DATE: Saturday, May 3, 1997                 TAG: 9705030003

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: OPINION 

                                            LENGTH:   91 lines

PRESIDENTS' SUMMIT

Maybe it was the preachy tone of the Presidents' Summit for America's Future. Then again, maybe what frosted me was Monday's headline in this newspaper; ``Are you ready to work?''

I do know that when I retrieved my paper from the porch - in the moonlight, at 5:30 a.m. - I saw the headline and groaned. Since women have always contributed the lion's share of volunteer hours, you'll have to excuse me for thinking this was just another attempt to make us feel guilty for not doing enough.

Am I the only one who finds it passing strange that the same government that has helped hold down wages, increased the tax burden on low- and middle-income Americans and has macheted government programs, now wants us - the working people - to volunteer our time to make up for government's shrinking role?

Sure, in our spare time.

Don't get me wrong: I think volunteerism is great. It's the American way. I try to do my part and rarely say no when I'm asked to help out on a worthy project. But I object to people who last year slashed and burned our welfare system now holding a summit to persuade working stiffs to pick up the ball that government dropped like a hot potato.

I want to remind these guys that I volunteered about a third of what I earned on the 15th of April. Maybe instead of frittering hundreds of millions of dollars on foolishness, like the Army Corps of Engineers' plans to tame the ocean up and down the East Coast, the feds could use the money to help the 2 million neediest children in America.

I'd also like the feds to track down the daddies of all these poor kids and make them volunteer to pay their child support or let them volunteer in prison.

Surely, there's a financial crunch at every level of government in America. But nothing that painting over graffiti is going to solve.

But while these wealthy middle-aged men are scratching their heads about social problems in America, I'd like to remind them of the ones they helped create. Who can forget last year's battle royal to raise the minimum wage to a measly $4.75 an hour? By September, the minimum wage will soar to the princely sum of $5.15 an hour.

People making this kind of money - an estimated 3.7 million of them - can't afford to volunteer. They're probably already moonlighting just to keep food on the table. Most likely it's their kids in need of volunteers to nurture and mentor them. Maybe if their parents received a decent wage, more kids could be taken care of by their very own parents.

If politicians can't figure out why volunteerism is down from the middle part of the century, let's enlighten them. Gentlemen, volunteerism is down because there are only 24 hours in every day.

Volunteerism is in a slump because working families lucky enough to have two parents know that economic survival means both must work. American workers already work longer hours than their counterparts in Europe where new mandates will limit work - including overtime - to 48 hours per week and guarantee every worker on the continent a minimum of four weeks vacation.

In spite of less leisure time, studies show Americans volunteer more than Europeans.

If politicians really want to solve the problems facing working folks they should figure out a way to add a few hours to the day. Here's the way I figure it: we have 16 usable hours a day - assuming 8 hours to sleep at night, though I can't remember the last time any working mother had eight hours of recumbent luxury. At least 10 of those hours are spent commuting to work, working and lunching. That leaves six hours a day for good deeds. But, whoops, almost two of those hours need to be spent in the mornings simply getting the family out of the house - making breakfasts, lunches and beds and getting everyone dressed.

That leaves four hours at the end of the day. Figuring that at least one hour is spent cooking and eating dinner, that leaves a grand total of three hours, which at my house are consumed by homework, baths and bedtime stories.

But wait, maybe the president and his bipartisan cronies think we ought to spend those unproductive hours between 9 and 2 a.m. doing good deeds.

Sorry, most working women I know reserve that time for laundry, dishes, ironing and getting ready to start all over the next morning. Personally, I'm not in the mood to paint over graffiti after the children are in bed.

And weekends? Forget it, they're already spent doing the things there was no time to do during the week: grocery shopping, yard work, cleaning.

Sorry, Bill, Colin, George, Gerald and Jimmy, the reality of life for many of us is that much as we would like to help you boys out, between work, the few rare hours at home and the hours we're already volunteering, there is precious little time to do more.

Most women I know already allot time to volunteer work in our children's schools, for our favorite charities and in our churches and synagogues. Beyond that, American parents ought to be making family time a priority. We should be trying to spend more time with our kids - not less.

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard President Clinton ask, `Are you ready to work?''

I, and other working mothers, have a simple retort: ``We already are at work.'' MEMO: Ms. Dougherty is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot.

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