VOLUNTEERING

One of the significant challenges which the Lighthouse faces is how to maintain the quality of service with a balance of staff and volunteers? The answer is "with difficulty" especially in the holiday periods like October. Volunteers are very thin on the ground during the holidays. To be honest, they have been a bit thiner on the ground generally than I had anticipated at the beginning of the project. Increasingly, I am beginning to wonder whether voluntarism has had its day in many aspects of life within the Christian community. Jesus once spoke about the harvest being plentiful, but the workers few, so perhaps it's a reality that there will always be a significant gap between our hopes and the picture on the ground. If Jesus experienced this, then perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised by it either.

Today I volunteered for the lunch time period and tomorrow Jonathan is stepping in. We have 2 volunteers for Thursday and as yet, nobody for Friday. Hint! Hint! I have to confess that I really enjoyed the 2 hours in the kitchen. It was busy for most of that time with Stewart and I serving, while Michelle very professionally prepared the food for delivery. If you have some time to offer the Lighthouse, we would love to hear from you. We can promise you a great atmosphere to work in and very appreciate customers who clearly enjoy the service which the Lighthouse is providing.