By ROBERT JUMPER
Tutiyi (Snowbird) and Clyde, N.C.
Several times a year, we are enlisted, or solicited, to do volunteer work for our community. Community work is noble work indeed and should be done. But the way many of us do it and what we call volunteering is not noble at all.
The Cherokee community has a long history of caring for its people. When we know of a legitimate need, we come together to financially and physically support people in our community. For example, when there are sick people, people in need of travel expenses for medical or school needs, or people who are just down and out, you will see fundraisers pop up everywhere in the community. Community members gather and freely give time and resources to raise funds or whatever is needed to address the community member in distress. Some of the best meals that I have had on the Qualla Boundary have been at community fundraisers. Most of the time, homemade meals are sold at these events.
My main point about these fundraisers is that they are true volunteerism. No one forces or pays these community members to take time out of their lives to work at a cooking station, set up tents or tables and chairs, or serve food. Typically, no one “sponsors” the food, the funds to buy the food come from those same individuals who cook and serve. The same people who have a genuine desire to directly help that person or family in need. These community members reach into their own pockets for donations and provide elbow grease for others. And I believe that is true volunteerism.
Free labor groups like that of Kolanvyi (Big Cove) are examples of true volunteerism. From preparing grave sites to moving furniture for elderly and mobility-challenged community members, they provide manpower (and womanpower) to meet the needs of those living in their community and beyond. These men and women give freely of their time and resources to meet the critical needs of their community families. No incentive is necessary other than someone who is hurting or in need.
Contrast this tradition of individual, unconditional giving with some of the efforts that we see from our government. It is a rare week when there is not some sort of administrative leave given for various sporting events and other communal activities. And don’t get me wrong, I know that I have charitable endeavors that I love to spend time with that I would like to take time off from work to do. And I sometimes do. But, for the most part, those are not things the tribal government may not feel are important, and they are not offering me free time to do. In those cases, I must use my personal leave time, accumulated from my time in service, or work, as part of my compensation package, to invest time in those pursuits. In other words, if I want to contribute to those causes, I must make a personal sacrifice. That, I believe, is the nature of true volunteerism.
Let’s do some math. Granted, it will be fuzzy math, because I don’t have exact data to pull from. But I think we can get close. We must assume some standards. In keeping with the current moratorium on releasing any financial data, I am only talking about information that is already common knowledge. My disclaimer is that I am working from supposition and extrapolation, so I am happy to be corrected if I am off the mark in any of the numbers.
Speaking of tribal government employees only: Let’s assume a rate of 33 percent for both fringe (fringe being benefits given to an employee in addition to hourly pay or salary) and indirect (indirect cost is the cost assessed for supporting a work environment for an employee). Every tribal position, to the best of my knowledge, is subject to fringe and indirect costs. So, if you take a minimum wage employee ($15 per hour) plus fringe ($4.95 per hour) and indirect ($4.95 per hour), we are looking at the value of an hour of service from this employee being worth $24.90 per hour. So, an 8-hour day would be $199.20. That would be a minimum estimate for an administrative leave day for an employee.
Now, let’s say you have 300 minimum wage employees (roughly a third of the tribal workforce) who “volunteer” for an event for a day. The ballpark cost to the tribe for volunteering those employee services would be $59,760. That is the minimum. When you consider that many who choose to participate in offered administrative leave make far more than that minimum wage number (at supervisory level, from managers up to secretaries it can be $58 per hour or more, including fringe and indirect), you can see that a day of administrative time is very valuable to our community.
Beyond the direct financial cost is what it may cost in community services. Each one of us who works in tribal government is a community servant and each job description has in it an allusion to providing a service to our community and to the individuals within that community. It is through tribal employees that our individual community members have access to services, and it is tribal employees who carry out those services. Our community depends on us to be on post when they have a need, and it is our job to be there.
If you have been watching tribal government sessions of late, or you have been reading the job openings available in tribal government and entities in the Cherokee One Feather, you know that we have some challenges in filling positions. In the ad from EBCI Human Resources alone, 22 positions are listed and some of those include the word “multiple” meaning that whose particular position descriptions have more than one opening for the same job title. Simply put, we are challenged in having the complement of employees necessary to meet the needs of our community. It is imperative that we manage the existing employee resources, especially employee time, effectively and efficiently in giving our community the best possible goods and services. The community deserves no less than our full attention.
I do believe in supporting good community causes. I believe that we should participate in those causes. As an individual, when I see a worthwhile cause, I volunteer my time and funds to that cause. I don’t donate someone else’s time and money to it. True caring is sacrificial. Let’s all commit to making this a year of caring.
