I always wanted to volunteer at my kids’ elementary school. I thought about it a lot before I had kids. Once I had kids, I knew I wanted to cut out reindeer noses and help with reading time. There was only one problem. I was a WAHM with almost no childcare. Even when my oldest was in kindergarten, my youngest was only in preschool for 2.5 hours 2 days a week. Sadly, I had to put my volunteering on hold. I had no other choice.
As time passed life got a bit less hectic. I stopped working when I had my third child. With a new baby at home and a kindergartener and 2nd grader at school, I was able to volunteer in the kids’ classrooms. Logistics were a bit complicated. I could only volunteer on a morning when my mother could babysit. I was able to go in to each kids’ classroom about once a month. I. Was. In. Heaven.
Volunteering at my kids’ school was like a wish fulfilled. I got to help their teachers out with a variety of tasks AND I got to see my daughters interacting with their teachers, friends, and other staff members. The tasks I was asked to do ranged from cutting out shapes from colored construction paper for craft projects, listening to the kids read books to me, testing the kids on their spelling words, and leading the kids in a game. It was a win for me and hopefully a win for the school!
Ten or so years later and I am still doing my bit to help out at school. Now that I am back to work part time, I can’t volunteer in the classroom each week like I did when my son was in K through 3rd grade. I LOVED listening to the kids read to me. It was so much fun to give a kid an attaboy for a job well done or seeing a child make the transition from hesitant reader to fluent reader. Nowadays I volunteer every so often in the media center to help the kids choose their books or I send in craft supplies or donate food for the teacher luncheons or chaperone a field trip. It’s not much but I know whatever I do is helpful to the teachers and administration of my children’s school.
Now that I run the volunteers for my kids’ swim team, I know how hard it is to organize volunteers. I never realized how much work went in to managing who will do what “volunteer job.” I worked hours trying to find someone to fill each job. Have you ever wondered how your school keeps track of volunteers? I’ll bet they use some form of free online signup sheets and scheduler. I know that when I need to fill every volunteer job it helps to use an online signup tool like VolunteerSpot.
VolunteerSpot is running a contest where you can win $1500 for your school just by volunteering. If you are like me you are already volunteering, There are two ways to enter “Get Spotted Volunteering,” you can enter your school in two ways:
- If you don’t have a specific activity to plan, you can take the pledge.
- If you have specific activity to plan, you can get started using VolunterSpot.
THREE lucky schools will win $1500! What school couldn’t use an infusion of cash at the start of the school year. So what are you waiting for…go enter.
