October 2000 - Holiday Volunteering

Twenty-five CVC members beat the rush for Holiday shopping...for volunteer opportunities. At the September CVC program, members learned best strategies for organizing Holiday volunteer opportunities from representatives of the Volunteer Resource Center, Second Harvest Food Bank and Exchange Charities. Key points made about volunteering during the holidays were:

• BE OPEN TO DEVELOPING A LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP - Holiday volunteer events can provide the perfect opportunity to develop a relationship with an agency that lives on past the holidays. A Larger pool of volunteers is normally available during the holidays and people are generally more enthused about holiday events. This can serve as the basis for a new and long lasting relationship with the right agency.
• PLAN EARLY - A lot of people may want to volunteer during the holidays and finding room for everyone can be a challenge. Give yourself plenty of time to find the right agency partners and the ability to accommodate all of the volunteers that sign up to help.
• BE FAMILY FRIENDLY - Work with agencies to make the events as family friendly as possible. Many people that want to volunteer during the holidays want to have their families join in to spread the joy and the experience of volunteering. Many agencies can help you make this happen. Work with the agency in advance to make this available for your volunteers and to ensure the agency is ready to handle this type of volunteer group.
• MAKE IT MEANINGFUL - Find an event that will be meaningful to the volunteers and represents a real need in the community.

If you are looking for holiday volunteer ideas, call one of your CVC peers or contact the Volunteer Resource Center (612-379-4900/ www.volunteertwincities.org). Volunteer opportunities available at Exchange Charities (612-276-0324) include dinner preparation, food-shelf assistance, a clothing drive and more. For opportunities available at Second Harvest Second Harvest Food Bank, call 763-593-9844.

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