Thursday, June 9, 2011

VOLUNTEER: Notes about volunteering on site

Dear Chubby Bunny members,

You can now sign up on line for volunteer shifts for the full season. As a former resident of Chicago, I invite you to vote for yourself to volunteer "early and often!"

For the benefit of new members and for those who have just lost the knack:

Most members fullfill their volunteer commitment by working two shifts at the distribution site over the course of the season. (And many members choose to work extra shifts beyond the two-shift requirement.) Those who cannot work at the site can volunteer in other ways off-site (by arrangement with Bernie) or by buying their way out (by arrangement with June). The requirement is per membership unit; so if a multi-person household has a membership, only two shifts are required, i.e. a two-person household must contribute two shifts, not four. The requirement is the same without respect to whether a share is "full" or "half" and does not vary with additional shares, i.e. two shifts for full share members, half share members, and no extra shifts attached to fruit, chicken, egg, and milk shares.

We have an early (4:30 - 6:00) and late (6:00 - 7:30) shift each date. We also have added several double shifts for chicken distribution. You can satisfy your two shift commitment by working single shifts on two seperate dates or by working a double shift on one date. To receive credit for the shift, you must arrive on time. Although arriving late is preferable to not showing up at all, late arrivals place an extraordinary burden on the site coordinators: when a volunteer does not show up on time, the site coordinator has to spend time finding somebody else and re-distributing the work, rather than doing the actual work of running the site.

When you sign up, please be sure to include your phone number and e-mail address in the space provided. If you have a mobile phone that you are likely to carry the day you are volunteering, please use that number.

If you are signing up for more than one shift, please be sure to check the date and time for each slot you want.

Please be sure to include any special information (such as "no heavy lifting" or relevant medical conditions) in the space provided for additional instructions. We generally can accommodate only one person with limitations on each shift. As a general matter, the late shift requires less heavy lifting than the early shift.

To sign up, go to http://www.chubbybunnynyc.org. Choose the link for "volunteers" from the list on the left. You will be taken to a page that gives a detailed description of the duties for each shift, including the new chicken shift. Scroll down and click the link for signing up. You will be taken to a form requiring your name, e-mail address, phone number, and special instructions. After entering that information, be sure to scroll down and click the box to the left of each shift you want. To register, you will have to type in a security code that appears, and click "register." If you have done all this perfectly, you will be rewarded with a message that your sign-on has been successful and you will be able to click on a link that takes you back to the volunteer page showing your name next to the shift for which you have registered. Please be sure to check that your sign-on has been successful.

Once you've signed on, I'll receive a message and record the information in my records. I won't send you a message confirming your sign-on, because you will have done that yourself already. I will send out a message each weekend to the volunteers for the upcoming Tuesday confirming that we look forward to seeing you.

If your schedule changes, please let me know as soon as possible (by sending an e-mail to volunteers@chubbybunnynyc.org ) so I can get you off the list and recruit somebody else to work in your place.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas about how to make any of this work better.

Looking forward to a great season!

Best,

Abe
Volunteer Coordinator

PS. A FEW NOTES ABOUT VOLUNTEERING:
A few notes on sign-up:
1. Please make sure to include the name in which the share is held if it's not yours so I can give credit correctly.
2. Please include spaces in the usual places when putting down your phone number.
3. Note that we've added more shifts this year so sign-up should be easier.
4. And note that late shifts are going fast!
Best,
Abe

No comments: