Good will hunting
It's the season of giving, and people are giving more than usual.
In fact, Harpoon had so many people sign up for its holiday decorating event this month that the local beer company had to start a waiting list for volunteers. Of course, a number of those 400-plus helpers had more than community service on their minds. Many of them were, as they say, on the make. Cruising. Checking out the merchandise.
The morning of the event, the mostly 20- and 30-something volunteers waited in the Boston brewery to be dispatched in teams to decorate community organizations around the city. I spied groups of women trying to figure out whether any men were assigned to the same location. I saw male Harpoon employees light up with holiday joy when they were asked to take groups of women out to decorate. I saw just about everybody in the building eye a pack of burly guys who turned out to be members of a Harpoon-sponsored rugby team.
The young men told me they were volunteering to thank Harpoon for its support - but if they happened to meet some women during the event, that would be OK, too.
"We're all mostly single," said Joe DiBenedetto, who sipped coffee and surveyed the scene with rugby friend Jay Almeida.
Nearby was Kathryn O'Kane, a 27-year-old from Watertown, who jokingly asked if she could borrow my reporter's notebook so she could solicit their personal information. "I could ask for their names and numbers," she said. "Do you have an extra pen?"
During the holiday season, the Greater Boston Food Bank can also be a meat market.
"People get to know each other because they're bumping into each other with the food sorting," says volunteers director Amy Cooper-Ayles, who added that the Food Bank is a male-volunteer magnet because of the heavy boxes and forklifts.
The Food Bank is also a good mingling spot because there's no exposure to clients in the food loading area. (Singles and volunteer coordinators tend to say it's better - and more tasteful - to hit on someone when you're not serving food to a homeless person at the same time.)
Kelly Sajous, who has supervised food sorting for years, tells me that Wednesday night actually used to be an official singles night at the Food Bank. The organization stopped advertising it as such years ago, but the mingling still happens. "They're working, then they're having a conversation, then they go out for a drink. . ."
Of course, the lighting isn't very flattering in the Food Bank's Warehouse B. It actually resembles that moment at 2 a.m. when the bar lights come on. Dress (and wear makeup) accordingly.
Public service groups in town say they don't mind being used as matchmakers. In fact, Boston Cares executive director Patrice Keegan makes no bones about the fact that meeting people is a priority of many of her volunteers, 80 percent of whom are single. Photos on her website could double as a speed dating ad. Smiling faces. Young people with good hair.
Nonprofiters like Keegan say they understand the appeal. If you meet someone doing volunteer work, there's a good chance they're a nice person and not a criminal. After all, they're volunteering.
Single Volunteers Boston was founded on this principle. It sets up events around town so that nice people can find one another while helping the community. Next week, members will be at Saturday's Bread, which serves meals on weekends to people in need. On the Single Volunteers Boston website, under the event listing, it says: "Need men and women." Equal opportunity.
Of course, the group makes no promises.
I once spoke to a member of Single Volunteers Boston who was irritated because during a volunteer event at the zoo, she got stuck manning a post that kept her isolated from all the eligible bachelors. All she could see were the leopards.
I know two other women who recently spent an evening answering phones for WGBH. The night doubled as a singles event, but the pickings were slim.
They were stuck actually having to help people for a few hours with no reward. It happens.
Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com. 