Online Sign Up Blog by VolunteerSpot

The BEST Holiday Gift for Teachers: TIME!

A low-cost class gift teachers will love!

At VolunteerSpot, we LOVE teachers and know that many parents want to acknowledge and celebrate their children's teachers during the holidays. Often the room mom (or room dad) takes up a collection and presents the teacher with a gift card or envelope of holiday cash. This year, however, the thought of asking parents to contribute money has more than a few room moms pausing. Christy W, a 2nd grade room mom from Fairfax, VA. summed it up when she said, "How can I possibly ask for even $5 when I know that many families in our class are struggling to make ends meat."  And for class parents who really want to offer a gift, many realize that small items -- like candles, bath salts, and candy -- while affordable, may not be what their teacher really wants or needs.

We've got a win/win solution for parents and teachers that also benefits our kids: this holiday season, give your teacher something they really want...the collective gift of TIME!

VolunteerSpot’s free and easy online sign up sheet makes it a snap to coordinate a group gift from class parents or the broader PTA community.  Each parent signs up to contribute a little bit of time or effort, and collectively the teacher receives a HUGELY rewarding experience. Here are some ideas that involve each parent giving a few hours of time every other month:

Classroom Helpers: Signup to read to the class, help with science experiments, and coach kids needing extra help with their math or assignments.

Paperwork Parents: Take turns making copies, assembling work kits and grading papers to give the teacher a free evening. Knowing (s)he has support once a week makes a big differnence for our busy teachers. Working parents like that many tasks can be completed at home and returned the next day.

Meals Circle: Create a once-a-week meals calendar with each family volunteering to bring the teacher either lunch or dinner throughout the year.  This can either be a home-cooked meal, a quick sandwich, or even a gift certificate to a local resturant. 

Recess or Lunch Monitors:  Create a supervision schedule and give your child’s teacher well-deserved quiet time several days a week.

What’s even more wonderful about setting up a classroom, meal or recess schedule, is your child’s teacher can enjoy this gift ALL YEAR!  All you need is one parent to take lead and set up a schedule using VolunteerSpot's easy-to-use online calendar sign up tool.  Here's our video about how it works. Simply invite class parents to find a spot that fits their schedule or make assignments. Parents sign up with a click and VolunteerSpot sends automated confirmation and reminder messages to help them keep their commitments.  Invite the teacher as an assistant organzier so (s)he can access the schedule to make changes and see who to expect on any given day. 

By making it easy to ask for help, VolunteerSpot makes it simple to give the gift of TIME.  "One parent setup a class reading schedule for me. I would have asked for help years ago if I had known it would be this easy to coordinate," said Mrs. W., a 20 yr. Kindergarten veteran in Austin, TX.  "The kids love seeing their parents at school, the parents enjoy the class and I get a 20 minute break to catch up on paperwork and email."

Imagine how well-loved your teacher will feel when (s)he learns that the class parents have committed their time to making the rest of the school year a success! 

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Also see our free eBook: The Greatest Gifts for Teachers for gift ideas throughout the school year.

VolunteerSpotlight: Brad O'Brien, Backpacks of Food Coordinator, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, NC

The Summit Church believes that "church is a verb...something that we are called to do, not something we are called to attend." Therefore, the Summit Church has many volunteer opportunities for it's members. Brad O'Brien helps manage those volunteers, and uses VolunteerSpot to make his job easier.

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Tell us about your organization and it's mission.

I serve the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC as a campus pastor. We have 5 different campuses across the Raleigh Durham University (RDU) metroplex. The Summit Church has an average weekend attendance of about 3500 people and about 500 of those individuals attend the West Club Campus. Our mission is fairly simple... "Love God, Love Each Other and Love Our World."

What are the volunteer needs in your congregation?

Our volunteer needs for any Sunday morning range from holding babies to passing out dog treats on the sidewalks outside the church building. We have everything from childcare workers to baristas that serve coffee. In general we have about 100 volunteers that serve each Sunday morning and we use VolunteerSpot to communicate with current volunteers and recruit future volunteers.

How do you inspire others to volunteer in your congregation or in your community?

If you have ever been to church, you probably remember what it was like to walk in for the frist time. Not really one of those moments that everyone likes to remember. We use that as a motivator for our volunteers because we want everyone that steps foot onto our church campus to feel welcomed and at home. We have volunteers greeting you in the parking lot and assisting you in getting your children into their classes. We inspire our current volunteers by reminding them that they are serving so that no one feels out of place.

Within our community, we take our service to the local elementary school very seriously. Our local elementary school, E.K. Powe, is a great place for our people to serve our neighbors. VolunteerSpot is currently used to help organize volunteers at our local elementary school for the Backpacks of Food program. It is a program that seeks to provide children with a backpack of food for the weekends so that they can eat healthy while they aren't at school.

What's one piece of advice you have for other volunteers organizers out there?

Take the time to familiarize yourself with VolunteerSpot. You will find that the designers have taken a lot of time to think things through and it makes everything much easier. It frees you up to do the things that you enjoy doing the most!

Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?

It is easy to use and it is something that we can access anywhere.

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If you are interested in learning more about Summit Church, you can visit their website here. Summit Church is situated in the heart of downtown Durham in the historic Watts Hospital-Hillandale neighborhood, the Summit Church is excited to be a part of the community!

We salute Brad O'Brien and all the volunteer heroes out there!  If you're using VolunteerSpot write and tell us about what you're doing and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at VS@volunteerspot.com.

Giving Tree Giveaway Bloggers Help Reforest Our National Parks - Thank You!!

We put out the call to bloggers and tweeters asking for help in promoting local service during National Family Volunteer Day (Nov. 21) and throughout the holiday season with our Giving Tree Giveaway sponsored by Arbor Day Foundation -- and we have been both touched and humbled by the incredible response. Literally within hours, big posts had gone up everywhere - promoting the importance of holiday service and inviting readers to give back to their communities in meaningful ways.

We want to thank everyone who has posted so far, and encourage you to visit their sites. They are good people and they all write quality content (and many of them are hilarious!):

Diary of a Mother

Cool Mom Picks

Is it Monday Already   

INOmommy 

The K5 

LMNOP4U 

Sue Scheff Book Reviews and More 

Thoughts of a Mother, Wife and Daughter

Welcome to the Motherhood 

Charm City Moms

Shwanda

The Blog of P.U.R.E.

Sandie Lee… Live it…Love it… Write it…

Families Matter

Giving City Austin

Everyday Mama

Pajama Mommy Community

Moms Own Words

Minnesota Bloggers

And these terrific Examiner Reporters:

Beth Vogt 

Gayle Trent 

Sue Scheff 

Patty Knap

Emylou Lewis

Here's a sample of some of the wonderful holiday service projects being powered by VolunteerSpot  - hat's off to all the awesome volunteer groups brightening the holiday season for others -- from Classroom and Sunday School Giving Tree/ Adopt-a-Family teams in San Jose, to Toy Drives like the Brooklyn Children's Holiday Fund, to Christmas Tree Lot and Gift Wrap Station Fundraisers in Boston, to holiday parties in Kansas City that bring cheer to families in transitional housing, to groups feeding the hungry and homeless both during the holidays and throughout the year in Raleigh, Austin, Minneapolis and Ashland.

Thank You ALL and Happy Holidays from VolunteerSpot!

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Inspired to give back and looking for ideas? We've got 'em!

Family Friendly Volunteering: Ideas from A-Z

7 Simple Holiday Service Ideas

Find local organizations needing volunteers using our All for Good search tool

And please join our Giving Tree Giveaway: Plan a holiday service activity on VolunteerSpot and Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree in your honor is a fire damaged national forest. Click here to learn more.

Ten Ways to Energize your Thank You Letters to Get More Donations

Saying Thank You to Volunteers and Donors

Thanksgiving and the winter holidays present a perfect opportunity for thanking volunteers, and for many nonprofits, holiday giving accounts for the lion’s share of donations. Sandy Rees, nonprofit fundraising coach, consultant, and author shares tips for energizing Thank You letters to recognize volunteers, engage donors and encourage additional giving.

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The Thank You letter often is created and sent without much thought. It may seem to be the last step in getting a gift from a donor or a routine task that warrants little merit. But it’s actually the first step in securing the next gift of time or funds.

Purposeful and well-thought out Thank You letters can help you steward your volunteers and donors, not to mention provide you with another way to communicate with them. Make sure you are getting the most from your Thank You letter efforts with these ideas.

 
1. For Donations - Get the letter out quickly!

Everyone has probably heard that the faster you get your Thank You letters out the door, the better. And it’s absolutely true! Donors want to be sure that you received their gift and a Thank You letter is the best way to let them know it arrived safely. Even if you process donations online, experts say let no more than 48 hours go by from the time you receive a gift until the time you send out a personalized Thank You letter. If it takes you a little longer and that’s the best you can do, work with it. Figure out what will work for your organization and put a priority on getting the letters out the door.

2. Relate your Thank You letter to the ask and task.

Instead of sending out a generic letter, customize your Thank You letter to the specific ask that was used to generate the gift or the task that was accomplished by the volunteer. If a gift comes to you from an appeal you sent out, then make sure your Thank You letter refers back to the story or the text in the appeal. You may need to write several different letters that can be used for whatever you have going on. For instance, you may want to write one letter for a special event you are working on, another one for monthly givers or volunteers, and another one for donors who respond to your newsletter. Relating the Thank You letter back to the ask and the task is a way to let your donors and volunteers know you are paying attention.

3. Share the impact

Tell the donor what you will do with their money and tell the volunteer what was accomplished with the gift of his or her time. This is critical. Make sure the donor knows how you plan to use the donation he or she just sent you. Text like “Your gift will ensure that 15 children will go to summer camp for one week” makes the process of donating more real and tangible to the donor. They can envision 15 kids going to camp for a week and it helps create a bigger feeling of satisfaction for the donor. For volunteers, let them know what was accomplished with their time, "by volunteering in the cafeteria, you've given four teachers a well-deserved break and additional time for planning and conferences."

4. Use a real signature.

Digital signatures are easy and eliminate hand signing a stack of letters. But technologically-savvy donors know the difference between a digital signature and a live one. Have your President or Executive Director sign the letters, or ask a volunteer to sign them on his or her behalf. And use a blue pen so that donors can clearly tell it is a real signature.

5. Have your Executive Director, President, Principal or Teachers go through the letters and add personal notes.

This can bring big rewards in terms of stewarding volunteers and donors! Taking a few minutes of a busy day to go through a stack of letters may seem like a chore, but donors and volunteers who get a Thank You letter with a personal note will be thrilled that the someone took time to personally acknowledge his or her gift.

6. Add a reply envelope.

Don’t be afraid to include a reply envelope in a Thank You letter. Many donors will hang onto these and use them for their next gift, and volunteers may be inspired to donate. When sending your Thank You letters in November, these envelopes may get filled as folks plan their end-of-year giving. You may receive some negative feedback, but you will likely receive a large number of gifts as well. It’s not uncommon to receive thousands of dollars in gifts from these “bounce-back” envelopes. You may want to code these envelopes so that you can track the number, size, and amount of donations received using this technique.

7. Include year to date or lifetime giving data.

For donors who have been giving for several years, this information can be very enlightening to them. A donor who gives a $10 gift regularly to your organization will immediately see how their gifts add up over time. Sometimes donors forget when they last gave. Including year to date information can be a gentle reminder for them if they have pledges or commitments to make. For volunteers, recording their hours shows them you recognize their gift of time.

8. Make it clear that the letter is also a receipt.

Don’t you hate getting boring thank you letters that drone on and never clearly spell out the gift you made? (By the way, if you aren’t giving to other organizations, you need to. It’s a great way to put yourself in the donor’s shoes and also let’s you see how other organizations handle the thank you process.) If you have to, draw a line on the page below the thank you text and put “Gift Receipt” about the actual gift information.

9. Include an offer to tour your facility or program site.

In your letter to donors, always include an offer for a guided tour of your facility or program site. You may never have anyone take you up on this, but they will remember that you offered. You will probably get a few people who want to visit you. Seeing firsthand the work that you do may make all the difference in the world to a particular donor. It can also mean the difference in an average size gift and a major gift.

10. Include the name and contact info of someone the donor or volunteer can call with questions and feedback. Make sure that person is available.

We all want to be able to call and talk to a real, live, knowledgeable person when we have questions or feedback. So be sure to include the name and phone number of that person in your Thank You letters.

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(c) Sandy Rees, CFRE
Sandy Rees is a nonprofit fundraising coach, consultant, trainer, and author. She shows small nonprofit organizations how to raise more money, gain more supporters, and strengthen their Boards. Learn more
about successful fundraising and get free fundraising tips in her e-zine "Bright Ideas for Fundraising" on her website at http://www.getfullyfunded.com.

Sparking Service in Early Childhood

VolunteerSpotlight: Karyn Ward, Concessions Stand Parent Volunteer Scheduler at Trinity Christian Academy

VolunteerSpot loves highlighting the good works of users around the country and salutes the many parents out there volunteering and fundraising for their children's schools and sports teams. Today our spotlight shines on Karyn Ward, parent concessions scheduler for Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, Texas, who uses VolunteerSpot to coordinate parent volunteers at the concession stand during various school events. Concession stands at sporting events are a great school fundraiser and tradition in many schools. They become a ready source for cash for the team and add enjoyment to any sporting event.

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Please tell us a little about yourself and your role as a volunteer leader.

I'm a married mom of two high school students and one college student.  My daughter's high school, Trinity Christian Academy, in Addison, TX, has a long-standing tradition of the sophomore students and parents staffing the concession stands during the year to raise money toward their Senior Trip. We purchase the food and supplies, prepare the concessions and man the booths. My particular role is to schedule the parents.

Where else do you volunteer?

I'm currently serving on the board of a local chapter of  a mother-daughter service organization, National Charity League, and am also the teaching leader of a ministry program to moms at my church.

How did you get interested in leading volunteers?

Coordinating volunteers is a needed component in order to achieve a desired goal, but it can be a role people are hesitant to do. I agreed to perform this responsibility for the year because I knew that using a service such as VolunteerSpot would make it much easier.

What are your volunteer needs at the concessions stand?

We ask each student to serve 8 hours in concessions during the year, and each students' parent/s to serve 8 hours (as a parental group). We set-up, cook, staff, clean, and take down concessions during sporting events (volleyball, football, basketball, soccer, baseball, wrestling, and track) and some school event (such as plays and concerts). We typically have 2-4 events a week that require volunteers.  We place parent volunteers with student volunteers for each event.

Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?

I investigated several online scheduling services and found that VolunteerSpot best met our needs, in large part due to your email reminder system and the ability to allow parents to go directly to each event and sign up. VolunteerSpot has been a true blessing to us.  Without your service, I would be making dozens of phone calls and sending dozens of emails, almost every day. Honestly, without your service, I don't think I would have agreed to do this role!

What’s one piece of advice you have for parent volunteers out there?

It's really only a short season of life that we get to be involved in our children's activities. Serve joyfully. These opportunities will be gone quickly.

Anything else you would like to add?

I'd like to thank VolunteerSpot for asking me to be featured in this post, but I'd especially like to thank all of our sophomore parents who work tirelessly and faithfully in the concessions stands!

To learn more about Trinity Christian Academy, please visit www.trinitychristian.org.

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We salute Karyn and all the volunteer heroes out there everyday who help out at school. If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing, and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at VS@volunteerspot.com.

Update

We heard from Karyn on February 11, 2010 and she had this awesome data to share: To date, we've used VolunteerSpot to schedule over 100 volunteers putting in almost 600 hours in our concession stands for 09-10 year!

Seven Simple Holiday Service Ideas

As we dive into the busy holiday season, please consider giving back -- sharing your time, talents and treasure to bring joy to your community and lift the spirits and situations of those in need.  Make your service even more powerful by recruiting your family, friends, coworkers and neighbors to join with you in meaningful action.

 

Here are 7 Simple Holiday Service Ideas to get you started:

1) Adopt-a-Family or Organize a Giving Tree for the Holidays.  Contact your local church, United Way, or local service organization to get assigned to a family in need. Or perhaps you know a neighbor or service worker at your school or congregation that could use extra help? Get this family's 'wish list' and publish it on VolunteerSpot, then invite your posse (friends, neighbors, coworkers and class parents) to sign up to bring toys, clothes and food. What a great way to make the holidays joyful for others and fuel your heart at the same time!

2) Warm the Homeless.  This one is easy and fun for families with small kids.  Simply purchase packages of warm socks, granola bars and bottles of water.  Stuff the water bottles and granola bars in the socks and store them in a box in your car. Next time you see a homeless person on the street corner, share a warm gift of comfort.

3) Create a Caring Circle Calendar for an Elderly Neighbor or Relative.  Rake leaves, shovel snow, prepare a meal, or visit for coffee -- these are simple gestures that can make a world of difference for elderly neighbors and relatives during the holidays (and throughout the year). VolunteerSpot makes it easy to create a Caring Circle Calendar and invite helpful neighbors, friends and family to each choose a day to pitch in. 

4) Send Holiday Mail for Heroes. Gather friends or classmates to send warm Season's Greetings to service members and veterans across the country and abroad. Letters must be mailed prior to December 7 and should be bundled in a single envelope (up to 50 letters).  Please mail to: Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456  Learn more here.

5) Run for a Cause. Sign up the whole family to participate in a 5-K or fun-run for a cause you care about. Too physical? Sign up to staff the water stations and cheer for the participant

6) Feed the Hungry.  This is another terrific activity for families with young children. Decorate reusable grocery bags and ask your neighbors to help fill them up.  Deliver full packages to your local food bank. Community pantries and soup kitchens need extra hands this time of year and welcome your help. Many have special programs that welcome families volunteering together. Search for your local food bank by zip code at Feeding America, the nation's leading hunger-relief charity: www.FeedingAmerica.org.

7) Skip a Latte' (or martini) for Charity.  Make a commitment to skip a latte' (or your beverage or choice) once a week or more during the holidays.  Take the savings and donate to a local nonprofit or a cause you care about.  With 7 weeks left 'till Christmas, you could easily save $30 or more.  $30 would make a big difference to hungry families and kids without books and medicine here or abroad. Recruit your friends and coworkers to pledge to Skip a Latte' too, and see what kind of impact you can make together.

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Also see our related post: Creating Global Good This Holiday Season

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    Learn About our Giving Tree Giveaway - Click Here

Inspired to get out there and serve? We've got a great way to save you time, simplify your holidays AND help you give back this holiday season!  Register a new account and plan a holiday service activity on VolunteerSpot and Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree in your name. Register a new account at VolunteerSpot and add the word “TREE” where we ask what type of group you organize and be sure to invite at least 4 volunteers. Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree in your name in a fire-damaged national forest.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

Please share your holiday service ideas by clicking 'Comments' below.

The Best Holiday Gift from your Volunteers - Feedback!

4 Tips for Capturing Volunteer Feedback

We've officially kicked off two of the busiest months of the year for many volunteer-based organizations.  The holiday season marks the start of toy drives, food collections, “Turkey Trots”, seasonal galas, bake sales, festivals and year-end donation campaigns…just to name a few.

This influx of volunteers and donors presents an incredible opportunity that, in the hustle of the season, is oftentimes missed.  Quite simply…this time of year is a golden opportunity for capturing feedback.

Fresh eyes on your operation are a wealth of insight and innovation.  How often do we get buried in the work of our day-to-day and run out of time to wonder how we could be improving?  The arrival of so many new faces for holiday activities is like a boost for your brainstorm – bringing a variety of perspectives and ideas. 

Feedback can also give you important testimonials for your work, or new ways of looking at your successes.  You may not even think to call-out some of your accomplishments – you’re doing them so often – but a newcomer will may be more apt to recognize these achievements.

In addition to the benefits of new ideas and testimonials, through feedback your relationships with your volunteers will also be improved.  How?  Because when you ask someone for their opinion, you make them feel valued.  Knowing that they’re not just ‘another set of hands’ but an individual you recognize and appreciate, deepens their connection with you.  You can bet that your organization will be at the top of their list when they are thinking of volunteering or donating again. 

So, in this busy time of year, how can you gather feedback and reap the rewards?

1.    Ask, ask, ask  A variety of quick and easy opportunities for feedback is better than one carefully crafted, survey.  Ask volunteers for their thoughts as you’re cleaning up the event, solicit feedback in the volunteer thank you email, or send out a link to a survey site like insideGOOD.  The more simple, straightforward, and frequent the opportunities are for feedback, the more likely you are to get a response.

2.    Not Criticisms but Opportunities!  Attitude is everything when collecting feedback.  It’s important to believe (and remember) that the folks who took the time to send you their thoughts are truly supporting you.  A criticism is not a bash, it’s an opportunity!  Stay objective; acknowledge the feedback, consider any potential value and move on.

3.    Say “Thank You”  Once you’ve received feedback, don’t forget to say ‘thanks’.  Few people enjoy spending time on something and then wondering if it ever got received!  A quick ‘thank you’ note will reassure your respondents that they have been heard, and will encourage volunteers to provide valuable feedback in the future as well.

4.    Schedule It  Don’t worry about trying to sort out what to do with the feedback right now – you’ve already got enough to do during these busy months.  However, you should get something on the calendar now for early next year so that the feedback will be taken into account and acted upon.  In fact, a feedback review and strategic team meeting is a great way to kick-off the New Year!

Don’t let the opportunities this season presents slip away in the rush.  Start by remembering to ask - tack a sticky note to your computer, change your template ‘thank you’, send an email to your staff and committee chairs – and the rest of the process will fall into place.  With the wealth of information and prospects that feedback brings, you can look forward to a very jolly season and bright opportunities next year.

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Guest blogger Katie Taft is the CEO of insideGOOD, an online nonprofit ratings website where employees, interns, volunteers and donors can rate their experiences working with, or donating to, U.S. nonprofits. 

Celebrating 100,000 Volunteers and Growing!!

Thank You for Joining our Journey

There may be a chill in the air but things are definitely heating up at VolunteerSpot!  Since our spring launch, we've reached 100,000 volunteers! That's 100,000 people doing good in the real world - supporting our children's schools, and our local nonprofits, community groups, congregations and sports teams. We started VolunteerSpot with a modest goal of helping one PTA in Austin, Texas, and broadened our mission to making every volunteer organizer's life easier and your volunteer activities more successful!

With 100,000 volunteers and counting, we're making a real impact. Here are some of the awesome ways we're powering your good work and simplifying community participation across the country (and in several others beyond our shores):

Drives of all kinds: coats, food, books, toys, pledge/membership

School Participation and Fundraisers: book fairs, holiday festivals, walk-a-thons, carnivals, giving tree, talent shows, service-learning parent-teacher conferences

Nonprofits: community pantries, mentoring programs, jobs training, community arts outreach, playground rebuilding, community theatre, environmental and animal causes

Congregations: service outreach, meals ministry, Sunday school, holiday bazaars, hospitality teams, soup kitchens, Vacation Bible School

Scouts: campouts, cookie booths, meeting helpers, field trips, day camps

Games and Tournaments: soccer, gymnastics, dance, volleyball, swim meets, ringette, hockey, band, football and baseball concessions stands

Community Action Groups: Rotary, Kiwanas, Lions, Ski Patrol, HOA, Women's Clubs, Red Cross DAT teams, CERT teams and more... 

Please tell us how you're doing good with VolunteerSpot and share your stories.  Click 'comments' below.

The Church has Left the Building!

Champaign, Il: Weekend of Service mobilizes entire congregation

Earlier this year, Lynn Peisker – who works as Volunteer Coordinator for United Way – was presented with a novel idea. What if her church chose one Sunday, out of the 52 this year, to honor God in a different way, by taking to the streets of Champaign, Illinois and doing community service?

This October, that’s just what 900-plus members of the Windsor Road Christian Church did. Peisker calls it The Church Has Left the Building. For months, the church advertised on their website, sold t-shirts and posted signs throughout the church that read, “Like raking it in?  Paint anything lately?” Instead of holding Worship Services and Sunday School, the church would send volunteers to four projects throughout the city.

The interest in serving has been building slowly among the congregation, Peisker says.   “As Christians, it’s more important what we do than what we say. We really want to be on the ground, serving our community.” Over the last five years, church members have identified the causes they feel most allied with and begun donating their time.  But nothing like this had happened before.

At the domestic violence shelter, they painted the entire interior of the building, landscaped the grounds including building a rainwater storage facility, and got enough mattresses donated to replace the ratty twin ones the women and children were sleeping on.

In Douglass Park, one of the poorer areas of town, church volunteers threw an old-fashioned picnic for families, with a baseball clinic, BBQ, and other festival games before distributing food to families in need.

Across town, volunteers invited 80 single moms to enjoy a day of manicures, craft-making, and R&R while providing childcare for their kids.

To say it was a major success would be an understatement; the church put in more than 4,000 hours of service in one weekend. But Peisker is not the type to brag. She is more interested in what can be accomplished when people put their time and money where their mouths are. “At the very beginning, we decided if the church was going to leave the building, the money should leave the building too.” On an average weekend, the church collects $20,000 in offerings, so – to ensure their volunteering had impact – that’s how much was invested in the projects.

Having resources to put into the projects made a big difference. The county that includes Champaign is second only to Chicago when it comes to poverty in Illinois. “One out of ten families don’t know for sure where their next meal is coming from,” Peisker explained.

A lot of work went into making sure both the volunteers and recipients would feel fulfilled for attending the church events. Planning began way back in January. Organizing and deploying 1,000 volunteers across the city is, after all, a logistical maze.

That’s where VolunteerSpot came in.  “We’re always looking for tools to help do the job quicker and better,” Peisker says. She tried VolunteerSpot’s online tutorial, then had the church set up links to VolunteerSpot from its website so people could sign up online.  Five hundred did.  Soon, all 750 spots were filled. 

Calls for donations – like new computers or discounts on paint– were also posted through VolunteerSpot. Needs were quickly met. “Our church is very giving,” Peisker says. Three days before the weekend of service, she was trying to figure out how to accommodate those who’d show up to church Saturday and Sunday, wanting to join in last minute.

Peisker always conceived of the project as one that would spur relationships that last well beyond the weekend. She’s waiting to see if some church members will decide to be permanent volunteers with the groups Windsor partnered with.  “It’s our primary goal to let people know that we serve because that’s what God’s called us to do.  We want to spread the love of Christ in the community, through service.”

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Article by Jessie Torissi - journalist, nonprofit communications strategist, and musician living in Austin, Tx. Permission granted to reprint this post in part or it's entirety with attribution to Jessie Torrisi and VolunteerSpot (http://www.VolunteerSpot.com).

Please visit Windsor Road Christian Church's website for more information including a video and photos about their Weekend of Service. Here are the stats reported by Windsor Road:

Stats

1 computer
1 dumpster
2 port-a-potties
2 park benches
3 picnic tables
20 new mattresses
500 t-shirts
1000 children's dental kits

2 project coordinators
8 project sites
8 project site managers
10 months of planning
40 task team leaders
42 tasks

8 First Aid Kits
8 dust masks
10 canisters of Clorox Wipes
11 bottles antibacterial gel
16 pairs of work gloves
20 Safety Glasses
20 pairs of ear plugs
85 gallons of paint
120 pairs of disposable gloves

100 leaders working for 10 months
728 total volunteer spots over 2 days

…and 1 God getting ALL THE CREDIT.