EPE Volunteer Program

Hi Parents and Volunteers,

Jeff and I discussed the "volunteer situation" at length last night and again today amongst ourselves and with our staff.  We have several things going on ... and to not single any one out, we thought it would be a good idea to address the group as a whole. 

When we have too many volunteers what ends up happening is there is nothing for them to do.  They end up sitting around chatting, which under normal circumstances wouldn't be an issue ... however, we have a lot of volunteers (with more coming over the next few weeks) and it doesn't look good for the program to have groups of teenagers sitting around.  It also triggers the participants to want to sit around with them ... something we are trying to avoid.  So, we thought that maybe if we split the volunteers up so that we have half there in the morning and half there in the afternoon ... maybe it would help to keep the volunteers busy and when they do have down time ... the group isn't as large when they are sitting around.

We realize now that it may be an inconvenience to some families ... we are not trying to inconvenience anyone ... we are simply trying to help our program run more smoothly ... helping our coaches feel less like they are needing to "babysit" the volunteers.  We have plenty of staff, but our main focus is on our participants and we'd like to keep it that way.  Our volunteer program is not meant for parents to drop off their teenagers for the Summer ... it is meant to build up the program.

Here are some things that we would like the volunteers to do if they will be spending the day with us ...

1.  Ask Coaches if they need assistance
2.  Help any participants that are unsure of what to do ... or need assistance with anything
3.  Be vocal ... when walking by a field ... tell participants "good throw" ... "nice kick" ... "I like the way you're talking it up" ... etc.
4.  Have a positive impact on the program
5.  If the Coaches are all set ... and none of the participants are standing around ... equipment is put away or set up ... etc.  and you have some "down time" ... participate in a game.  Walk around to the different classes and dish out some positive feedback, feel free to do this with a friend if you'd like.  Sitting around should be the last case scenario ... we don't allow our participants to sit around, so we expect our volunteers to set an example and stay active.

This is the kind of stuff we'd like out of our volunteers.  Also, when volunteering for EPE ... it does not necessarily mean that you will eventually be hired by EPE ... we have a ton of applicants, and we can not always extend job offers to our volunteers ... if you chose to volunteer ... do it because it's something that you want to do.

All this being said, our volunteers are welcome to volunteer as much as they'd like ... if it is possible for volunteers to do half days ... or only a few days a week ... that would be great!  If you need a full time volunteer position ... we welcome it ... we just need our volunteers to know what our priorities are and if it starts to turn into a teenage hangout ... we are going to have to cut back on hours and possibly let volunteers go all together.

Thank you for your understanding!
Kara