Volunteer Spotlight | Polly Rickard
Project Graduation is an all night alcohol-free and drug-free celebration immediately following the graduation ceremony. This event makes graduation night safe, fun, and memorable. The new graduates enjoy food, games, rides, entertainment and fabulous prizes!!!
This nation-wide program began in response to the high potential for harmful activities associated with high school graduation celebrations. Project Graduation 2013 keeps kids SAFE on the deadliest driving night of the year for high school seniors nationwide. Project Graduation is a priceless gift to our kids, their families, and our community.
Today, our Volunteer Spotlight shines on Polly Rickard, who uses VolunteerSpot's online signup sheets to coordinate over 600 parent volunteers who plan to help at this event.
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Please tell us about your Project Graduation and your volunteer needs.
Project Graduation at Westlake High School is big "party" for the graduates. It is a night designed for them to have fun and be safe. VolunteerSpot is a vital tool used to coordinate approximately 400 senior parent volunteers and 200 junior parent volunteers. A wide variety of jobs are available to choose from. Parents can check in seniors, help with entertainment, food or games, they man the many, many doors to make sure the kids are safe, they ride the buses from graduation to the party, offer first aid, provide prizes and a host of other opportunities.
Explain how you use VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.
I approach each chair and using their notes from last year they let me know how many volunteers they need for each area they oversee. I set up the spots on VolunteerSpot. Requests are sent out asking for help. The volunteers then sign up for the position they want. It is much more efficient and fewer mistakes are made.
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders who are looking to plan a similar project?
This is a large project with many time slots and many volunteer positions. Be thorough in your approach and know that it is easy to go into the VolunteerSpot site to edit anything.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
I had children at Eanes Elementary in Austin, TX. They used it to coordinate carnival, class parties, teacher birthday celebrations, library sign up, recess duty and lunch duty..
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your experiences with VolunteerSpot, or volunteer coordination?
I enjoy managing information and organizing things. VolunteerSpot is an amazing tool. It limits errors that happen when too many emails are flying around and perhaps one is misread or a time transposed or other issues. It is easy to use for people who get lost or just don't feel like keeping up with all the information in the reply all emails. They just click on a link, sign up, receive a reminder regarding their choice. You can export the information and manipulate it for any use you can create: name tags, volunteer lists by time and alpha or by job.... I am certain I have forgotten something. It is really wonderful to use.
To learn more about Project Graduation at Westlake High Sschool, visit http://www.westlakepg.com/page/home
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We salute Polly and all the other parent volunteer leaders out there making a difference in our world. 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].