Volunteer Trees or why you should volunteer for PPTC
One of the things I enjoy watching online are videos of people cleaning up neglected gardens/yards. From these videos I learned the phrase “volunteer trees”. These are trees that are not planted by anyone but just end up growing in someone’s garden/yard. I always thought that term was interesting because those trees are probably more accurately called opportunistic trees. That made me question whether volunteers are opportunistic. My conclusion – volunteers benefit so much from volunteering that the act of volunteering is indeed opportunistic!
If you are not volunteering for PPTC, you are really missing out. As a member of PPTC, we have many opportunities to volunteer for the club. From the members of the Board to the person handing you your checked bag after an AGSS race, PPTC is volunteer driven. In fact, you are only reading my words because I am a volunteer on the Blog Team.
When I joined PPTC, I jumped in with both feet first – that’s just the way I am. I was a volunteer from day one. I joined committees and volunteered at races. Volunteering enriched my experience as a new member. I learned more about the club and how it works and got to meet some veteran members and some other new members. Yes, I met people on group runs and at pub runs (the now rebranded “Wednesday Night Socials”), but you really get to know people on a different level when you work a race with them or work on a committee with them.
I know, I know, it sounds like some canned trope to say that volunteering is rewarding, but it really is. I’ll save you all the talk about giving back to our community and how that is a reward in and of itself, let’s talk about the practical aspects of volunteering. First, when you volunteer and get to know people and how the club works, if you ever have an issue, you’ll know exactly who to go to or you’ll know someone who knows who you should go to. Even if you just meet me while volunteering, I could tell you who to go to if say you somehow unsubscribed from the Announcements Google Group or don’t know what to do because you haven’t gotten your clothing order. Volunteering is like getting an upgrade in your membership to a higher tier of being in the know.
Second, when you volunteer you earn volunteer points that you can exchange the volunteer points for renewal of your membership. When I get that membership renewal reminder, I shoot the volunteer committee and email and get my membership renewed in exchange for accrued volunteer points. You can check out PPTC’s volunteer points program on our website.
Third, if you volunteer as an official pacer for our group runs, after 15 times, you get a snazzy PPTC hat.
Pacer hat earned after serving as a volunteer group run pacer 15 times, Photo credit: Clark McCaskill
If you’re interested in becoming an official pacer for one of PPTC’s group runs, just add your name to the group run sign-up sheet as a “pacer”. And, if you’re into some friendly competition, the current pacer leaderboard is as follows (name with times paced):
PACER LEADER BOARD
1. Crystal Cun - 26
2. Patrick Dela Cruz - 18
3. Natalie Morin - 16
4. Janice Fuld - 12
5. Lisa Maya Knauer - 10
Brian Schwartz, Race Committee co-chair and AGSS volunteer in the T-shirt earned by race day volunteers (Photo Credit: Alex Cohn)
Fourth, if you volunteer at one of PPTC’s races on race day, you get PPTC clothes! As a race day volunteer for any of the seven races in the Al Goldstein Speed Series, you’ll get a very nice cotton blend Bakline T-shirt. I love this shirt. It’s soft and the fabric breathes. If you volunteer for PPTC’s Race for Reconciliation (AKA the Turkey Trot) or PPTC’s Cherry Tree 10-Miler/Relay, you get a windbreaker. You’ll only get a shirt or a jacket once, but hey, free club gear!
David Coleman at the 2025 Cherry Tree 10-Miler/Relay in the windbreaker earned by race day volunteers (Photo Credit: Will Ngo)
I know I said I wouldn’t do it – engage in a discussion about how volunteering is rewarding in and of itself but indulge me. On Global Running Day, I was volunteering at bib pick-up for the Al Goldstein Speed Series. When a runner comes up to me, I ask what’s your last name, so that I can look them up and assign them a bib. On Global Running Day, the runner in front of me was an old classmate of mine from elementary school! It wasn’t even our first meeting at bib pick-up because I gave him his bib at the Turkey Trot. At Turkey Trot bib pick-up when he said his last name, I was typing and chatting and saying how I went to elementary school with someone with that last name and then I saw his first name and it was my classmate! I immediately gave him my name, and we had those “it’s a small world” exchanges. On Global Running Day, he remembered me and asked me how I was. And it just warms my heart thinking about those carefree days in my little elementary school (maybe it’s not that little since it is an elementary school in Brooklyn) and volunteering gave me those moments to think back on us as little kids in the 4th grade. Volunteering can reward you in ways you wouldn’t expect.
Volunteers at race day bib pick-up, I’m on the far left (Photo Credit: Will Ngo)
As an AGSS runner, I will say that if you volunteer you will have my gratitude. I am a slow runner (often coming in at the bottom of the list of race results). As a slow runner, I really get to know the bike marshals who check on me throughout the race even as the days get shorter and the skies begin to darken before I make that last blind turn before the straight away to the finish line (I hate that turn). If you volunteer at the fluid stations, you are my savior. The fluid station appears like a mirage in a desert on some of those very hot humid nights, but the fluid station volunteers are always there with their smiles, words of encouragement, and outstretched cups of water. Finish line volunteers cheer me on even though I’m finishing maybe 30 minutes or more after the race winner. When I’ve crossed the finish line, I trudge up the stairs to the Concert Pavilion to retrieve my bag from volunteers who often will hear me say, “You’re still here!” And the response I often get is, “Of course!” I really do appreciate race day volunteers.
My saviours - the fluid station volunteers at AGSS (Photo Credit: Linda Chan)
All this is to say, if you have some time sign-up to volunteer. The Al Goldstein Speed Series is currently on every other Wednesday evening through August 26th. Check our Discord server and the Announcements listserv for the link to sign-up to volunteer. Sign-up to be a group run pacer! And if you’re interested in getting even more involved in the club, join a committee!
Text by: Linda S. Chan (she/her)
Photos by: as attributed
Produced by: Linda S. Chan
PPTC is a diverse and supportive team. We want to celebrate the diversity of our club and membership. We welcome and encourage everyone to share their stories with us.