Volunteers!

FROM BECKY: My next series of blogs are going to be about volunteers for your Son-Rise Program. I would also love to get your input on ways that have been successful for your programs in finding and keeping the team that you want. Here are some ideas that you can use when implementing volunteers in your program.

1) Go for the gold! When I ask families how many posters or flyers they post in their communities, often their reply is "Lots", when asked specifically "How many", they will answer "Three" or "Maybe 10!" Go for a gold medal team! If you put out a handful of posters, you may get one reply. That volunteer may be a bronze medal standard, you are looking for the gold medal team! Put out 100 posters! Now you may have 10 replies, from those 10 candidates, you can select the 3 or 4 that are going to be commited and open.

2) Connect! Making connections with people is the best way to drum up support for your program. If you go to universities and ask them to put your posters up without educating them about your program, there's a chance they may get buried or actually even end up in the trash! Make a point to find one person to talk to and tell them a few sentences about your child. Share something specific and meaningful with them, such as one way your child has grown since you started your program or something that you, yourself have learnt from your child. The more they can relate to you, the more effort they are going to make to help you.

3) Target a variety of places. Just as you want your child to experience having many friends of different personalities in his/her life, you also want to look in diverse places. Try going to theatre groups, gyms, and all departments of the universities (e.g. music, drama, etc and not just
psychology and education departments).

Please let me know if you have any other specific questions on this topic and I will keep helping!

I wish you all the best