MOA & RA Rallies - 5. Volunteer Days

5. Volunteer Days

Some actually start volunteering way before getting to the rally. There are a slew of emails asking us to select our job, where we want to volunteer.

Making Signs

You can be a Committee Chair, you are then in charge of signs, or the charging station or the beer tent, or security (policing the premises) or seminars or entertainment or finding other volunteers, or whatever you like. 

Carol likes to assort, fold and prep merchandise that will be sold in the MOA ‘store’. She spends 4 days folding, tagging and sorting items that will be sold during the rally. It’s a big job, thousands of t-shirts and other

2 Full Days Folding Shirts - We're Tired

merchandise all with the BMW logo, need to be folded so they fit the display shelves perfectly. They need to be tagged with barcodes, and then finally set up by style, color, size, etc in the sales area. Naturally the MOA offers hats, gloves, real shirts, mugs, key chains and whatever as well. A full retail store needs to be assembled, set up and operated during the rally. It needs cashiers, needs restocking, needs sprucing up once an hour or so, just like real life. All run by volunteers. The

More Boxes Emptied

trash needs to be removed, yes we recycle. We are running a small town so to speak and it is a lot of work and co-ordination. We even have a lost and found booth, a sewing station for repairs or adding decals, and for the bikes, we have an oil changing station, a bike wash and whatever else you can think of, we have it. 

No, neither Carol nor I want to be in charge of a section, like shipping and receiving for example. It is a big responsibility to be ‘in charge’, to be a Committee Chair. We both prefer to be ‘just’ the volunteers. 

Charging and Communication Station (Much Busier When Rally Starts

I tried to fold clothing; I am not good at it. I like to do it ‘my’ way but they had to refold every item I folded, I did not do it in a way that would fit on the shelves. I am not good at doing anything ‘your’ way. So I walk around and help wherever I see the need for help. As you can tell already, I am peculiar.

Someone needs tables, I make sure they get tables, or I bring them the tables they need. Someone is short of people for a little bit, I jump in and do whatever they need doing. Call me a fixer. I do whatever is needed but I can tell you; this place, this MOA rally, is super organized. 

Steve - Shipping and Receiving

Turk - Shipping and Receiving

The people who are working as volunteers are doing a terrific job. It does not take long before the charging and communication station is up and running (they supply and recharge the walkie-talkies for the Committee Chairs and provide a secure charging area for personal electronic devices); the shipping and receiving for example start to work almost immediately, receiving and cataloging packages sent to the rally. Signs are distributed and set up all over the rally grounds. 

All that super organization is largely due to the people who work in those areas, they know their stuff, have done it before, are ready to jump in and help. I don’t feel useless doing ‘nothing’, I offer my services, walk around, talk to people, ask them if they need help and then move on to the next spot where there ‘might’ be help needed. Sure I fold some shirts; they now have a ‘system’, a folding board you need to operate, but I am really not good at doing this for hours. I grow antsy. 

This is One Tiny Corner of the Country Store

The next 3 days are all about getting everybody set, everybody ready for the ‘grand’ opening, which really is no event. On Thursday morning the Main Gates will open and that is all the ‘official’ ceremony needed to begin the rally. And yet...

It seems all of a sudden and seems pre-planned but it just happens, somehow. 

There is a registration process, the rally is not free. You have to pay admission. During the rally, you need to wear an identifying wrist-band that and show it each time you re-enter the fairgrounds. Once on the grounds, you are checked for the wrist band but ever so subtly. At the beer tent for example, you cannot get a beer if you have the wrong color band, or if you somehow sneak in, not wearing a band at all. Yes, we have different colors: the vendors wear white, the registrants blue, the less than 18 crowd (for beer’s sake) green, and youngsters under 12 white bands, because they get in free of charge, etc.

I told you, we are very organized.

The best parts of these 4 days are the people you meet or re-meet, because you have seen them a few years before. While you work, you shoot the breeze, you talk, and you joke around. It feels like a family reunion. Everybody is pitching in during the pre-rally setup. If you do not want to volunteer that is OK too, but then you are not allowed on to the premises before the rally officially opens. Setting up camp earlier (choicer camping spot) is a perk for volunteering for set-up. You cannot have people who just want to hang around, be in the way. It would not be fair; it would actually hinder the work flow. So, officially the rally starts on Thursday morning, you are more than welcome to attend but please.... if you come early, you must work, no exceptions.

Resting at Our Camp Site Before the Rally Starts

The Supervisors, we call them Committee Chairs, are in charge of their individual sections. As a volunteer you report to them. Do as those Committee Chairs want you to do things. They know, they most likely have years of experience. All the Committee Chairs report to the 2 or 3 Rally Chairs who ensure someone is in charge of each section and troubleshoot any issues that arise. All these amazing people are volunteers.

Ah, you want to come and see us in action, want to see how we do things?

Come and partake, the next BMW MOA Rally will be Lebanon, TN in 2019. See you there?  Google it!