4 Walls Library - Professional organizers clear out the clutter
Digging out: Portsmouth radio station gets rid of accumulated "stuff."
by Clare Kittredge, Union Leader Correspondent (published by the Union Leader, 2/1/08)
with participating 4 Walls members Elizabeth Early-Sheehan and Avis Jones
| PORTSMOUTH - When professional organizers meet Animal House, look out! A team of organizers descended on Portsmouth Community Radio
station (WSCA-LP 106.1 FM) recently and transformed it from a cluttered
rabbit-warren with a frat house-like atmosphere into a streamlined
workplace."It's amazing," said development director Rick Dirck. "We
were buried under the clutter. They turned us into a functional work
environment." Tucked in an outbuilding of a 19th century shoe button factory, the tiny 3-year-old public radio station is part of the low-power FCC movement to put "local" back into radio. The movement was created in response to so-called "guerilla radio stations" broadcasting in cities, Dirck said. |
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"The catch is that it was literally buried in donated stuff," he said.
Our 90 volunteers kept bringing in donated items, album and CD
collections, chairs, and we were just buried under a landslide of
goodwill," said Dirck. Then the organizers showed up. Nine professional organizers and 20 radio station volunteers rolled up their sleeves and donated a day of their time last week. Out went piles of empty boxes, broken furniture, defunct electronics, useless shelving, tables, chairs, caved-in couches and other clutter, said Robin Husslage, aka The Anonymous Organizer in Rye. The professional organizers decided to help because the community radio is volunteer-run, said Elizabeth Early-Sheehan, a professional organizer with Organizational Solutions in Deering, in a written statement. "We felt that (the station) would be a great candidate to receive our help. |
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Professional organizers create order out of chaos, Husslage said. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Husslage said she became a part-time organizer so she could work while raising her three kids. "Organizing is not about being pretty, it's about being able to find your stuff," she said. " "Everybody's so busy in their lives and there's so much paper and technology, it's hard to keep track" said Husslage. "If it's impeding things in their life, this just helps streamline what's causing them difficulties." At Portsmouth Community Radio, the results speak for themselves. "We cleaned house and boy, did it need it" said Husslage. "Everything was in disarray. Broken furniture, electronic equipment just sat there in piles. A few days before we got there, a DJ had wheeled in a broken chair." |
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"We can actually move," marvelled Dirck, giving a tour of the station's newly uncluttered central office, performance area and hallway. "The closets were piled high with radio gear," Dirck said, revealing neatly organized shelves. "It was costing us money. We were half as productive because of the mess." The makeover also got a good review from Jacob Glover, better known as Fuzzy, a hip hop DJ who hosts a weekly show, "Bringing the Heat with Fuzzy." "Before you couldn't find a lot of the CDs," he said. "The stuff was all mish-mashed around. They definitely did a lot of good." |
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