{"id":294,"date":"2013-06-26T15:42:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T20:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/family-history-through-the-alphabet-volunteer\/"},"modified":"2013-07-02T20:18:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T01:18:57","slug":"family-history-through-the-alphabet-volunteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/family-history-through-the-alphabet-volunteer\/","title":{"rendered":"Family History Through the Alphabet \u2013 Volunteer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Family-History-Through-the-Alphabet\" alt=\"Family-History-Through-the-Alphabet\" src=\"http:\/\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-bINdAhVovBI\/UctSF3QMNDI\/AAAAAAAAI0o\/m5kbnXnR1Qo\/Family-History-Through-the-Alphabet%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800\" width=\"304\" height=\"200\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>For 26 weeks I will take you on a family history journey through the alphabet, one letter at a time.\u00a0 I have decided that each post will be educational in nature, focusing on topics related to resources, methodology, tools, etc.\u00a0 Although the challenge is complete, there are still some people who are finishing up and Alona, the host, is encouraging others to participate anyway.\u00a0 Additional information on the challenge, can be found at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gouldgenealogy.com\/2012\/05\/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\">Take the \u2018Family History Through the Alphabet\u2019 Challenge<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"v\" alt=\"v\" src=\"http:\/\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-okNfYhX1CV0\/UctSGEW3LqI\/AAAAAAAAI0w\/MNhJxuaT6dI\/v%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800\" width=\"75\" height=\"73\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" \/>Volunteering for genealogical societies is a great way to give back to the society.\u00a0 It also gives you a chance to meet new people who share your passion for genealogy and allows you an opportunity to learn from those around you.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>There are many ways you can get involved with a genealogical society:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Serve as an officer.<\/li>\n<li>Chair or participate in a committee.<\/li>\n<li>Help with special projects such as indexing or transcribing records.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some genealogical societies are really good about letting members know what their current volunteer needs are, usually through their newsletter or website.\u00a0 Others don\u2019t communicate their needs very well and that doesn\u2019t mean that they don\u2019t have any opportunities available, they\u2019re just not sure how to ask for help.<\/p>\n<p>For societies that do announce their available volunteer positions, contact the person indicated and inquire.\u00a0 In cases where you are not sure what might be available, contact the president of the society and ask.\u00a0 They will either tell you what\u2019s available or they will direct you to the society\u2019s volunteer coordinator.<\/p>\n<p>When you find a position that interests you and suits your skills, be sure to ask what is expected of you.\u00a0 Do you have to attend meetings and is travel required?\u00a0 About how many hours a month does the position require?\u00a0 Are there procedures in place and can you review them before accepting the position?\u00a0 Knowing the answers to these types of questions will help you decide if the position is right for you.<\/p>\n<p>Genealogical societies rely on volunteers to keep their society running smoothly and provide value to its members.\u00a0 The more volunteers a society has, the better their chance of survival in this day and age.\u00a0 So often life pulls us in so many different directions it\u2019s hard to be one of only a small number of volunteers that manage a society.\u00a0 This leads to burnout and ineffectiveness.\u00a0 The more hands on deck means work is spread out among many and not concentrated on a small few.\u00a0 This keeps the society functioning to the best of its ability, fulfilling its mission, and serving its members.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your Turn<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do you currently volunteer for a genealogical society, or have you volunteered in the past?\u00a0 If so, what is\/was your experience like?\u00a0 If you have not volunteered for a genealogical society, how come?\u00a0 Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments of this post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For 26 weeks I will take you on a family history journey through the alphabet, one letter at a time.\u00a0 I have decided that each post will be educational in nature, focusing on topics related to resources, methodology, tools, etc.\u00a0 Although the challenge is complete, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,25],"tags":[350],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-genblog","tag-family-history-through-the-alphabet","cat-27-id","cat-25-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3HcLI-4K","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2728,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/2728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}