One week later...

It was just a week ago that I arrived back home after 4 weeks in Puerto Vallarta. 
In some ways it seems like the week has gone by very quickly. In other ways it feels like a long time since I was enjoying the sunshine and warmer temperatures of the tropical beach community of PV.

The cold weather and schedule has had me working extra nights at the shelter so this week was mostly divided into working and sleeping times. Yesterday and today seem more normal and I'll just have to get used to the couple of days per week that I'll be overnighting at the shelter for the winter. 

Last season I wasn't on staff and didn't volunteer as much as I had planned to, so I am kind of getting reacquainted with the people and the process.  The thing that strikes me most as I re-enter the shelter system is that there are fewer volunteers than there have been in the past. I am curious as to the reason for the significant decline in people that are available and willing to help, and I am wondering if it spreads across volunteering for other services or is centralized with the unsheltered community.
Whatever the reasons are -- we have a great need for help. I have a feeling that is true wherever crisis cold weather shelters exist, so please contact someone in your area if you have time to give.

In other news -- It's cold!
Okay, so that's not really newsworthy for SWMO in December and it isn't going to change much for a few months, but I try not to complain too much and this is my primary outlet for venting. For the sake of my few remaining followers, I will try to keep the cold weather comments to a minimum.
As always, I am #readyforspring !

John