and receiving in return. You give up some of your time for a worthy cause and usually, they give you a free tshirt. See #58 - Do Some Volunteering and #59 - Get A Free Tshirt. There is the warm and fuzzy feeling, sure but really it's just a heap of fun!
The Ride to Conquer Cancer is a 2-day 230km bike ride starting from the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, through the gorgeous Brisbane Valley ending on day one (19 August 2011) at Somerset Dam. Along the way there are pit stops, medical staff, cheer squads every 20-25 kms (manned by volunteers). Upon arrival riders are greeted enthusiastically by volunteers who will congratulate you on a ride well done and park your bike. Your comfy accommodation - a tent - will already be set up (by volunteers) and riders can relax with a beer (served by volunteers), a well earned massage (volunteers) and a meal (volunteers). Are you getting the theme here much??
When I was offered the opportunity to volunteer for this event, for the entire weekend I jumped at the chance. Given that my recent experience with volunteering had such a lasting, positive effect I had resolved to do more community focused volunteer work and I was not disappointed.
The day started at UQ at 4:30am. I was allocated the bike parking team and at 6am it was time for the cyclists to head towards the start line. We checked bikes out and wished the riders well. With 1900-odd riders out of the starting blocks, it was a slow departure but by 7am they were on their way. May I please mention that at 7am the temperature was 6 degrees celcius? Thank you. Six degrees of frozen fingers and toes.
After a few odd jobs and errands we were on our way to Somerset Dam (in a car) with work to do! Upon arrival, we helped the Tent Team to pitch and number almost 1000 tents. I was on mallet duty, hammering pegs my speciality.
The first rider cruised into camp around 10:30 and by about midday there was a steady flow of cyclists arriving at camp, so we were off to bike parking duties. By the end of the day, 6:30pm we were skillfully parking bikes with precision. Some bikes were obviously expensive and owned by enthusiasts. Others, were just your usual commuter bikes but the bike that stood out was a purple rusted ladies bike at least 30 or more years old with a shabby ripped vinyl seat (padding poking our) and a rattly rear mud guard that was haphazardly strapped on with an old bike tube. When I asked about the bike, the woman said she deliberately rode this bike because she wanted to demonstrate that it was not about being a cyclist with the most modern and ostentatious gear. The point was participation, passion and philanthropy.
At 6:30pm the volunteers were rallied together for a meeting. We were given our 2nd free tshirt of the weekend (I'm quickly building a collection of free tshirts) and an itinerary for the next day. Then we were asked to line up and walk toward the dining hall, a massive marquee where the riders were dining and some speeches were being made. Our team leaders told us to get excited and clap and cheer when we were asked to. I grew suspicious, but "just trust us" was the response I received when pop-quizzed them on what was going on. By this time we had arrived at the entrance to the dining hall, I was at the very start of the line with my gal pal when I tweeked to what was going on. I heard the tail end of the speech and it was something like ".... they feed us, they cheer us on, they were there at each and every pit stop encouraging us to keep going, they put up your tent, they parked your bikes... would you please welcome and give a big hand to THE VOLUNTEERS!!!!" And right on cue, as instructed We. Got. Excited.
The lot of us ran and skipped through the dining hall, waving and smiling at the riders who gave us rambunctious clapping, cheering and whistling to the soundtrack of Survivor's 'Eye Of The Tiger'. There was a media crew there filming it and most of the riders gave us a standing ovation.
A standing ovation! Oh my Buddha. It was a moment.
By the time we did our lap of honour I had completed a 14 hour day. It was time for dinner and a sit down. I needed to be fed and watered.
We sat through a few speeches, mostly announcing the biggest fundraisers. One woman raised $50,000. On her own. The total amount raised was the largest sum ever raised in Queensland for a charity. The final figure? $4.7 million. Let me say that again. $4.7 million for cancer research at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR). The CEO of QIMR, Irish-born Frank, a more distinguished grey-haired gentleman made a wonderful speech. Frank participated in the ride that day however he decided beforehand not to do any training or preparation for the ride, quite deliberately because, as he said, no one is prepared for cancer they just have to face that challenge with true grit. That is how he wanted to face this ride.
The speeches ended and the band started up. In my head I was on the dance floor but after a 3:30am rise and a 14 hour day I was off to the showers and in my tent by about 8pm falling asleep to the distant sound of the cover band, who was playing very similar music as the cover band from last week's Coke party (see #76 - Go On A Date). In fact I'm convinced it was the exact same set list!
Up early next morning 5am, a quick breakfast and back on bike parking team duties, checking wristband matched name and rider number on bike. A handful of people were not riding on day 2. Their bikes were transported back to UQ via Thrifty hire truck. We volunteers loaded them onto the truck (bikes, not riders) and riders were ferried in air conditioned comfy seat comfort via coach. I don't blame them really. There's no way I'd ride that far. I mean, the bike seat is enough to put me off. If the bike seat was a bit wider and a bit more comfortable, kind of like an armchair and you didn't have to pedal - say if it was a motorised bike and you could just recline, have a nap and the bicycle rides itself then yeah, sure, I'd ride 236kms in two days.
A few hours later the last rider had left, we did a quick scenic tour of the dam - it was gorgeous and a good place to camp - and were back at UQ, taking bikes off the Thrifty truck and parking them. The first few riders had already arrived, at 10:30am. There wasn't much else for us to do and so the weekend's work finished at around midday.
As I reflected on the weekend, I realised there were many times when I caught myself way out of my comfort zone and loving every minute of it. I used to look at people who did volunteer work and think to myself "why would you do that?" both with curiousity and admiration. I used to think it took a special person. I'm not sure about that but I can say the reasons why I volunteer and why I'm interested in doing more volunteering is that as I get older, values, ethics, karma, compassion, teamwork and altruism become more important and I am now more interested in giving than taking.
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