Cheers to Steve Fendt, Volunteer Coordinator, Lawrence, KS
Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs:
Theatre Lawrence partners with volunteers to create and deliver extraordinary theatre and education programs that engage community members of all ages and backgrounds as audience members and participants. We utilize approximately 500 volunteers each year that produces more than 33,000 hours of volunteerism. We use our volunteers in many different areas from acting on stage, working in the scene shop, as well as front of house and daytime office help selling tickets. We currently have 20-25 different types of volunteer positions available and many of them have multiple positions needed to run a production
Explain how you use VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.
We mainly use VolunteerSpot to allow our house volunteers to sign up online and maintain a current list of our volunteers. Our main stage does six events each year and each event does 10-14 performances. Each performance requires 23 volunteers for just the front of house, so a typical run would require volunteers to fill more than 250 positions. VolunteerSpot also allows us to get information out to those volunteers should something need to be communicated to them.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
We were doing our sign up’s manually and we needed to streamline our signup process. Coming from another venue, I knew that there were programs out there and started researching. Being a non-profit, we didn’t have money to spare so we looked into the least expensive way of signing up our volunteers online. VolunteerSpot had the components that we needed at that time and has been a great asset to our volunteer program!
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
Volunteering is very rewarding and is great fun. After a while you become part of family that share some of the same interests. Leaders search out other organizations in your area, they can be a great asset and source of information in attracting new volunteers. Also remember to take the time to thank your volunteers, they deserve to be recognized for their continuous support!
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization or volunteering?
I have been a volunteer coordinator in some manner for the past 13 years and now that I have retired, I still enjoy working with people that love to give their time and energy to help organizations like Theatre Lawrence. The support of our volunteers and the citizens of Lawrence have kept the theatre alive and we hope to bring live theatre to the community for a long time to come.
We salute Steve and all the other volunteers making a difference in their communities. Check out how VolunteerSpot’s Volunteer Software can save you time and stress and boost parent involvement in your school. Take a tour today!
