The Shelter at Orenco Station, or SOS, provides shelter for the homeless during the cold winter months. SOS is located in Hillsboro, Oregon at Sonrise Church. It is run cooperatively by the local faith community. Today our VolunteerSpolight shines on Ken David, volunteer organizer for SOS.
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Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs.
We operate a homeless called Shelter at Orenco Station, OS, in Hillsboro, Oregon. We are a collective of nine churches that have come together to help the homeless during the winter months. We started with a single guest on a frigid night last winter and now routinely host 25 guests over a span of 90 days.
How did you get started as a volunteer leader?
I retired from a large high tech company three years ago. My retirement goal was to give back to the community through volunteering. I wanted to utilize the skills I'd cultivated as an engineer and manager to serve others. I started mentoring and tutoring 'at risk" kids, then our church's Social Justice ministry decided to join two other churches to serve the homeless. As the shelter began operating, it became apparent that my skills could be put to good use organizing the shelter and the volunteers through creating sound processes.
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
Volunteers are the key to any successful venture like ours. The relationship is different than the one that exists in business between managers and employees because volunteers are only vested in the ideals of the organization. A singular bad experience and they will never return. However if they find fulfillment they will serve in ways beyond any expectation. One must always treat volunteers like the precious commodity they are!!!
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
During our first year of operation, we had three churches working together and we operated about 20 nights. When I served as an overnight host I observed that we were getting too much food some nights, then none the next, so I developed an online spreadsheet that was open to all of our volunteers so they could quickly see opportunities and sign up instantly. It was quite successful, but I had to give each volunteer editing privileges, which sometimes resulted in unintended changes being made. In year two, we evolved to nine churches with over 900 volunteer spots to fill. I decided we needed something more robust, while preserving the simplicity of a spreadsheet. I found VolunteerSpot through an internet search. I tested it with the other volunteer leaders...and as they say, "the rest is history". So far we have filled about 600 spots and have over 200 active volunteers!
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization or volunteering?
Helping the under-served is an amazing experience. I have gained far more than I have given. It is wonderful seeing how every volunteer's unique talents can be put to great use. It is wonderful to see so many lives change through this work.
The dynamic of the "sign up" process fascinates me. From my observation, the "window" to get a volunteer to sign up is very small. Every obstacle put in their way will significantly reduce the odds they will actually sign up. I see a very low hit rate from any volunteer that has to "ping" me through email or a phone call because the sign up process is not clear. The adage, "keep it simple" is very important in volunteer recruiting. So, as much as I'd like to see more features on Volunteer Spot, I think the current product is probably optimal.
To learn more about SOS and how you can help, please visit their website, www.sos-shelter.org.
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We salute Ken and all the other volunteer leaders out there helping those in need. 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 [email protected]
