One of the keys to a great day will be understanding the role of the team members listed below and connecting with them leading up to the event.
Site Leader (You!)
You are the point person, communicator, and overall coordinator for your school for Community Serve Day. You don’t need to be the strongest, smartest, or most skilled… just get the people listed below involved and mind the key dates and you’ll have a great Community Serve Day.
Northshore Community Church – CSD Project Manager & CSD Lead Team.
Kathy Flugstad at Northshore Community Church (kathyf@northshore.church) is the Project Manager of Community Serve Day. She communicates with the both school districts, sets-up online volunteer registrations, runs the monthly site leader meetings, oversees new site leader training, orders supplies for CSD, and is your go-to person for any questions or concerns. You’ll be seeing regular email communications from her to help in all the planning for CSD. The CSD Lead team includes Craig & Jenny H and Kris N. This team supports CSD by onboarding new leaders, reviewing project requests, offering practical advice on CSD and visiting school site during Community Serve Day.
Principal and/or Office Manager
The principal makes project requests for Community Serve Day and works with the site leader to prioritize those projects. They communicate with teachers and school staff about requesting volunteers for individual teacher/staff requests. Principals are busy people and may pull in a co-principal or office manager to work with the CSD site leader. Be aware that the office manager at your school may be the key to getting in touch with the principal. The principal or one other designated school staff is required to be onsite for Community Serve Day. Confirm with the school staff that the custodians have been looped into the CSD planning. Custodians might be onsite for Community Serve Day to open the gates, unlock the building, open hose spigots, etc. They can also set-up tables and chairs for volunteer check in and project assignments.
Teachers and School Staff
Teachers, librarians, nurses, and other staff can request a team of 2-4 people to work in their classrooms. A major focus for Community Serve Day is to support the teachers with volunteers – teacher requests are the top priority over all other work. Some examples of work that we’ve seen the teachers request include: Cleaning desks, Hanging bulletin boards, Organizing educational supplies. Making copies, Configuring iPads and laptops. Participation in Community Serve Day is optional for teachers but they are required to be onsite for Community Serve Day if they want to participate. Please review the teacher requests made for your school and send an email prior to CSD to introduce yourself and let them know you’ll see them there.
PTA/PTSA President
Your PTA/PTSA president will help you to reach out to families in the school to get them registered as volunteers for Community Serve Day. We want to give students and parents in the schools the opportunity to help teachers prepare their classrooms and make the school look great before the first day of school. The PTA/PTSA can also be a source of funding if there are special projects outside of the Community Serve Day budget.
Volunteers
You will be assigned a group of 50-100 volunteers for the day of the event. Volunteers register at www.communityserveday.org beginning in May. Northshore Community Church will provide media resources to both school districts and our partner churches to recruit volunteers and we encourage you to promote this opportunity to parents/students at the school, your neighbors, and anyone else you are in contact with. This is a community event and it is a great way to get friends, neighbors and co-workers together to support our schools. CSD yard signs are available to put in front of the school or nearby intersections to get the word out.
Project Leaders
On the day of the event, you can’t do everything on your own. Your 50-100 volunteers will have many questions that day! You’ll want to identify some people who are willing to take the lead in certain areas. The type of project leaders you need will depend on the projects at your site and how you structure your day. Examples of ways that you can share the responsibilities are:
– A volunteer lead to run the check-in process
– A team to quickly get volunteers to their first assignment and reassign during the day
– A supervisor for indoor classroom projects with the teachers
– A supervisor for outside landscaping and/or painting projects
– A coordinator for snacks, water, and lunch
Friends and family members make great project leaders. Check your volunteer registration – some may have already offered to help beforehand. Also, the first volunteers to check in are often eager to jump in and help. Ideally, the you (the site leader) doesn’t have an assigned role and can float between team leads and sort out any adjustments.