printable version
South Whidbey at Home May 2016 Update
Volunteer orientations starting. Because we will be going to members’ homes and dealing with confidential information in the office, all volunteers will have a background check and be required to attend a brief orientation before getting to work. We want to make sure every volunteer understands the goals, attitudes, and policies of SW@Home, as well as the parameters of the work they’ve signed up to do.
All volunteers will be asked to sign up for one of the several volunteer orientation sessions scheduled to start in mid-June If you signed up to volunteer you will receive an email with the dates of briefings soon—please choose one and let us know when to expect you.
That email will also provide a link to Verified Volunteers for a background check. Please sign in there before your orientation. SW@Home will pay the cost (though you are more than welcome to use the “I’ll pay myself” option offered).
The volunteers who will be answering members’ requests as Call Managers have already started their training on our software program. Those signed up to be Ambassadors will receive some additional training as well after orientation.
Haven’t signed up to volunteer yet? Now’s the time. Volunteer applications can be downloaded from our website www.SWatHome.org, filled out, and mailed in or left at The Clyde Theatre. Contact volunteers@SWatHome.org with any questions. Members who want to volunteer will need to fill out a volunteer application too.
Clinton event a success. Thanks to a request from the staff of the Clinton Library, we brought our SW@Home roadshow to the Clinton Community Hall on May 18th. Gratitude to Gwen Goodbee and Kimberly Larson for their great organizing skills and hospitality. Interest in SW@Home continues to grow—more than 400 people have signed up for our mailing list.
Look for volunteers from SW@Home at information tables at Tilth Farmers’ Market June 26th and Bayview Farmers’ Market July 23rd. If your neighborhood, community group, or church would like us to come explain the program or you’d like some brochures for your store or office, just contact info@SWatHome.org.
The gift of faith. We were startled when a woman presented us with a check for $5,000 at our very first public informational event in Langley last August. Joanna Snow Cruse was our first donor, providing a healthy share of the seed money required to get this program started. “I had faith in you,” she said, “and I knew how much the program was needed.”
Sometimes it all seems like a bit much to get SW@Home off the ground, so it’s nice to know that someone else has the confidence that we can pull this off too.
[Donor/ member Joanna Cruse with board president Lynn Willeford]
Newsletter goes deeper—and quarterly. Starting this summer, our monthly newsletter will switch to a quarterly format with feature stories, useful information, and even some humor. Watch for the Summer 2016 issue sometime in July at our website and in your in-box. Writers and designers for the newsletter include Ann Medlock, Janice O’Mahony, A.T. Birmingham-Young, Sue Frause, Christine Epstein, Cynthia Campbell, Ginger Waters, Sharon Lundahl, and Lynn Willeford—so expect a lot of attitude in the new issues.