The Notre Dame Athletic Boosters earns money for the school's athletic department. These funds are earned through concession and spirit wear sales, a golf outing, and other fund raisers throughout the year. Boosters also help with fields, equipment, salaries for coaches - just about everything athletic. Even more importantly, the Booster Club is responsible for organizing volunteers to work all athletic events, saving the school thousands of dollars that would have to be paid to staff these events if parents didn’t help out.
---
Today, our Volunteer Spotlight shines on Kim Huttenlocher, VP for the NDP Athletic Booster Club. She's been using VolunteerSpot to coordinate parent volunteers for the many athletic events held at their school.
---
What’s your role as volunteer leader?
I work as a volunteer at my daughters’ high school, Notre Dame Preparatory in Pontiac, Michigan. My title is Vice President of the NDP Athletic Booster Club. My job is to coordinate volunteers for the entire high school sports program. This involves over 300 sporting events per year and thousands of volunteer hours. Basically we run the concession stand for all home sports events, and sign parents up for jobs as varied as grilling sausage, moving the first down chains at football games, videotaping basketball games for coaches and setting the gates for ski races.
What other activities are you involved in as a volunteer leader?
I am one of those individuals who has a hard time saying “no”, which means I am involved in way more volunteer activities than I should be. In addition to my work on the Booster Club, I also coached 7th and 8th grade volleyball for six years at my daughters’ middle school (Notre Dame Marist Academy) and help to coordinate the volleyball program for the school. I am in my third year of coaching the JV tennis team at Notre Dame Prep, which just might be my favorite volunteer job of all. I also serve on the board of the Notre Dame Choir Booster Club (arts and sports are both important!). I have been on the board of directors for my town’s Historical Society for more than 20 years, and I serve as a Eucharistic Minister at my church. I used to teach Sunday school, and was a Girl Scout leader for 5 years. As you can tell, I just don’t know how to say NO!
How did you get interested in volunteering?
That’s a good question. I think I was just born that way! I guess I feel that those of us who are blessed enough to have the time and the ability to give to others should do so. It makes me feel like I’m contributing. I’ve also discovered that it’s the best way to meet people. I know most of my daughters’ friends because I coached them at some point or another. I meet parents, teachers, school administrators, and people from my community. Many of these people have turned out to be terrific friends. So it’s a win/win situation for me!
What’s one piece of advice you have for parent volunteers?
Don’t volunteer because you have to, volunteer because you want to! The happiest people I know are the ones who put in that extra hour even though they already met their “requirement” set by the school. These are the folks who are leading the way for their kids. The kids know when their parents are involved, and believe me, they love it (even if they roll their eyes in embarrassment!).
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
That’s an easy one! We needed a way that parents could easily access all the sports that need volunteers. Since we deal with several sports each season, before VolunteerSpot, parents would have to call several different people to try to track down a date they could work. With all that information online, parents have what they need with a click of the mouse. In addition, those of us in charge of monitoring all those service hours can have access to reports and can reach a large number of parents very easily.
Anything else you'd like readers to know?
I am lucky that my daughters go to a great school with hundreds of good families. A vast majority of our parents are more than willing to help out whenever we ask them to. People like that make volunteering fun! Plus, since Notre Dame Prep is a Catholic school that emphasizes character and service along with excellent academics, volunteering as a parent helps my kids to see that character and service don’t stop when you graduate and move on.
---
We salute Kim and all the other volunteer leaders out there helping 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 [email protected].
