 Welcome back to Think Tech. I'm Jay Fiedel. This is Hawaii's champion. Whoa. Very important. The brand new show, Hawaii's volunteer champion. With the host of that show, Peter Rossick. So Peter, you know, you're a great host, you're a great supporter of Think Tech. I love having you on for anything you want to do. But could you tell us what you want to do on Hawaii's volunteer champion? Sure. Well, obviously, it's about some exemplary volunteers here in Hawaii, and about the organizations they volunteer for. My sense is that volunteers are, first of all, very, very important. A lot of wonderful things in our society would grind to a halt without them or be much diminished. But volunteers, I think tend to get a certain amount of credit within their organizations. But beyond their organizations, they probably don't get as much thanks and as much recognition as they should. And the organizations as well don't often have a chance to say how important volunteers are for them and what they do and what they could not do without them. And essentially, I have one great question, and that is, why do people give up their most valuable resource, which is not money, but is time and personal effort for some cause or other? What leads human beings to do that? And how do they feel? What do they get back? All that sort of thing. So that's kind of my goal in going beyond the simple recognition of some people who really do a lot of good work. You know, you're gonna have to convince me, Peter, because I frankly don't think there are enough champions, enough volunteer champions in the state of Hawaii. I mean, you're an exception. A lot of people on Think Take are an exception. But there should be many more. I mean, we have a civil society which is kind to each other. We're caring about our community together. And yet, where are the champions? I do not see them. Tell me where they're hiding. Well, perhaps they're hiding in plain sight. Perhaps, you know, you know, very well. And first of all, you are an exemplary volunteer. You have been the impresario of Think Tech for 20 plus years. And so you are one of the leading champions of not just volunteerism, but about civic engagement. And pretty much everybody, you've got a staff, a terrific staff of a handful of people, a small handful, who are paid, but everybody else, all the show volunteers, all the show hosts are volunteers, everybody who appears is a volunteer. So you're acquainted with a lot of people who do stand up. But perhaps you haven't heard of the people that are working in other areas and are, you know, giving what they can give, perhaps not, you know, like you 24, 7, 25, 7, I think sometimes that you're giving to Think Tech and to the community, but you know, are giving what they can give and giving the time and putting in a lot of effort. So one goal is to recognize the fact that there are plenty of people doing things, not everybody 100% of the time, but people doing what they can. And secondly, perhaps we'll get some recognition, you know, as the number of people who watch the show, I hope increases people will think, Well, gee, I could do that too. I could be a volunteer for, you know, the aquarium, those folks are going to be on next week or for Hawaii Marine Rescue, which we had a show recently, or for a lot of other things. And I think, you know, if we could, if the result of this show is a dozen more volunteers by the end of a year, I will have considered it first of all, a lot of fun, which is why I do this. But secondly, it will be an accomplishment. And the only way to get more volunteers is to, you know, get more volunteers. The number of people who are going to stand up of your stature are not that many. Certainly, you know, most people are still working and scrabbling to get a living here in Hawaii. But those who can, you're absolutely right, we should have more people standing up. And not just politicians who are, first of all, paid in some cases, now too much. And, and, you know, who are who get a lot of power and glory out of it. But there's a lot of other things people can do, even for, surprisingly, I'm learning, even for government agencies, some of them depend on volunteers as well. Obviously, the nonprofit sector. So let's hope we can get, you know, we can rustle up some more people. Do we have enough? Will we ever have enough? I doubt it. But that's kind of my hope is that people will get a little bit of inspiration out of this. You know, I keep myself out of this, but seems to me that the best volunteer is the most modest volunteer. And that makes that my definition, Peter, that makes it very hard to find them. So how do you, you stand on Bishop and King with a sandwich sign and say, Volunteers, welcome, what do you do? Well, the first thing, and this gives me an opportunity to say this, if anybody is watching this, or both of our viewers, eventually, maybe a few more, if anyone knows of any volunteers who deserve to get some more credit, they should let me know. And they can do that by sending an email to Hawaii's volunteer champions at gmail.com. Or if you know of an organization that is dependent on volunteers, let me know about that. Or if you know of an organization or you're part of an organization that could use some more volunteers, let me know. But you're absolutely right. Most volunteers, unlike, we'll leave both of us out, unlike you and me, are rather humble and shy about what they do, because they feel they should be doing more, or they don't really even understand how valuable they are, which is why for every show, I hope to have somebody from the actual organization, the president or the volunteer coordinator, or whatever that whoever that person might be, who will be able to say, you know, Joe is not really telling you all that he does, or he's not really telling you how valuable he is. So you're right, it's going to sometimes I think it may be a little bit of challenge to, you know, pull the information out of people. Sometimes it'll be to, you know, people will love to go on about, oh, here's what I'm doing. But I want to have people from the organization who have a bigger picture, you know, somebody may be doing something very valuable for an organization and not really understanding the other parts of what's involved. So that's why I hope that every show or most every show that I'll have somebody from that organization, come on and say, be able to say what the organization does, and why the volunteers are so important. Okay, but are you looking for, you know, subject matter or people? I mean, that's a really interesting question, because if you wind up having the same conversation with one volunteer after another, that's what they call boring. So it's got to be differentiated on the basis of something that's not boring, something that makes each one different and perhaps exotic. Well, there, there are several things that you're absolutely right. I don't want to be doing a show every week that just says Joe Blow is a wonderful volunteer and we couldn't have an organization without him. So one thing that will be different are the organizations, I hope, because they cover the range of everything, you know, friends of the library, the friends of people who volunteer at the, at the Hollywood Museum of Art and people who volunteer for some government programs, as I said, like DLNR has some programs that depend on volunteers. So I hope there I hope they'll be I'm going to work very hard to get a variety of organizations involved, but I'm also going to try to get a little deeper as as you have suggested to me earlier. You know, what is the secret sauce? What is it that makes people do this and give up their time and their and their energy to do it? And and the other thing, which I have discovered, which is basically what led me to do this show, I have discovered that once you have a volunteer on on in front of a camera, and you can spend a little bit of time with them, everybody has kind of as an interesting story, the I'll briefly tell you the origin of this. I went to I'm a volunteer for the friends of the libraries of Hawaii. And I went to their annual meeting, which they hadn't had for a couple of years. So they actually honored two volunteers of the year. And they talked about these people. And they and all of a sudden I realized one of them was an acquaintance of mine. All of a sudden I realized I didn't know anything about them. Really, I didn't know their background. I didn't know their skills. And they're I didn't know their hobbies and their passions. And I think if I can explore some of these people a little further in get into, you know, what what brought them to today or what brought them to the point of volunteering or what they did in a previous life, I think it will be very interesting to me. And I hope very interesting to our viewers. But when we get to the point that it's the same show every week, just with a different name on it, you will tell me and I'll I'll stop. No, what I'll tell you is, I'll give you different angles. That's what I'll tell you. And then that problem altogether, give me a different one. What's telling me right now? What what are the angles you would pursue? Because you're the interviewer extraordinaire to come to mind. Okay. What is otherwise missing in your life that you are finding in doing this volunteer thing? A guy may have been or a girl may have been involved in some other kind of business. I'm a job, what have you. And there was something missing and then he or she moves over to or adds on a volunteer experience and and now is able to, you know, find what was missing. It's the missing piece approach. The other the other question I suggest you and this is only broad brush, you know, just for now, is the transactional nature of it. You know, people think that volunteers are completely altruistic. And they do it for the greater good. And there are those there are those. But there's another thing working here. And that's the transactional nature of the deal. I'm thinking about of a young person who volunteers to clear the trails on a mountain top for DLNR. So on the one hand, certainly that helps and DLNR doesn't have the funding or the opportunity or the time or energy or political will to go out and hire people to do it. So they call hypothetically for volunteers. Now, why are you why why am I interested in that volunteer experience? Well, it's transactional. Sure, it helps a loop trail. Sure, it helps DLNR in the government. Sure, it helps purists. But it also helps me. I'm getting out. I'm getting out in the sunshine. I'm I can see beautiful things. I can touch the leaves. I can feel the ground. I need that. So just as much as it helps others, it helps me. It's a deal I make. Yeah, that's absolutely right. And this in the show that I've just done with somebody who is a volunteer for the Hawaiian Marine Rescue. And that is the people who go and protect the sea lions and wash up on the beach at Kaiman and other places and so forth. And I said, you know, how did why did you choose this? If you know, assuming you're going to spend you decided to volunteer. And she said, you know, I like being outdoors. Just as he's saying, you know, it got something she got definitely was getting something out of it. She liked to choose. She had a lot of responsibility when she was down there by herself, you know, she had backup that she could call but she had a lot of responsibility and she clearly enjoyed that responsibility and enjoyed being the one on the beach with the T shirt and walking up to people and explaining to them what was going on. So there's no question that people get a lot out of it. Very frankly, I do some volunteer stuff and I do it mostly because it fills my time that since I retired and I was very worried about not having enough structure or enough activity in my life. So I volunteered for some things that, you know, I don't I'm obviously not volunteering for anything I don't like or believe in. But my main thing is I'm having my time filled and I'm having a good time. And very frankly, these shows on think tech, if I wouldn't have a good time and getting a lot out of it personally, I would not be here. So I think we get a you are a person with a larger mission than I am. You want to make this world a much better place. That's wonderful. I'm certainly in favor of that. You want to raise the awareness of the world beyond our shores. And I'm that's fine with me too. But if I weren't enjoying it, and if I weren't having fun, I would be out of here, you know, faster than jackrabbit. So you're right. I mean, people do it, nobody does it entirely for altruism and maybe not even the majority of it is altruism. Although I hope they do. They are volunteering for groups or causes they believe in. Let's talk about age. Let's talk about what you want to call the generations and chapters in life. You know, we have had all together, you know, over the years, we have had something close to 400 posts. And at the moment in time, it's maybe 50 or 60. So what that tells you is they come they go, they move on. So, you know, volunteering for a given purpose or cause doesn't last forever. It always has a sunrise and a sunset. They told me that when I started to do shows for Hawaii Public Radio, you said you got to remember it has a sunrise and a sunset. And I do and I've seen that proven many times. But you know, age is part of this thing. So if I if I find somebody who is say 20 years old, that's one approach to volunteering and to being a community champion. And the skill set that that individual may have may not going to be the same as somebody who's been through business for years or for a lifetime, a career and has seen it all and comes and wants to volunteer, you know, in in in that chapter of his life or her life. So can you talk to me about which one you want to have on the show? Which one is more important to you and the conversation and the takeaway? And how you treat them differently, I expect? Well, you're absolutely right. That first of all, it's in it's there's a big age factor. When you're young, and you're either in school, and you're starting out at work, or you're starting out raising your family, even if you want to volunteer, you probably don't have as much time as you'd like to. So when we can find younger volunteers, I will be very excited to talk to them. There's also a factor. Some high schools and then they perhaps even some colleges have the requirement for community service. And I'm going to try to get some of the people that go through that they're far, they're they're the, you know, we used to call them volunteer, they were told they're gonna volunteer, and they better find something to do. And or they're even assigned something to do. So, you know, I think it'll be interesting when I can get to these people. And I've already, I already know a couple, but and talk to them about it. Do you really think you're doing anything worthwhile? Or do you just think it's something you're, you know, a box you're checking off? Or, you know, did you when you came away, one one young woman in particular, again, I'm talking about the Friends of the Libraries of White, was assigned to get a certain number of community service hours by her high school. And so she signed up figuring this was a pretty easy thing to do, which it was, it wasn't, you know, heavy lifting or anything. And when her hours were up, she continued to volunteer and gave him a few hours every week to the organization. Why in the world would she do that? She's got a social life. She's got books to read. She's got family and probably responsibilities there. So I think one of the things you need, you find out is, you know, how did you come to volunteer? Well, I came to volunteer because I was required to, or maybe even the court sent me to do community service hours. But when I finished, I decided I wanted to stick with it, or I decided to find something else to give some hours to. So I think that's clearly a part of it. Obviously, a lot, a lot of volunteers are people who are older, retired, or, you know, well along and they're perhaps empty nesters or people who have a certain amount of time on their hands. And that's probably the overwhelming majority of volunteers, the people who give the most time. But again, the woman that I interviewed with Hawaii Marine rescue was not an older person. She was, I don't guess women's ages very well, but she was still working from home. And she, as I said, she wanted to get out of the house. And so she volunteered in a job that was very different from what she does at home, which is sit at a computer. So I do think there's some great similarities. And there are there obviously differences by people's time of life. And you're absolutely right. No volunteers forever. And no volunteer gig is forever. I have already kind of moved away from one of the volunteer gigs that I was enjoying, but I just got a little tired of it. I got a little bored. And I thought, you know, I'll go find something else. And this morning I went and volunteered for the first time for another organization. So I don't think anybody expects volunteers to be around forever great if they are, and they learn and they can they can add to what, you know, their abilities. But you know, nothing in this life is forever, you know, the saying you'll never get out of this world alive. So, you know, people change and people, people's abilities change on what they're able to do what they're willing to do. I used to be willing to stand at the Waikiki Aquarium out by the edge of the reef in the in the heat and show people the marina animals. Now I kind of like the gift shop, it's air conditioned. So, you know, it all changes. And one of the thing I do want to talk about with people, mainly the people from the organizations, I want to ask them, you know, everybody assumes very often you've got a problem. We don't have enough staff. So get some volunteers. But I don't think most people really appreciate how difficult a recruiting and be retaining training and retaining volunteers are. They're a very pesky bunch. They're not being paid. So if they decide they don't want to show up today, very often with very little notice, they don't show up. And they they're demanding very frankly, some of the volunteers I'm familiar with, you know, it's got to be their way or the highway in terms of what they do and how they do it. So managing a bunch of volunteers is not it's not a picnic. The Hawaii Humane Society has two full time people just to manage the volunteers that they have. And one of the questions I'm going to ask pretty much everybody. And I is the volunteers just to say, you know, what would you change? You're been a volunteer there now for some amount of time, you've done this kind of stuff. And you know, we don't want you to obviously, if you really hated it, you wouldn't still be around. So I'm not expecting them to, you know, to talk junk about their organization. But what would you change? And you know, the one answer that I've had so far is more training. This person wanted to have more information, more training, more ability to. And again, this is the Marine resource woman who's out on the beach by herself in a t-shirt that says Hawaii Marine Rescue, trying to keep the tourists and whoever else and the people that are killing, killing sea turtles and seals, trying to keep them away from there. And what do I need to know? How much how do I how do I deal with the people that I need to deal with? So there this woman clearly said I want more training. And the woman from the organization said, you know, we recognize that and we're going to try to do something about it. So I hope to also do a little bit of facilitating with people who want to expand their experience or want to find something else. Or, you know, maybe at the end of the show, I'll say, you know, you're volunteering for the wrong organization, you should really be volunteers. I don't think I'll get very many friends from that. But, you know, I think it is an interactive kind of thing. And it's important to realize volunteers are very, very important, but they're not the end all and be all. They come with times they have to be terminated. And sometimes they have to be terminated, which is really tough to fire somebody you're not paying and you're not, you know, you don't have really any control over. So, you know, it's it's a whole world that I think I hope to illuminate not just the individual people who are doing it and we'll see if it works. What about tough questions, Peter, you know, you got you got attention on that on the one side, you want to, you know, you want to really get to the core. On the other side, you don't want to offend somebody who is, you know, fragile as a volunteer, and, you know, you know, and fragile as a guest on our shows, too. I mean, if you get into an argument, that person may never come around again and may talk stink. So, his friends won't come around again. And so, there's a there's a dichotomy there. On the other hand, sometimes you got to ask a hard question. I'll give you an example. There are 342 nonprofit organizations staffed largely by volunteers who deal with the homeless in the state of Hawaii. You think that's too many. You think there may be some duplication of effort. You think could be managed and could be managed more efficiently. And do you find that you're jamming into someone else while you're doing your work for the homeless? Couldn't that be better? This is to a CEO or something. And I think that kind of question really deserves a place in this show that you're talking about. Absolutely. And I agree with you that I think, you know, I'm a little more diplomatic, perhaps, but, you know, I would start out in that case by saying, you know, how does what you do relate to what the other organizations in your category do? And then, you know, are you duplicating effort? And wouldn't it be better if you got together, which, you know, it's very hard because no organization wants to give up their piece of the action, or if they do have paid staff, they don't want to give up that part of it. But I think it's a very legitimate question. I'm not sure how deeply it can be explored in this menu, but I think it's something you're quite right. There are a lot of duplications in social services. There's a lot of duplications. Homelessness is obviously one of them. I mean, you know, a good example is that for a long time, there were people out there feeding the homeless in the park downtown by the Hawaii Theater, and they were doing it for religious on a religious basis. But it was totally counterproductive to what the city was trying to do in terms of getting people out of that park. And finally, after a lot of negotiation, I think they prevailed upon the organization to move their feeding or to not make that park a magnet for people who would obviously come early and stay late. So I think there's some really legitimate questions to be asked. How many? In a way, as religion fit in this, Peter, a lot of charitable work in this state and everywhere is done by various religious organizations. Some of them more effectively, more genuinely than others. But religion plays a role in this whole environment you're talking about. So where does it play a role in terms of selecting the volunteers and in questioning the volunteers? Yeah, I would tend to look at the volunteer activity more than the religious organization that is behind it. So, you know, Catholic Charities as an example does a lot of work with the homeless and with people, people the houseless or people who are living on the street and they do a lot of drug work and so forth. I'm not I'm not so interested in in Catholic Charities per se or why the Catholic Charities does that. I'm interested in what they do and how effective they are, as you say. So I don't think I'm going to be going from the Methodist to the Southern Baptist to the Lutherans to find out, you know, what's going on. So I see we don't have very much time left. I want to thank you very much for doing this. If you have any unanswered questions, we'll get another half hour. But I really appreciate it and you've helped me think very clearly about some of the things I want to do in this show. And I hope people will watch this and then watch subsequent shows ahead. And I want to thank you again for all you do with Tecawai. Thank you, Peter. You're a great participant in these programs. We just love your work with Tecawai. And we're looking forward to seeing this show flower out into a statement that's much broader and and to support that much that's much broader for our volunteer champions than it is now. Thank you, Sir. I appreciate that. And I want to close this. I will close every show with a thought about volunteerism. And Michael will put it up on the screen and talking about the purpose of life. And I encourage people. I hope you'll come back to future shows of Hawaii's volunteer champions. Benjai, thank you so much. And I'll see you in a couple of weeks or I'll see our viewer viewers, both of them. I'll see all of our viewers in a couple of weeks. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching ThinkTec Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our website thinktecawaii.com. Mahalo.