I'm to the point in my VISTA year with the United Way of King County where I'm no longer overwhelmed by the sheer size of the program and am able instead to have fun with it. My favorite aspect of the program is getting to meet and train new volunteers. They're all great people who are excited to work with little kids, and working with them gives me a lot to look forward to.

Another thing that I am looking forward to this month is getting the chance to volunteer in my own program. I really want to be able to tell the volunteers exactly what it's like, and to show them that I'm not just some recent college grad that had trouble finding a job and decided to hide out in americorps for a year instead. I can't say that preschoolers are my forte (I've only worked with junior high and high school kids), but I love picture books, so I think we'll get along just fine.

I've also gotten the chance to visit a few of the preschools and child care sites that we work with. The relationships that we're building with the people on the other side of the program are invaluable, and I have tons of useful information for the volunteers, having seen where they will be reading first hand.

One thing that I have really been working is conveying to the volunteers how pumped and excited I am about the program. I've found that even through an email volunteers can tell whether you really care or not. I've compltely gotten rid of the list of form emails I was given when I started this position, and have found that a lot more of my inquiries turn into registrations when I take on a more informal tone. One of the things I hadn't expected in this job is the sheer emotion you get from some people. I have a lot of volunteers that have reached a low in their lives, and want to work with kids to brighten their days a little. In many cases these volunteers will take the time to tell you their whole life story. Right now I am especially moved by a cancer patient my own age who has a very grimm diagnosis but is taking the time to volunteer while she is going through Chemo.

My biggest issue is still keeping the lines of communication running between myself and the volunteers, but I've calmed down about that a little. I don't want this to be a numbers game, and I'd rather concentrate on finding really dedicated volunteers that are really excited about reading to children every week and will take the time to tell their equally passionate friends about the program.