I
have been too busy volunteering to write about volunteering last month!
But upon my return I dug into a project that had been hanging over
my head, which is the topic today.
In January we moved our volunteer
group from an Access Database (we did all the work) to an online State Database
(volunteer has to do work). And my Corps dropped from 470 to 300.
This didn't happen quickly, but the change required my volunteers to go online
and build their profile, most did, many didn't. We used a multi-pronged
attack to get people to move; email, Facebook, Phone calls and a little
cajoling.
But in the end, some folks opted out. For me this was sad
on several levels:
·
The work they did to qualify
(online IS 100 & 700)
·
The work we did to get them
on board (Background checks, lots of paperwork)
·
The loss of their skills for
little things and the “big one”
Yesterday I went into the cabinets and pulled the files of those people who
left. (We color code the files based on type of volunteer – Red = Medical, Blue
= EMT, Green = Behavioral Health and Yellow = support). Man, when I got done
the stacks of colors was very depressing, and I moved between wanting to go
knock on their doors and try to explain why they were making a mistake to a little
bit of anger.
So what
now? Well I am going to send them an invite to join ESAR VHP a lesser level of
commitment, but a win for us if there is a big one.
And I just have to move on,
but take a few minutes to make sure I am doing everything in power to keep my
volunteers involved and happy.
PS: I'm back up to 375!
