Young Bostonians not very volunteerish?

I've sometimes had that experience too. Just a few months ago, after filling out the Web form for a stewardship organization in Boston, their Web site barfed. So then I emailed the inquiry address given, which was supposed to reach the board members. No response from any of them. (For that same organization, maybe a year earlier, I similarly had no response when I emailed to offer donating photos I'd taken at one of their events, after the newspaper didn't do a story.)

For another Boston organization -- one that farms out volunteers to various other organizations -- I did get an enthusiastic response, but when I went to a new member orientation, the application form was so imposing and intrusive that I wasn't sure that I was even eligible. (Really, all I wanted to do was pick up trash, clean graffiti, plant trees, winterize houses, or whatever, not join the CIA.)

I did get on email lists for 2 or 3 organizations that farm out volunteers to events that don't require the CIA interrogation. I've been a bit surprised that most of the opportunities that come across the lists have me wondering whether they have any positive impact at all.

I did have success getting appointed to a local advisory committee on a civic issue important to me. I've also been able to contribute for years to some software used in HS and college education, due to an esoteric technical niche I happen to know. Leveraging white-collar skills might be the way to go, when nobody seems to want my help as a volunteer laborer. A friend of mine who used to build houses for the low-income is now a lawyer, and is on a few nonprofit boards instead (instead of nailing boards).

Years ago, I did behind-the-scenes public interest advocacy on a few issues at the national level, til I realized I no longer had the stomach for it, during the GWB administration. Funny how in some ways it was easier to operate on future of nation and humanity than it is to get marigolds planted on a traffic island.

Let me say right up front that I'm not exactly Mr. Volunteer....

Unless you're a parent with kids or have similar responsibilities (family obligations, school, etc.), saying you don't have time doesn't work - especially if you're single. Everybody has the same 24 hours, and it really comes down to priorities. Is your time filled by real obligations, or are you simply "busy"? If you're just busy, and are claiming that as an excuse, then it's a matter of what's more important to you. My point is that there is a difference between being simply busy, and really having no time.

Hey, if you simply don't want to volunteer, that's fine, just say so. There's nothing worse than a volunteer that really doesn't want to be there.

And, what does being broke have to do with being able to volunteer?

Those are often paid jobs, not volunteering.