A Rant

When I retired in Las Vegas, one of the great perks was being able to volunteer my time with groups such as the master gardeners.  I love gardening, and going through the training was terrific because I learned so much about gardening for our area.  Once I was certified, I enjoyed putting in volunteer hours at community projects and getting my continuing education hours each year to keep my knowledge base current.  I really missed that and my gardener friends when we moved to Oregon.

I miss you peeps!

I figured I could continue as a master gardener here in Oregon as a great way to learn about this very different climate, and make new friends among the gardeners and the community at large.  After a rocky start (my first inquiry was rebuffed as there were "very few volunteer opportunities" ), I enrolled in the 2011 class and became certified here.  I started working in the plant clinics answering questions, and volunteered with the local organization helping with adminstrative duties.  I loved meeting people and helping where I could.  I met so many great people, I decided to certify as a master food preserver to learn about food safety and share that with the members of my community.  I finished that training in the 2012 class and volunteered my time giving presentations, helping at classes, and continuing to meet good friends and share ideas.  You can read about all the fun to be had here

Our awesome class of MFPs.

Me giving a food preservation talk at Hollinshead Community Garden.

Alas, this year Oregon State University has implemented a new Requirements of Volunteer Service form which not only requires me to accept their insurance coverage (without telling me what it is) if I want to continue volunteering, but also requires me to give up my constitituional right to sue OSU even if it knowingly or negligently sends me into an unsafe situation and I am injured as a result of their deliberate or negligent conduct.  I say again - even if their conduct is deliberate.  This is new, by the way - in the past I could opt out of whatever their medical/accidental death and disability coverage was and thus avoid the waiver.  No longer.

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So I'm up here in rural Oregon - who cares, right?  What possible situation could arise where I or my heirs would want redress against OSU for something that happens while I'm volunteering?  I mean, I could just avoid doing presentations on pesticides (which I don't think we're allowed to do anyway) or pressure cookers, right?  That's not the point, not for me.

Here's the point:  Oregon master gardeners in 2012 alone  GIFTED 194,898 hours to OSU - for free.  A value of  $4.2 million dollars, or the equivalent of 95.5 additional full time employees (read about it here).  I have no  numbers on what the master food preservers have gifted to OSU, but I can tell you just in our small group here, during fair week those numbers added up.  In these times of furloughed employees and budget constraints, one would think OSU would encourage volunteerism in its ranks.

Adding insult to injury, master gardeners this year received new instructions for the plant clinics, which includes walking through the left door instead of the right, so the buzzer doesn't sound and presumably disturb the front office staff or make someone in the back get up out of their chair to see who's here  (I'm not making that up - try remembering something like when you're right-handed), and a requirement to greet front office staff when going in the door. This confuses me because if the reason for going in the left side of the door is not to disturb them, then wouldn't saying good morning be just as distracting?  Jeez.

So yes, this is a rant against OSU for trying to  force a ridiculously overbroad waiver of liability on me as a condition of volunteering, which I love.  I'm angry because I can no longer contribute in this way to my community, and because I truly loved the learning process, sharing that knowledge, and meeting all the great people I've met through my volunteer service.  I loved volunteering for OSU.

But I love myself more.
Go Ducks.