RAFTing

Our company runs a worldwide community service blitz each June. Originally, it lasted one week; now, it's the whole month. During this time, we can choose from a veritable smorgasbord of projects at local charities—and volunteer our time during the workday.

For the past several years, I've been a project leader. That means a little coordination work—keeping volunteers informed and supplied with the latest t-shirts, capturing some event photos—and (of course) lending a hand.

This year I chose to lead a large group of volunteers at Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT). This is a local non-profit that supplies teachers with much-needed supplies at low cost, by upcycling donations from corporations into creative educational kits (as well as offering basic supplies like pens and paper at low cost).

Our group worked on raw materials, as well as assembling and then performing quality control checks on four different kits: Breadboard Circuits, Retractor Car, Design a House, and Simple Telescope. (And our electrical engineers thought they'd get a break from their daily routine!)

RAFT started out in 1994—it's a model that works. I volunteered with them in earlier days (late 90's), and I can attest that they've come a long way since then. They were well-organized and made good use of the time we gave them today.

By RAFT's estimates, the handiwork of our 41-person team will serve 22,500 students—not bad for a morning's worth of volunteering!