VOLUNTEER NEEDS AND ROLES
AVillage…, Inc.
From Tom McPheeters, COO
(518) 433-0679
AVillage with community partners has created a new website, 518Mutual-Aid.com, which has been up and running for about a week. The website has three sections:
- A portal for people who have needs or are dealing with crises and a detailed questionnaire so helpers can learn specific needs or actions and track them.
- A portal for volunteers to sign up
- A Resource section that leads to pages from AVillage and others with specific information and resources.
The 518Mutual-Aid.com is a neighborhood-grown product designed to focus on residents of the South End of Albany, but because it is on the web it is attracting requests from all over the region — some 80 as of April 15.
Most of the requests are for food, toiletries and cleaning supplies, but there are some that require more complex actions.
As the demand grows, we need more volunteers to follow up on requests for help. The volunteers (or volunteer teams) would:
- Have access to the AirTable document (similar to a Google doc where multiple people can make entries and edit) that has all the requests and notations of what has been done in each case.
- Select, or be assigned specific requests, then follow up by phone.
- If the request can be fulfilled by the volunteer or team, do it.
- If the request cannot be fulfilled by the volunteer or team, contact the site moderator and pass on the information.
- Record on the follow up section what was done and what still needs action.
