My friends at HAC have invited me to an orientation meeting tonight for prospective volunteers to help out at “Otis Village”, the barracks which now house a little fewer than 200 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.
I’d called the HAC hotline a couple of times to leave my name, figuring they could use help with simple things, like chambermaiding, which I’ve done before, and running errands.
It turns out that HAC has a pretty specific list of what the volunteers are expected to do, and it involves a lot more than mopping a floor. Their volunteers will be expected to handle anything, from calling emergency medical services to finding an agency that provides airplane tickets back home to simply being there for some friendly chat.
I told the intake worker who initially interviewed me on the phone that I was nervous about taking on so much responsibility without training, and she assured me that every shift as a supervisor who could provide information and assistance.
I’ve been troubled since the beginning about whether or not the evacuees who plan to stay in Massachusetts are really being told the truth about what it’s like to live here, especially on the Cape.
It occurred to me today, though, that some of them may be very well suited to the social environment. So, I’ve put a list of questions together, not that I’d offer them unsolicited, but it might be handy if anyone asks.
Based on the almost four years I’ve lived here, I’d ask the following (“yes” being the “correct” answer):
– Do you think that attractive people are inherently more valuable than unattractive ones?
– Do you think that young people are more important and valuable than old people?
– Do you think material wealth and prestige are more important than righteousness?
– Are you more competitive than cooperative?
– Do you think that volunteering to help your community is not a good use of your time?
Assuming I do end up at the Base, I hope no one asks me about living here. I’d hate to discourage good people from taking a chance, and I’d hate to encourage yet more bad apples to toss themselves into an already festering barrel.