Answer! (1 of 2, enthusiastic answers!)

On February 3rd, I finally received this e-mail:

Hi Jean,

Thank you so much for connecting with HandsOn Network, and for your interest in starting a HandsOn organization in Paris... very exciting! We have a collective of 10 organizations in our international affiliate membership who I am sure would be happy to see a new partner emerge in Paris!

Gary, thank you as always for driving new interest in HandsOn our way. I mentioned to Ellen the other day that I think it’s a draw between NYCares and BostonCares for who brings in more interest in partnership with HandsOn from outside the US- thank you for being such an awesome ambassador!

Jean, we are in process of redefining membership requirements for organizations outside the United States; I anticipate this will be final in the next month and will alert you to the latest information. Until this is complete, we are not accepting applications from new affiliates. However, I'd like to stay in touch with you and offer the new application when it's finalized.

In conjunction with this, and to equip new organizations starting HandsOn programming, we are also revising startup manuals and training materials. We have pretty aggressive expansion goals this year, funded by and mapped to a corporate partner's locations, and while Paris is not included in the list of target locations, the resources being funded to drive the expansion will be useful to you. They primarily will come in the form of a new 'startup' training program to be offered at our annual conference in San Francisco June 22-24. The “international startup” training date is tentatively set for June 21, and you are invited to join us. I will send you full details including costs as soon as they are available (within the month) for your consideration. In the meantime, find out more about our conference and complete registration for the general audience portion at VolunteeringAndService.org.

In the interim, you may wish to connect with Viviane de Bruijne, the executive director of Amsterdam Cares, who can share the experience of Amsterdam Cares with you; they're actually planning expansion to become Netherlands Cares and grow to new cities due to the growing demand for their programming! Viviane’s email: viviane@amsterdamcares.nl

I would also be happy to connect with you by phone to learn more about where you are right now in terms of starting up. Feel free to let me know a good time (or two) to reach you in the next week, and / or call me at your convenience at the number below. I look forward to hearing from you. Many thanks again for connecting with us!

Warm regards,

Megan

This e-mail is quite big! And full of information.

It first gives great hopes, because it seems this HandsOn network is well alive, and even growing, faster and faster, full of people willing to help!

Some fears too, at first reading: this network seems really big, everything is going fast, they have aggressive politics and high priority targets... All this seemed to me quite far from the volunteering jobs!

And already talking of costs while I haven't even started anything, and wonder where I'm going to get funds for that, and even if I get make myself a living out of this...

--

I think I needed this "prise de conscience". I think I knew it, and it just confirms it: Not everything is going to be easy, and it will require some time and money :)

Now I think we are often afraid of what we don't know. Remembering the quotations, I think that small step after small step, this can be made! Lots of resources exists, we just have to get into them! And it's reassuring it seems to work so well elsewhere. It may take time, but I'm sure one day, France will get its volunteering network. In the meantime, maybe I can travel a bit to get some ideas!

I have to get information, listen to experiences and success stories, to take some time to make myself more familiar with all this, in order to understand how it works. Everything's gonna be all right :)