Volunteer Spotlight | Jo Anna Bradshaw, Chair, FGCU Campus Food Pantry Steering Committee
The FGCU Campus Food Pantry was established in August, 2012 to meet the needs of registered FGCU students who are financially unable to provided adequate food for themselves.
Today, our Volunteer Spotlight shines on Jo Anna Bradshaw, who uses VolunteerSpot's online signup sheets to coordinate volunteers who feed students whose families have been impacted by the economic recession.
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Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs.
Florida Gulf Coast University opened a campus food pantry for students on August 13, 2012. Currently enrolled students experiencing food insecurity, (the state of, or risk of, being unable to provide food for oneself) can visit the pantry once a week to secure an emergency food supply. Our volunteers, comprised of 56 FGCU students and staff members, served 542 hours over 17 weeks of the Fall 2012 Semester.
Explain how you use VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.
VolunteerSpot provides the opportunity to invite volunteers via email to sign-up for shifts at our Campus Food Pantry. Once invited, the organization of volunteers is out of our hands and into the hands of the volunteer. Volunteers can view all opportunities available to them 24/7, sign-up when they are available, cancel or change their assignments, and once they sign-up, they are guaranteed the shift will be held for them.
VolunteerSpot all but replaces a full time volunteer manager. The volunteers receive reminder e-mails and the organization using the volunteers receives e-mail updates on cancellations and changes without having to manage the site.
Monthly reporting, emailing volunteers, and making changes to volunteer positions are really easy and efficient.
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
Volunteers make a difference in the lives of people. At FGCU, the volunteers are feeding students whose families have been seriously impacted by the economic recession of recent years.
Don't be afraid to make changes as you learn and grow your organization and volunteer support system. What works today might not work tomorrow.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
VolunteerSpot is very user friendly. It requires minimum effort and time to sign in to the system, so volunteers can easily sign up for spots with no hassle to make a profile or to register. VolunteerSpot has a great email reminder system, not only to the volunteers but to the organizers as well. We located your site by typing in "online volunteer systems" on Google.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization or volunteering?
Per Independent Sector, the estimated value of volunteer time for 2011 is $21.79 per hour. That equates to $11,810 in in-kind services for our first semester of operations, which allows us to secure and distribute more food to our students in need.
To learn more, visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry/
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We salute Jo Anna Bradshaw and all the other community leaders out there making a difference on our college campuses. 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].
