For over 80 years, boys who participate in Cub Scouts have been making new friends and learning new skills in an environment designed to help them succeed. From building a pinewood derby® car to learning how to pitch a tent, boys love scouting!
Today, our Volunteer Spotlight shines on Lori Crenshaw. She uses VolunteerSpot to organize volunteers for the annual spaghetti dinner, a fundraiser for Cub Scout Pack 926.
Please tell us about your organization event and your volunteer needs.
My son's cub scout pack is composed of many different kids of families. One year we realized that a lot of the boys in our troop are from single parent homes and although scouting is fairly inexpensive, there was a need to help more boys participate in summer camp. Every year on the Friday before Thanksgiving we do a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser for my son's Cub Scout Pack to help offset some of the costs for some of the boys. We usually feed around 350 people and about 50-60 volunteers are needed to help with set up, ticket sales, cooking and serving over the course of the evening.
How did you get started as a volunteer leader?
I have two sons in scouts and I saw how much they have benefited from the program. Since scouting is built on community service, I think volunteering comes as a natural progression. In this particular instance, I saw a need for some of the scouts so holding a fundraiser to help with that need only seemed logical.
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
One piece of advise I would give other volunteers and leaders is to plan early and sign up to volunteer early. A site like Volunteer Spot makes this easy. In my case, it seemed like lots of people waited until the last minute to sign up and when you have a deadline to meet, it puts the volunteer coordinator in a panic to fill in the gaps.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
I had been coordinating this fundraiser for three years. Each time, I had to print sign up
sheets by hand and create email groups to communicate with all the volunteers. It was a lot of work. Also, since our scout pack only meets once a week I would miss a lot of parents since they didn't come to every meeting. VolunteerSpot made it easy to send out a volunteer request via email to our group list, and for parents to sign up when it was convenient for them. I will continue to use VolunteerSpot and recommend it to other volunteer coordinators. It was so easy to use and keeping track of all the tasks was really easy.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization, your event or volunteering?
Cub Scout Pack 926 is part of Old Hickory Council in Winston Salem, NC. We are a medium size pack and we hold our Annual All-You-Can-Eat Spaghetti Dinner every year on the Friday before Thanksgiving at Maple Springs UMC from 5:30-8pm. This event is open to everyone and it's a fun night with live music, entertainment and a bake sale. Any boy who is in 1st grade or above can join our pack at any time during the school year. For information on joining our pack you can go to www.beascout.org , click on Cub Scouts, then enter your zip code.
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We salute Lori and all the other volunteer leaders out there making a difference. 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].
