Opportunities From: VolunteerSLO.org

Note: Do not sign up for this opportunity via this volunteerslo.org site, instead sign up as a volunteer at the Shower the People site.

Maintenance Managers for Shower the People perform scheduled maintenance and do (or have done) necessary repairs on our van and shower trailer. This includes:

Taking the trailer & van to Hecock Trailers and the Chevy dealer for annual maintenance Having new tires installed as needed at The Tire Store in SLO Cleaning the water heater annually (cycle vinegar through the system) Keeping the jacks and trailer hitch ball greased Updating the trailer/van maintenance log Recommending any necessary changes to procedures required by new/altered equipment Painting trailer door trim, tongue box, etc. when needed Attending operations meetings when needed to discuss malfunctions / repairs / etc.

You will receive training from our chief maintenance manager; we also have manufacturer documentation and customized documentation. We’re looking to expand our fleet to a second van/trailer and so we also want to recruit an additional maintenance manager so we’re ready to take on the extra work this will require.

Note: Do not sign up for this opportunity via this volunteerslo.org site, instead sign up as a volunteer at the Shower the People site.

Shower the People has a fairly simple website at https://showerthepeopleslo.org/. It is mostly-static, but we sometimes need to adjust the content and we periodically need to add short items to the News section.

As the Web Content Developer you would be the one to modify or add this content.

The more technical aspects of site maintenance and keeping the software updated and the server secure are taken care of by someone else.

Shower the People’s website is a WordPress site that uses the Avada Builder page builder. You need to have (or develop) some level of proficiency with these tools to do this job. We have some limited in-house understanding of these tools and our own basic documentation on how to use them for our site, but for the finer points you would need to do your own research.

As the Web Content Developer, your responsibilities would include:

Ensure that the website content is accurate, effective, and up-to-date.Write "News" copy, in coordination with other volunteers, to highlight news related to Shower the People's mission.
Coordinate with the social media guru to boost the visibility of our content.Report any technical issues with the site to our website maintenance consultant.

Note: Do not sign up for this opportunity via this volunteerslo.org site, instead sign up as a volunteer at the Shower the People site.

Shower the People is an all-volunteer organization, from top to bottom. We rely on volunteers to keep the program operating.

As our Volunteer Recruiting & Retention director, you find people in our community who want to commit to volunteer roles with Shower the People, and make sure our existing volunteers are happy and can use the full range of their talents with us.

More specifically, you:

Find additional sources for volunteers such as churches, corporate give-back days, veterans associations, service organizations, etc.Prioritize filling currently unfilled or under-filled positions.Use social media outlets to retain and attract volunteers and donors.List volunteer opportunities on sites like VolunteerSLO and Craigslist and Nextdoor.Get to know our volunteers to discover other skills and talents they might wish to contribute.Track volunteer satisfaction and enjoyment.Understand volunteers’ service-length goals (e.g. are they serving only so long as they need to do court-ordered community service? Are they graduating and moving out of the area soon? etc.)Help qualifying volunteers sign up for the benefits of AmeriCorps Seniors.Refer volunteers who need verified hours (for e.g. court-mandated service) to the member of our team who can provide this verification.

Note: Do not sign up for this opportunity via this volunteerslo.org site, instead sign up as a volunteer at the Shower the People site.

Shower the People is one of several independent programs operating in California that offer showers to people experiencing homelessness.

There is great potential for us to improve our processes by learning from the successes and mistakes of other programs. However currently there is only very limited communication between these many programs.

As Sister Programs Liaison you would be responsible for establishing and maintaining lines of communication between Shower the People and its sister programs elsewhere in California.

We do not anticipate this being a job with a great deal of daily workload, but there may be times when we want to consult with the larger network of programs about questions like:

How does your program respond to [some challenging problem]?What product does your program use for [some need]?How is your program responding to [some grant opportunity or some new law]?

As Sister Programs Liaison you would be responsible for contacting representatives from these programs about questions like these (which you would get from the Shower the People operations committee or board of directors) and then summarizing the answers you receive for the use of our program.

You would also be responsible for fielding questions from these other programs to us, and forwarding them to members of our team who can best answer them.

We already have a good list of programs operating in California along with contact information, but you would also be responsible for maintaining this list as new programs appear, others fade away, or contact information changes.

If you are particularly ambitious (this is not a requirement of the position), you might also visit some of these sister program sites and report back to us about what you discover.

Note: Do not sign up for this opportunity via this volunteerslo.org site, instead sign up as a volunteer at the Shower the People site.

As Marketing Director you will be responsible for designing and deploying ways to make sure everyone who can benefit from Shower the People's program is aware of it.

In brief, you will:

Present our program as inviting and helpful to members of our community who would benefit from our services, particularly those who are not yet aware of it or do not know it is for them.Discover and exploit new outreach opportunities.Design and distribute outreach collateral (e.g. posters, pamphlets, cards) targeted toward potential guests and to the social workers/agencies who serve them.Partner with other agencies to let their clients know about our program. This might be done through outreach to social workers and agency managers, or via outreach material at agency offices, for example.

Note: Do not sign up for this opportunity via this volunteerslo.org site, instead sign up as a volunteer at the Shower the People site.

The mission of Shower the People is to give people experiencing homelessness in our community a welcoming, safe, clean, and reliable place to shower. As such, we think of ourselves as being in the hospitality business.

To ensure that we are fulfilling our mission, we need to get feedback from those we serve. As the Guest Experience Advocate, you would interview Shower the People guests and potential guests to help identify their needs and learn about their experiences with us. Then you would report on your findings so as to help us improve our processes so we can be an ever more welcoming, safe, clean, and reliable place to shower.

In summary, you would:

Conduct occasional interviews with guests at each of our sites.Conduct occasional interviews with potential guests who do not currently use Shower the People services but who might benefit from them.Work with other Shower the People volunteers to formulate good, revealing questions to ask.Respect guest privacy, and be sensitive when asking about potentially touchy subjects.Write up reports summarizing actionable information learned from your interviews about how Shower the People might become a more welcoming, safe, clean, and reliable place to shower.

Note: Do not sign up for this opportunity via this volunteerslo.org site, instead sign up as a volunteer at the Shower the People site.

On-site volunteers for Shower the People are trained for their particular roles (greeter, cleaner, driver, supervisor) on-site by experienced mentors.

But we occasionally want to offer additional training to volunteers that goes beyond this. Examples might include:

Conflict de-escalation techniquesTrauma-informed care insightsHow to work with emotionally-demanding guestsSelf-care techniques for avoiding burnout

As the Continuing Education Director, you would:

Consult with the operations committee to discern which sorts of trainings would be most useful.Discover opportunities for such trainings in the community or people who could provide the trainings. (We may, for example, be able to piggy-back on trainings offered by other agencies to their employees or volunteers.)
Pitch a case for any necessary funding to our board of directors.Invite our volunteers to the training.

We anticipate that there will likely be no more than one such training opportunity offered to our volunteers per quarter. But this is flexible.