With the Back to School! Store only 2 weeks away, it’s time to sign up for the best volunteer experience you’ll ever have.
In order to pull off this massive one day event, we need over 400 volunteers to help with everything from helping the kids pick out their goodies to directing traffic throughout the store.
Event Day Schedule:
Sign up for either the morning, mid-day or late afternoon shift. Before the event, you will receive information by email or mail (you choose when you register) with more information about volunteering.
But to give you an idea of what you are signing up for, here’s a run down of what you can expect.
When you arrive at the Back to School! Store, you’ll head to the volunteer registration table to get signed in. If you are a personal shopper, you’ll be handed an apron to wear over your clothing. If you are a shoe fitter or restocker, you’ll be given a t-shirt to wear so shoppers can easily find you when they are looking for help.
Then you’ll head back to the volunteer training room for a quick overview of what you will be doing and information you will need to keep the store running smoothly and work with the kids.
At this point, you’ll be directed to your assigned job location and will be given specific instructions on what you will be doing.
- Personal shoppers – these volunteers work one-on-one with 3 to 4 kids throughout a 3 1/2 hour shift, helping them choose their school supplies, toiletries and pick out a complete outfit. The personal shoppers ARE the store to the kids. As you and your child shop and talk, you are the one that will make sure this child has a wonderful experience. After trying on clothes and filling their new backpack, you’ll take the child back to the Family Waiting Room to re-unite the child with parents or guardians. Then you’ll head back and pick up another child and do it again.
- Dressing room attendants - these volunteers help keep the dressing rooms running smoothly, hanging up clothes that didn’t fit the kids and running out to the store to get alternative sizes for the personal shoppers. Since many of the little boys end up working with female shoppers who can’t go into the boy’s only dressing room, we especially need men who are willing to supervise the little guys in the dressing room, helping them try on their clothes and passing information to the shoppers waiting outside the dressing room so they can go grab bigger or smaller sizes.
- Shoe and coat fitters – many of our personal shoppers have no experience with helping kids pick out shoes and coats that fit properly, so a few volunteers assist the shoppers in these stations. We want to make sure that the kids don’t outgrow their coats before the first snow!
- Restockers – We start the day with every table and clothing rack filled, but it doesn’t take long for us to run out of items in the store. Our restockers keep the tables filled, return clothing from the dressing rooms to the clothing racks, organize hundreds of shoe boxes and help personal shoppers that are having trouble finding what they need for a child. Some heavy lifting is involved with the school supplies, so this is a great job for the guys who want to help but just can’t imagine being a shopper. Teens 16-17 yrs old can also work as restockers, and we are happy to sign off on any community service forms that teens need for their schools.
There are a few other odds & ends jobs, but the vast majority of volunteers will be working in one of the jobs above. There are VERY limited sit-down jobs, so please keep that in mind when you sign up. If you are a shopper, you also need to be prepared to help carry a large bag filled with clothing and goodies that the kids will take home.
Everyone is Welcome:
Yes, we know this is a Jewish women’s organization that organizes Back to School! Store.
But you don’t have to be Jewish or a woman to volunteer.
In fact, we would love it if every little boy had the chance to experience the store with a positive male role model helping them get excited about going back to school. Don’t let the term “personal shopper” scare you…you don’t need any special skills other than a smile and a willingness to help the kids.
Tips for Volunteers:
First and foremost, wear comfortable shoes! This is a very ACTIVE event and you will be on your feet most of the day.
We do our best to keep the building cool, but when you fill it with hundreds of people, sometimes it can get a little warm. Casual comfortable clothing is recommended – jeans, shorts and t-shirts are just fine!
We do have a hospitality room so volunteers can grab a morning coffee or water throughout the day. Light snacks are available all day, and volunteers who work two consecutive shifts will be provided with lunch.
Finally, parking is a bit of a challenge. CRC has a relatively small parking lot and street parking fills up quickly. Plan on arriving 15-30 minutes before your shift and walking a block or two. Carpooling is strongly encouraged. You might even consider parking a few blocks away on the other side of Kingshighway, and grabbing something to eat before or after your shift.
One last note about parking – the church across the street graciously allows us to use their parking lot AFTER 12 pm. However, they need the lot for their own parishioners for morning church services, so please do not park in the church lot if you are working the morning shift.
Questions?
Leave a comment below or give the office a call.
Filed under: Volunteers Tagged: | How to Help
