York College of Pennsylvania was founded in 1787, after the Revolutionary War, for the education of Elementary School Teachers. Today they offer a wide variety of degree programs and celebrate their many traditions. The most spirited fall campus event happens in November with Spartapalooza, a "lollapalooza" of music, games and competitions.
Today, our VolunteerSpotlight shines on Sarah Calhoun, who uses VolunteerSpot's online signup sheets to create an easy sign-up & reminder system for an annual college festival featuring nearly 150 volunteers and 15,00 attendees. The "live" shift-tracking allowed for real-time management of volunteers to ensure activities and stations were covered for the ultimate guest experience.
Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs.
Our event, Spartapalooza, is coordinated by the York College of Pennsylvania recreation & leisure administration class on special event planning. This annual event includes inflatable games and activities, food, a kids area, Minute-to-Win-tt games, a student-staff volleyball tournamen, and the cardboard boat regatta. The main challenge of the event is appealing to students, staff and their families, and creating a fun, spirited environment for all attendees. This event would not be possible without the help of over 140 volunteers.
Explain how you use VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.
VolunteerSpot made it simple to keep track of where each volunteer was stationed, and the print out schedule made check in simple. We used the mass emailing to all volunteers to send out a PowerPoint with instructions for the activities so volunteers were prepared for their assignments. Using VolunteerSpot also allowed us to have the most volunteers so far, because each person could schedule their own time up to a day before the event. The best part of the service, for us, was allowing volunteers to register for the time and activity that was best suited for them. Being able to set each activity and break it into time segments made scheduling easy!
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
Volunteers – never stop volunteering; the experience and enjoyment of helping others can help you in all aspects of life.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
My professor heard of the website and decided that we should look into the service, and after a cursory glance, I knew that it would save a great amount of time. I am now planning on using VolunteerSpot for any volunteering activity I plan in the future.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization or volunteering?
We can’t say it enough, thank you VolunteerSpot!
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/717547134925831/
