As of September 30, 2004, William Elder resigned as Executive Director for the Fremont Chamber. Bill found a better job elsewhere, and took it, a move that everyone I know thought very wise.

Bill served as the Chamber's first Executive "Director" although the fifth "paid volunteer." Originally we referred to this position as "Executive Secretary." These Executive whatevers kept the Chamber running by looking after tasks that might otherwise slip through the cracks of volunteerism. Their resignations often left great gapping black holes in the firmament and threatened to suck the whole organization into a yawning pit.

This has nothing to do with why I volunteered to help out. Call me stupid, perhaps, but I am not a martyr.

The First Shall Be Last…

I answered the ad for a Chamber lackey in 1992. I've heard rumors in recent years that I may have been the only applicant, or the most gullible, but I like to think I was the most qualified. 12 years later, I may be the only one still around. In my five very long years of service, I spent a great deal of time working monthly with Jim Daly on The Bridge, our newsletter. I learned, from Jim's dedication, to value this tool and its importance in the Chamber.

When the Chamber President, Marco Tubic, faced Bill's eminent departure, he mentioned it to me. I believe I took him by surprise when I agreed to "help out," and demanded the position of Editor of The Bridge in return. Marco agreed, as did the Board who voted on it at their September meeting.

With my first step into the Chamber office (something they never had in my day) I felt immensely foolish. I also felt necessary.

The Fremont Chamber does not deal with life-or-death matters, and I'm no nurse. I am, however, capable of answering a phone and forwarding an e-mail. Both of which I did, often, in my first month.

Salvation in the Details

The Chamber phone rings, on average, three times a day. Those three calls come in generally between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Thank God for voice mail! Picking up the messages takes about 10 minutes - if I include the time it takes to return the calls. Very few callers say, "Call me back about this sometime in the far distant future." Generally, people want to talk to a human person now, or hear back within the hour. Interestingly enough, the first message I took did say to call back in a week, but not a single one thereafter.

People call the Chamber from everywhere - a woman from the Midwest called to find out how to decorate the Interurban Statue while in town for her son's friend's wedding. The Seattle-King County Visitor's Center called for copies of the Walking Guide, immediately. I breathed much easier when the caller explained that "immediately" meant one week. A week can be done.

Unfortunately, a part-time volunteer can't satisfy everyone. I traded eight messages with a caller who works part-time and we never connected. Some time frames don't accommodate me - I do have a life away from the Chamber, supposedly. One week, I answered two phone messages and three e-mails from several people to remind me to contact "Jeanette." I might have had time to call earlier if I'd stopped listening to messages.

E-mail has revolutionized office work. I can send and receive them whenever time allows. However, it also added to it. I have to check e-mail - everyday. The Chamber gets roughly two messages a day - all at once. Lulled into a false sense of pointlessness, I may let a day go by and BAM! ten messages flood in. Tricky.

The same occurs with Chamber mail. By Bill's advice, I checked twice a week. Once a week an important bill, or a prized check, might appear. The other time - nada. From past experience, I knew that when I saw the bill for the P.O. Box in the P.O. Box, that I must drive it directly to the Treasurer and beg that she write a check today. Out of perverseness, the Post Office chooses to issue bills with a narrow margin for payment - made narrower by the volunteer nature of this organization. The Chamber lost its P.O. Box in the past and I witnessed the calamity - and still hear of mail delivered to addresses we once used, twenty years ago.

Where Bill kept the Chamber office open certain hours during the week, I couldn't sign on for that. However, one local business person left a note on our door begging for parking maps. We arranged it, and she picked up 25 from the front porch that afternoon.

In my first week, the Chamber had five requests for information on joining. In the second week, a new membership came in - the form downloaded from our website. A member called to find out about RPZ, and where they held community meetings. Other members called about the newsletter - to put in a notice or an insert.

Nothing Changes, Really

Then came the General Meeting. Chamber members are Fremonsters, all of whom run on Fremont Time. We send out the newsletter, and the meeting notice, even further in advance today than in yesteryear. Inside, we mention a discount for people with the foresight to R.S.V.P.

The newsletter said call by October 18th. I had seven calls beforehand - all of them unsure if their message might be heard - and 9 calls that day. The next day I took three more - plus one e-mail sent to my personal address.

As the month closed, I found my groove - "when can I quit?" The phrase spills from my lips like a musical phrase from a scratched record. In the end though, while I am firm that my days as Interim Flunky remain numbered in the single digits, I know I will stick with until a new Executive whatever can be found.

It's not a hard job, just tedious. Tiring, trying and - necessary. With each call to give someone the name of local dry cleaners, or envelope addressed to mail out a new member packet, I feel useful. I stuck with this for five years once not because of the great pay or the tremendous power. I believe in the value of the job because I know the value of the organization - and the great things it can do when the little things get tended.