Volunteering: It Does a Body Good!

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I've been volunteering at local public libraries for the past three years, or so.

When I started, I had three goals in mind:

1. Get to know people in my community. (We'd only lived in our town for a few years, so I thought this would be a good way to get to know people.)
2. Utilize some of the skills I learned in library school. (I don't work in a "traditional" library, so I wanted to keep my mind sharp on things I'd learned.)
3. Be in an environment where I'd be able to help, and in turn be appreciated for that help. (I was struggling with my paying gig at the time.)

I ended up achieving these three goals and getting back so much more than I expected.

Do you volunteer? If yes, good for you! 

I've learned that volunteers are often the life blood of an organization, especially those with small budgets/small staff. At my town's public library (where I volunteered for a little over two years), volunteers did cataloging, weeding, and helped with programming- tasks done by employees in larger libraries. In my previous life, I worked for a non-profit, and we LOVED volunteers. There wasn't enough bandwidth to get certain things accomplished by employees, so we utilized the volunteer force.

If you don't volunteer, why? Do you think you don't have enough time? Do you think you're not qualified? To these statements, I say pshaw! Currently I volunteer one hour per week. During that time, I still make a meaningful contribution, doing an hour's worth of work that the librarians don't have time to do. There often are no "qualifications" needed for volunteering. Yes, I went to "library school," but could I do the tasks I do without the degree? You betcha. My Mom volunteers at her public library in the Friends' book shop. Other than being a lover of books (and the fastest reader I know), she doesn't have any "formal" qualifications...and doesn't need them. I think that's the beauty of volunteering. I often think about volunteering in some capacity with dogs. I'm not interested in pursuing a veterinary degree, but I'd love to walk dogs or even clean out crates! Volunteering allows you to embrace your love of something without having to go through formal schooling. A win win!

Here are some fun pictures taken throughout my last six months or so of volunteering:

One evening I was charged with a project to pull books off the shelf that were in bad shape/need of replacement, i.e, broken binding, ripped pages.

As I opened each book and started flipping through, I found all kind of "treasures."

I often stamp new books that have come in. The library I volunteer at imprints their seal on page 101 of each book. I often find some interesting things on page 101 (or page 100).

Ghanaian cuisine, anyone?

I love perusing the new books. I often find titles to add to my "to read" list. And then, there are some that I just make fun of.

An entire cookbook devoted to TOAST? (Oh, wait...TWO entire cookbooks devoted to TOAST?)

I love volunteering- it enriches my life!

Pioneer Woman's Overnight French Toast Casserole

I'm making it my mission to look back through the photo stream on my phone and write related blog posts. So, yeah, we're turning the calendar back to Christmas!

I'd wanted to try an overnight french toast casserole for a while and I saw that the Pioneer Woman had one, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I wanted to make it on Christmas Eve and we'd have it Christmas morning, but due to scheduling, that was a bit tough. So, I pushed to a day later.

On Christmas night, I threw together the ingredients and it looked like this:

It's basically a loaf of French bread torn into bite size pieces with an egg/milk/cream mixture poured over it.

You also create the topping ahead of time (no pictures, however.) That is a pebble-like mixture of cinnamon, flour, brown sugar, butter & spices. (And really...the phrase "pebble-like" describes it to a "T!")

Stick both in the fridge overnight, wake up, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees, pour the topping over the casserole bread/milk/egg mixture and cook for a while.

A while? Yes.

Per the recipe (which I'll post a link to below), you cook for 45 minutes for a softer "more bread pudding texture" and an hour (or more) for a firmer less liquid texture.

I cooked ours for an hour and it still was, how can I say this? Squishy.

You can't see the squishiness, but here it is:

While I enjoyed the flavors, I had a hard time getting past the texture. If I get some feedback re: cooking time and a firmer texture, I'd try it again.

Here's the recipe.


Have you made this before? Which texture do you prefer? If you prefer the firmer texture, how long did it end up taking to cook?