I recently had an opportunity to volunteer at KQED via the volunteer outreach at work. I've always wanted to volunteer at a KQED event so I was very excited when my name was picked at work.
It was my first time doing an on-air fundraising and I had a blast. Giving back to the community has never felt this good.
KQED is a public television station in San Francisco which also owns and operates a public radio. On TV, this is the channel where I watch my favorite programs like Nova, Rick Steve's Europe and Downton Abbey. KQED also has on-air fundraising and Mijo and I had called and donated a few times before.
I really enjoy their programs and I had thought of volunteering one day to give back and as a way of saying thank you to them. When the opportunity arose via our volunteer outreach at work, I didn't waste anytime and put in my name. Luckily, my name was picked.
The volunteer job was going to be at their on-air fundraising event . We were going to answer the calls to get donations and pledges from generous supporters of the public television during their broadcast of In Defense of Food which was based on the book by Michael Pollan. I finished reading the book one week before my volunteer day.
On the night of the volunteer event, I arrived early at their Mission district head studio. Dinner was provided (thank you Maykadeh Restaurant and Catering!) and it was delicious. We were prepped about the do's and don'ts when answering the calls while on-air. We also went through a quick hands-on training on how to manuever through their donation software. The software also functions as our tele-prompter and flashes ques what we are supposed to ask during the phone call. It was a challenge talking on the phone and maneuvering through the software and getting the donations at the same time. It was pretty intense the first time.
On the night of the volunteer event, I arrived early at their Mission district head studio. Dinner was provided (thank you Maykadeh Restaurant and Catering!) and it was delicious. We were prepped about the do's and don'ts when answering the calls while on-air. We also went through a quick hands-on training on how to manuever through their donation software. The software also functions as our tele-prompter and flashes ques what we are supposed to ask during the phone call. It was a challenge talking on the phone and maneuvering through the software and getting the donations at the same time. It was pretty intense the first time.
The story ended well because I got better before the event was over. Even though work was crazy that day, the feeling of having been able to give back to the community felt exhilarating.
During one of our breaks, a KQED staff gave us a tour of the facility, their tv studio and their radio studio. The tv studio tour reminded me of the days when I was part of a boys choir and we were a regular guest performer at this tv program in Manila called Turn on 13.
The following day, I received a picture from a coworker. The picture is a TV screen grab showing me looking so intense while on the phone taking donations. Apparently, my face was shown a lot of times during the show's telecast.
I will definitely volunteer at this event again. Thank KQED for continuing to provide quality tv shows and radio programs.
~rl
~rl
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