There are many ways to volunteer with Pickup the Ball, depending on the time you want to spend.
Volunteers are at least 25 years old, and need to have general agreement with our basic approach and beliefs so that we present a consistent message to our members. While we enjoy diversity and different ways of approaching life, there are some basic principles that we believe should remain consistent. Specifically:
- We are here to support our young men in their pursuit of success, but we are not the reason for their success or failure. We are in a support role.
- We encourage our members to think critically and do their own research on all topics. We do not tell our members what to think.
- We do not judge. We meet our members where they are.
- We offer advice or guidance based on consistency with goals that our members have stated they are pursuing. We do not define goals for them, or offer advice or guidance based on what we want for them.
- We do not actively advocate or oppose lifestyle choices. Discussion about life decisions should be centered on their efficacy in achieving the member’s stated goals.
- We do not discriminate against anyone for any reason.
- We do not belittle, berate, yell at our members or treat our members with disrespect.
Volunteer Opportunities
Meeting Volunteer
A meeting volunteer will be in the best position to mentor members at some level. Consistency is important if a volunteer desires to build relationships with our members. It is important to understand that consistency doesn’t mean a commitment to attend every meeting, but to adhere to some schedule you can commit to so that they know you are reliable and dependable.
Meeting Guest
We frequently have guests who want to come and participate in meetings. In the case of a guest, you will be introduced, but not asked to speak or present, although the members may ask you specific questions about yourself based on what you share. The hope is that guests will simply be a part of the conversation that happens at the meeting, sharing your thoughts about the topic, and hearing the members thoughts as well. If you’d like to be a guest at a meeting, sign up for a date that works best for you here.
Speaker
Occasionally we will have a speaker to address a specific topic of interest to our members. In these instances, a speaker would be asked to be prepared to discuss or present a certain topic.
Driver
Driving our members to and from meetings is always a need, and is not a small commitment. If you’d like to help us get members to meetings or back home after meetings, this is also a potentially great time to get to know our members in an informal, not -threatening environment. Driving, however, often starts before normal work hours (but not always), and finishes fairly late at night on a work night.
Coordinators
If you are interested in having a specific job that would help more with conducting the business of our organization, please consider the following opportunities:
Transportation Coordinator
Ensure that every volunteer and member that is driving members has a current license, registration, and insurance in place, and that all information is updated as needed.
Food Coordinator
We feed our members at every meeting, and the coordinator would make sure there is adequate food and drink at each meeting. The task could extend to reaching out to local restaurants to solicit donations for food each week, and coordinating potential donations or purchases of fresh fruit and vegetables that the members could eat and/or take home after the meeting.
Volunteer Coordinator
We want to be sure our volunteers are being communicated with and being taken care of the way they deserve to be. This coordinator would ensure that we were concentrating the correct amount of attention on our volunteers.
Sponsor Coordinator
We have a continuous need to approach local businesses for a variety of types of sponsorships.
Donation Coordinator
We receive non-cash donations regularly, and need someone to help coordinate pick-up, storage, and donation acknowledgement for all items.
Newsletter Coordinator
We would like to be communicating on a regular basis with all of our supporters. The newsletter coordinator would need to write, solicit articles from members and volunteers, and assemble the newsletter for distribution.
Board Member
We have continuous needs for board members that bring to our board skills, talent and knowledge that we may be weak in.
If you are interested in being a Volunteer or Coordinator or Board Member, please contact us. Background checks will be performed for any position that requires member interaction over time, however a background will not automatically disqualify you.