Resilient Greenfield is seeking donations to cover stipends for volunteers who reach milestones of hours, assessed quarterly. Models like “Dollars for Doers” can make volunteering possible for working-age adults who are struggling to make ends meet.
Most volunteers now are retirees: they have the time, and generally the resources, to devote themselves to causes that do not meet their material needs. However, Resilient Greenfield is explicitly an intergenerational organization striving to increase volunteer participation by working-age adults, and needs to find approaches, structures and tools to do something different.
Perhaps the word “volunteering”, which implies being unpaid or doing things charitably, is limited when we consider a need to community-based provision of care and support. Other models under the heading of “solidarity economy” find ways to reach people at the margins, enabling them to develop resilient community connections while meeting their own material needs.
Our nearby Hampshire County Food Policy Council fundraises to provide stipends for participation. Community members who participate in governance meetings receive $50 per meeting, and those who play leadership roles receive $100. Meetings are not frequent enough to cover a living expense, but a program’s recognition that not everyone can give their time regularly is part of what helps individuals decide to make long-term commitments to helping out.
The climate crisis is a result of and challenge to the growth-based capitalist economy. As supply chains, materials availability and environmental hazards impact economic activity, we see reduced labor productivity, outputs, and incomes across diverse sectors such as agriculture, construction, tourism, energy, and infrastructure. Many Greenfielders will find themselves scrambling, and relying on public services to supplement lost job income.