December Volunteer Spotlight: Valerie Harrington

What motivates you to volunteer?I like offering my time to help out and give back to the world. As a bonus, it gives me the chance to meet and get to know people I otherwise most likely wouldn't meet.Why ACR?ACR's mission to reduce waste and recycle strikes a chord with me. The ACR family members are friendly and truly fun to hang out with whether folding material or arranging shelves or pricing items. It's obvious that staff, volunteers, and board members want to be involved in continually improving on a meaningful concept that is Austin Creative Reuse.How long have you volunteered with ACR?I still feel fairly new, but four months now.Are you more into the arts aspect of ACR or the conservation aspect and why?More on the conservation side of things, but I'm creative too and think ACR may give me new inspiration along the way. I hold onto things thinking, this could be useful, not sure how, which leads to stuff, which leads to a need to purge. Find a place that's dedicated to helping reduce this kind of thing is phenomenal.Where else have you/do you volunteer?Meals on WheelsShadow Cats (feline sanctuary and community cats)Old Settler's Music FestivalWhat do you enjoy the most out of volunteering for ACR?Getting to know the other people involved, seeing how they contribute, and just having a fun, satisfying time. Feeling like I'm making a difference, making a little ripple on the ocean.Do you have any interesting or funny stories about something that happened while you were volunteering at ACR?Before Thanksgiving I wanted to find a Thanksgiving token or decoration to take to a Friendsgiving party. Was hoping for something a little kooky that folks would either love or not-so-much. Right before the party, I found a reasonably priced singing turkey up front at ACR. It was love at first sight. And I was more thrilled when I popped in some batteries and it still worked.