Volunteerism is the most important aspect that makes the Tire Rack Street Survival program the outstanding community service we, as car people, can provide. It’s only because of our in-car coaches, event staff and, most importantly, our school organizers that we can save so many teen lives each year. This is another way we embody the phrase “we come for the cars but stay for the people.” I don’t know who said that first, but it is the reason volunteerism is a shining virtue in our host Clubs. The people that show up at a Street Survival school are more than just your average car Club members. They are there because they have big hearts and small egos. Jimmy Doolittle said it best, “There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.”
By Tim Beechuk
Helping a teen learn car control and how to handle emergency situations in their car requires patience and humor. Seeing the light bulb come on through the day and experiencing the increase in confidence in our students is the reward we all enjoy. And, of course, you don’t have to be an in-car coach to experience all of this. Without the staff to help during the day and all the behind-the-scenes work that our school organizers put forth, no school would ever exist.
We’ve done a lot since Street Survival was born over 20 years ago, and it’s all because of the people who put out the effort to make sure the teens get the training they need to be safe drivers. More than all the lives saved, and drivers trained, is the number of people touched by the events of a Street Survival school. The families take home a feeling of “wow, these people care about my child.” Word of mouth from our parents is our best advertising and the teens tell their friends what a great day it was. Again, it is all because of these volunteers that make a Street Survival school the outstanding experience it is.
Being on the administrative side of a number of schools recently, I’ve been happy to talk with several parents and get their impressions of the day. Beyond the comments about how their son or daughter enjoyed the day are the comments from the parents who have said that they learned something, too. When volunteers believe in the purpose of their actions, they perform with an amazing drive to do the best they can. I’ve found that our coaches and staff really believe in the Street Survival program and translate that into teaching the teens. You can’t make volunteers; you have to find them in the wild and cultivate them to your needs. The greatest thing about our Street Survival volunteers is that they become solid believers as soon as they work at a school. No extensive cultivating is necessary.
This quote from a parent really sums it up and explains why we do it. “I wanted to express my gratitude to you and the whole Street Survival staff of volunteers who donated their time and knowledge (and strong nerves!) to sit in the car with my daughter (and all the young teenagers as well).” Bill Wade, our indomitable Program Manager, gets comments like this often.
I wanted to talk a bit about volunteers because we need more to keep the program doing good things. Without new people coming forward to work with the program, we will fall behind in the number of students we can train. A few schools this year were limited in enrollment by the number of coaches the organizer could enlist for their school. Also, a couple of organizations who normally hold two schools a year only held one due to lack of volunteers. Of course, there are a lot of reasons volunteer numbers are down. Surprisingly, we all grow older. Burnout is a real possibility with people who have spent a lot of time helping. People move and might now not have a connection to a school. We all have a lot of other interests to occupy our time. All of this means we need to talk to our friends and urge them to find a school to help at. You know it will be the most rewarding thing they do with the Club. If you’re looking for a school, go to www.streetsurvival.org to find one near you. I have the greatest respect and appreciation for all of those who have spent time being a volunteer for the Tire Rack Street Survival program. You are the light.
This story was originally published in the BMW CCA Foundation Forum newsletter.
