Volunteer Spotlight | Next Chapter Ministries
Next Chapter Ministries began to form in 1991 when Andy Kilen, the current Director, started volunteering in the Olmsted County Jail, leading Bible Studies once a week. During these Bible studies, it became apparent that many of the inmates wanted and needed further help after they were released. Next Chapter Ministries is a member of the Christian Assocation of Prison Aftercare (CAPA), which was established to provide training and encouragement to organizations that serve former offenders and families.
Today our spotlight shines on Ivahn Dockter, who uses VolunteerSpot's online signup sheets to organize volunteers at the County Fair.
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Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs.
Our mission is to build lasting relationships with those in our community who have been impacted by crime, restoring them to God, family, and community with the Gospel of God. We have a pool of between 50-100 volunteers, who we use for special events such as the county fair or our annual BBQ event, as well as volunteers who volunteer on an ongoing basis for working with men, women and youth.
Explain how you used VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.
I heard about VS from another volunteer. I took a quick look at the website and created an id and password, then setup an activity. I created an activity for our county fair where we wanted to have a booth to present Next Chapter to the community. I created 3 time slots (10-2, 2-6, 6-10) and I asked for 2 people to sign up for each slot. I liked it because it was very easy to use and didn't take a lot of time. I contacted our office manager who sent an email to our volunteers asking them to sign up for a specific time slot. Soon after the email went out people started to sign up. I received the notifications of sign ups, which is a nice feature.
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
I found the tool pretty easy to use, but I recommend new users take a tour and understand the features of the tool before jumping in and trying to use it. Some people like doing that, but I think it worked well for me because I read all about it prior to trying to use it.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
It was recommended to me and I didn't want to spend any time looking for a different tool. Once I started looking at it I liked it, and it was very easy to use.
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To learn more about Next Chapter Ministries, please visit http://www.nextchapterrochester.org/
We salute Ivahn and all the other volunteers out there making a difference in our ministries. 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].
