This goes out to my favorite volunteer!

When he comes in, I hang out in the food pantry, idly moving cans around to feel (and look) like I'm productive. I jump out of my seat when he comes, helplessly smiling, and keep searching for projects for him because I want him around the office.

HA! Do you think this is some romantic interest? No, Mike, my Volunteer Champion, is in his fifties (I would guess) with a wiry frame and graying spiky hair. With crooked front teeth fighting for space, his grin is a bit mischievous as he teases me about my "peeps" (what he calls my recruited volunteers) and the main export from my home state of California (yes Mike, I smoke pot all the time. All the time when I'm partying it up like you know I do!).

Being an ex-engineer from Dow Chemical, we have differences of opinion that are wide enough to create interesting conversation but close enough that working together doesn't ultimately conclude in polite, sterile conversation. When I was woken up on a snow day by his call (I'm not sure why I gave my cell number to him, but that's all he calls now), we ended up having a half-hour conversation about teacher unions, the state of schools, and the documentary "Waiting for Superman". The next week, I found a small stack of cut-out Wall Street Journal articles on my desk from him.

I don't see myself as a very good volunteer coordinator. I don't enjoy doing it, beyond the organizing aspect, and I have never been good at telling people what to do. But I am good at cultivating relationships with individuals and that is what has happened with Mike. We don't even have much work that he can do as a volunteer - he needs big picture projects with money and dedicated staff and we have none of those - but he has stuck around, becoming my reliable food order man on Tuesday mornings. I can easily imagine that we will stay in touch when my service is over, and continue to argue over union bargaining rights, international corporations, and all those topics I love.