Volunteers for Mayfest help keep it blooming

We are only a day away from Cheney’s fifth annual Mayfest celebration (May 12-13).

Both Friday and Saturday feature several activities that residents and visitors should enjoy.

Mayfest is a huge production and what folks may not realize is most of the work that goes into putting it together is done by a committee of board members and a few worker bees who already spin several plates. Some of these people are having difficulty balancing their work schedules along with the hours they are committing to Mayfest.

Community events like Mayfest need more volunteers to be involved and take some of the burden off the shoulders of folks who are getting burned out because they’ve already done so much of the work.

Volunteering in the United States has declined over the years. According to the most recent information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, only 24.9 percent of those surveyed said they volunteered for at least one organization.

Asking folks to volunteer isn’t as easy as it used to be. Volunteering requires a person to sacrifice some time and energy — without monetary gain — but there are numerous benefits to it. Through volunteering, one can learn new skills, as well as build their confidence and self-esteem. There’s also the self-satisfaction of doing something that is benefitting others.

Then there’s the social aspect of volunteering. Being a volunteer, you are interacting face-to-face with other volunteers, as well as the people you’re helping. And these face-to-face interactions could turn into new relationships.

Other community events, like Medical Lake Founder’s Day, the Cheney Rodeo and the Airway Heights Days Festival benefit from volunteer involvement.

While many of these events had a solid core group of volunteers when they were established, several members have gotten older and find it difficult to put in the same amount of energy they did in the past. Any organization, big or small, is always looking for help and will usually take anyone who is interested.

A way for organizations and committees to remedy this is to bring on younger volunteers. One demographic filled with prospective volunteers is Eastern Washington University’s student population.

Some people in the community like to paint EWU students with the college kid stereotype that parties excessively. While we recognize there are some bad eggs, many students who attend Eastern are good-hearted individuals, with some volunteering at local events like the Cheney Clean Sweep as a way to help and get to know the community.

There are student groups that are looking for volunteer opportunities as well. All folks need to do is reach out to the university.

Another group of potential volunteers, specifically for Mayfest, is Cheney High School students, especially those who need to complete their community service hours in order to graduate.

New volunteers on an event committee not only take some of the pressure off those currently serving, but they could bring in some fresh ideas. One example is Founder’s Day, which had new life breathed into it after Re*Imagine Medical Lake took over the festival from the previous committee. The grass roots organization is not only bringing back old events like the street dance and beer garden, but is also hoping to expand the festival to an entire week with new activities.

Committees shouldn’t just look at recruiting students. Young, working adults would also make good volunteers for events like Mayfest.

The Mayfest flowers are starting to wilt. If more people don’t step up and volunteer, Mayfest, could go the way of old events and festivals that faded away because of a lack of involvement.