The mission of the Indiana PTA is to make a difference in the lives, homes
and classrooms of every child ... with one voice! Among other important purposes, they work to encourage parent and community participation in public schools.
Today, our VolunteerSpotlight shines on an Evansville, Indiana parent who embodies the PTA's mission in supporting her shcool and community. Please join us in celebrating Kathy McMurray, parent PTA leader at Scott Elementary. Kathy uses VolunteerSpot's online signup sheets to coordinate volunteers for the school book fair fundraiser.
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What's your role as a volunteer leader?
My role as a volunteer leader is to energize and excite people to participate in the event or activity that I’m leading. Trying to locate individuals who have a passion for the charity or nonprofit organization that I’m working with is important in order to create and execute the best event possible.
What other activities are you involved in?
I am involved and volunteer with my church, school and in my community. At church, I serve as the communion coordinator and schedule the volunteers for serving and preparing the communion on the first Sunday of every month for all the services. I also recently served as the worship chairperson coordinating and arranging all supplemental aspects of the worship service, including greeters, acolytes, ushers, liturgists, communion stewards and servers and organization of the sacristy.
For the school, I participate in the PTA and am chairperson of the book fair and new library development committee. I also tutor and serve on the school’s site council which brainstorms with community leaders about ways to provide integration of practical work experience with the students.
For the community, I am a member of the Jr. League of Evansville. Here, I developed a committee to welcome new members to the city and familiarize them with the city services. I also serve on the local Parkinson’s walk committee which raises money for Parkinson’s research.
How did you get interested in volunteering?
My parents, specifically my mother, were excellent role models as to the need for volunteering in order to make the community a better place. She showed how important it was to help deliver food baskets during the holidays to the needy, how to serve the ill at the hospital by being a candy striper and how to support the church and school in all ways that she could. I am fortunate enough to have time and my husband and family support me in following in my mother’s footsteps.
What’s one piece of advice you have for parent volunteers out there?
My advice is to work on those projects that you feel passionate about. If you are feeling burned out or don’t agree with the mission of a group or project, then it is time to find something else to focus your efforts on. It is not fun for you or others working on a project if you are feeling negative.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
I decided to use VolunteerSpot because I needed help tracking the 118 volunteers for our school’s book fair. My friends used a meal program and talked about how nice it was to sign up for a day that was convenient for them as well as to see when others had signed up. Also, they appreciated the ability to remove themselves easily if a conflict arose. I searched for a volunteer tracking program and came up with VolunteerSpot as well as another. I tried both and VolunteerSpot was much easier to use. I had a small event of eight people and used this as an opportunity to try out the program. It worked great, so I used it for my book fair. The feedback I received from the book fair volunteers was astounding. They loved it and I did too. It was easy to review the open spots, add additional spots, and export information into an excel spreadsheet. People knew what tasks they were signing up for and were more informed when they actually showed up to work.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your school, event, or volunteering?
Our book fair this year raised 9% more than last year. I know this had a lot to do with communication and organization. Even if people didn’t end up working the event, they received information through the VolunteerSpot invitation process. I really think VolunteerSpot could benefit by teaming up with Scholastic’s Book Fair chairman’s tool-kit and incorporating their two products.
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We salute Kathy and all the other parents out there making a difference in our children's lives. 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].
