The Committee on Aging President: Brittany Serpico

 Every year we attend the Senior Expo, which is a community event where seniors in the community can get free health screenings and flu shots. There is entertainment, food, and vendor booths.  We set up a booth along with other non-profit organizations and provide flyers to visitors.  Volunteers and staff help create posters and banners to display at the booth.  An event schedule is created so that each of the staff members and volunteers are able to participate and may have an important role in this outreach/marketing event.  At the booth, we also have applications for recruiting volunteers.

 According to Nichols and Ojala (2009), for event managers, volunteers bring: enthusiasm, a good relationship and empathy with the public, and they provide a less costly labor force.  Nichols and Ojala (2009) note that volunteers’ expectations include: flexibility of engagement, the quality of personal relationships, recognition for their contribution, and a clear communication of what they are expected to do.  The following non-pay costs include administration costs for: the promotion and advertising of the program, recruitment of volunteers, induction and training for the position, provision of uniforms, and continuous required training (Rawlings, 2012).  Managers should be able to match roles to volunteers according to various motivations, capabilities, interests and levels of time commitment (Rawlings, 2012).

 Telephone Companion: make weekly calls to homebound seniors  Reception desk: answer phone calls and field questions from seniors coming through the front doors.  Filing and updating  Home delivered meal assistant: assists the driver in delivering meals to senior.  Assistant to Case Manager- assist Case Manager in the office or out on home visits.

 Assist with making telephone calls to seniors.  Help with filing and updating information.  Go along the home delivered meal routes with the drivers to help carry meals to seniors.  Assist Case Managers in preparing documents to be signed by senior clients.  Younger volunteers will be able to connect on a different level with the seniors.  Their youthfulness allows them to have more energy to offer physical labor (ie. Helping the drivers).

 Help in the reception office-answering phones, offering services to clients, complete paperwork, etc.  Train with Case Managers to gain work experience and leadership skills.

 Young volunteers can distribute fliers and brochures to seniors that would be potential clients.  Case Managers would be present at the booth explaining the programs offered.  Other volunteers can help set up/break down the booth.  Home-delivered meal delivery volunteers can write down potential clients’ name and number for a staff member to follow up with them in order to further explain the program and process of how to register in the desired services.

 Each staff member will supervise/direct their own volunteers in each of the departments- home delivered meals, case management, office staff.  Risks:  Volunteers may unintentionally give wrong information to seniors.  Young volunteers may not act professional and may give a misrepresentation of the organization.

 Volunteers will be required to direct questions from seniors to be answered by staff members, such as Case Managers. This will ensure that correct information is to be given to potential clients.  Volunteers will be required to act in a professional manner, which represents the organization.  If under any circumstance a volunteer does not abide by these requirements, they will be asked to take off their name badge that is associating them to the agency. They will also be asked to leave the event.  If the volunteer decides he or she still wants to be a volunteer, they must come back to the office the next business day to meet with the executive reason in order to be approved back into the agency.

 At the event booth, there will be a sign up sheet for prospective volunteers.  Experienced volunteers would be able to discuss with prospective volunteers of their experience with the agency.  The goal is to invite more volunteers to join the agency and spread the word of our services to other seniors.

 Each volunteer and staff member will fill out an evaluation survey at the end of the event.  I, the president of the Committee on Aging, will review the surveys to see how we can change things for the better for the following year.  I will meet with the staff members, especially the Case Managers, to evaluate the progress of the volunteers.  If there are any job opportunities available, my staff and I will vote on the best volunteer to be offered the available position.  The success of our growing service population will demand more trained staff. The best way to increase our staff is to pull from our trained pool of successful volunteers.

 Nichols, G., & Ojala, E. (2009). Understanding the Management of Sports Events Volunteers Through Psychological Contract Theory. Voluntas: International Journal Of Voluntary & Nonprofit Organizations, 20(4), doi: /s  Rawlings, C. (2012). Effective Management of Trust Volunteers. Nursing Management UK, 19(1),