How can I help ?

I once read a quote, "Do one good deed everyday". And what made me thinking was "How could I ?". That was the feeling which I had at the Channel 10 TV Auction Volunteering Event. For the uninitiated, let me describe in a few lines what it was.

Channel 10 is known better by the name of Milwaukee Public Television. Every year, the channel organizes an event where lot of items are auctioned and the money collected is then utilized for social welfare. It is not just another volunteering event, especially because of the scale at which it is organized. It spans over 7 days, and the auction is telecasted live on Channel 10 itself. This event is one of the biggest money raisers in the US.

When I found a volunteering opportunity at Northwestern Mutual, it didn't take much time to convince myself and I decided to learn what I could do as a volunteer. I had absolutely no idea what the event was all about, but I just thought of it as something where I could be of some help. There were two shifts in the events that were open to us. One was the phone shift (6:30 - 10 pm) and another one was the regular shift (5-10 pm). I volunteered to work in the regular shift.

On the day of the event, I was there at 5. Since this was a new experience, I didn't know how things were supposed to happen, what are the protocols etc etc. After initial registration, we (there was another friend) were taken to the 'Pick n Pay' department. Suprisingly, we were the only 'Indians' amongst an all american crowd. So it was kindda strange ! The man, Paul who was the incharge greeted us and asked us if we knew our numbers. I was a bit confused and there wasn't any briefing that happened prior to the event. So we thought it was something they initially assign to volunteers, or they are some locations at which the volunteers are supposed to work. We told him that we weren't given any such number as we were first timers, and asked what kind of numbers he was looking for.

To which he replied, "Numbers like A5, B2..".

"No, sorry", was my answer.

He went back to look for the representative (the lady who did our registration) and a while later, she came over and asked,

"Don't you know numbers ?".

To which again, we said,

"No, we don't know ours".

And then she was stunned.

"You know numbers, 1,2,3,4..right ? You know alphabets, A,B,C...do you ?"

"Yes !"

"I was wondering, how educated people like you don't know numbers and alphabets. Especially when you speak good english", and then burst into a roar of laughter.

"Paul thought you didn't know anything about numbers and alphabets. He's such a stupid fella".

"Oh shit ! What crap.". I was totally flabbergasted.

"C'mon I'll take you to someplace else. This guy is a freak."

She asked us to follow her, and we were on our way to another place within the area. She introduced us to a "old but young" gentleman called Gary.

"He's Crabby. The biggest freak here. He doesn't like to be called by his name :D"

We were now supposed to work with Crabby aka Gary Children. Wow, what a name. Crabby was a good old gentleman, whose passion and energy reflected in his tone. He greeted us, and after hearing about Paul's stupidity, he said,

"Ohh ! Forget it. He's the biggest jerk here."

And we forgot what happened in the mirth of laughs and jokes that followed. After an initial explanation of what they do, what needs to be done, we were all set. It wasn't a tough job, and we got it real fast. The way auction worked was:

. There were bundles of items in the auction, ranging from gift coupons to furniture, clothes, electronics, toys etc etc.
. All items were fancifully displayed on a table by some folks. It took a lot of time for those people to arrange and put in place all the items on the table.
. Once the table was ready, it was taken by the table captain in front of the camera. Table captain is the person incharge of the table when the items on it go live, and responsible for presenting the items when the camera focusses on them.
. Items were displayed on television, with their minimum bid values.
. People working in phone shifts, recieve calls from interested buyers and feed their quotes and details in the system. They also answer any questions which prospective buyers have.

Once shown, the table captain brought the table to us, and we were supposed to re-pack the opened items, clean up the table, put the items back in their designated place, and co-ordinate with the store department for invoice checking and submission. There was a chance to be the Table captain and show up on television, but I preferred to stay backstage :).

Crabby was really very nice to us. He showed us the place, and at 64, I must admit, I've not seen many people with the vibrance that he exuberated. Everyone who came to our place remarked, hey crabby...don't trouble the guys !!

And he retorted in a witty manner, "C'mon, I'm building international relations with these guys outta here." He was fun. In the small breaks that we got, he talked to us about his life, beer, football, wisconsin weather and india. He was such a respected face amongst the entire volunteering fraternity.

It was a pleasure to work and learn from him. He gave us insights on how he has been involved with this event over the past 14 years, how the money is being utilized for social welfare, about the planning that goes into such a big event, about the wonderful people he has met at the event, and the selfless service that gives them pleasure.

There were a couple of other volunteers also that we met, but didn't have a chance of interacting much with them. But for sure, there was a sense of pride and contribution for what we offered in good faith. Before leaving, a few asked whether we enjoyed it, and how did we like it.

"Yeah. I am happy to be here, and hope to be here next year also.", was my answer.