There are two ways to volunteer:
- By taking a role in the club’s organization.
- By completing a scheduled volunteer activity.
Roles
Roles include:
- Member of the Board of Directors or any committee. Active participation is required. Committee participation is not limited to Board members, and we encourage everyone to ask about opportunities.
- Coach or assistant coach. “Extra assistants” (XAs) qualify provided they take an active role in the coaching of the team.
- Team Parent. Each team’s coaches may designate one “team parent” to help with coordinating team activities. There is no requirement for a team to have a team parent, and there’s no formal description of what the role involves; it’s up to the coaches to decide what help they need.
If you’re assigned to a role your volunteer status should turn green by the next day. If your coach has assigned you as a team parent please make sure he/she enters your name on the team’s feedback page – otherwise we won’t know, and your status will stay red.
Scheduled Activities
These are short activities that are published on the Volunteer Schedule page, and require members to sign up. New activities will appear from time to time during the season, and will generally include:
- Pre-season grounds preparation
- Weekly grounds setup, reorganization or cleanup
- Serving in the snack bar
We let you know about opportunities through My Pinelanders, with weekly reminders by e-mail. You can sign up through your My Pinelanders page – look for the Volunteering tab.
We recognize that some members cannot volunteer at the fields, and we generally try to offer some activities that can be carried out during the week. However, the number of these is limited, and we encourage you to do something at the fields if you possibly can.
How Soon Do I Need to Sign Up?
It’s up to you. We strongly recommend that you sign up early in the season, because:
- Once you’ve signed up we’ll stop sending you reminder messages.
- You’ll find fewer convenient opportunities in the last few weeks.
- We always need your help this week – not next week!
What Do the Volunteer Colors Mean?
Every scheduled activity has two colors: the first represents the activity status, and the second represents the volunteer status.
| Activity Status | |
|---|---|
| Nobody has yet volunteered for this activity, or it occurred in the past and was not filled. Both colors will be red in this situation. | |
| The activity was canceled – generally (but not always) because games were rained out. If the colors are blue/blue it means that somebody did sign up for it before it was canceled; if they are blue/red it means there was no volunteer. | |
| We have a volunteer, and the activity is not yet complete. The first color will automatically change to green on the day of the activity, but the second will stay yellow until the sign-in sheet has been processed. | |
| The first color will be green if we have a volunteer on the day of the activity. The second color will change to green when the volunteer coordinator processes the sign-in sheet. If the volunteer did not show up (or did not sign in) the second color will change to red instead of green. | |
Each member family also has a color, representing their volunteer status for the season.
| Member’s Volunteer Status | |
|---|---|
| Nobody in your family has a role in the club organization, and you are not signed up for a scheduled activity. Please check for available opportunities, and sign up as soon as you can. | |
| You signed up for an activity that was canceled – generally (but not always) because games were rained out. Please sign up for another scheduled activity. | |
| You have signed up for a scheduled activity, but either it has not yet occurred it has not yet been marked as complete. It may take a few days for the status to be changed, but if it is still yellow after three days please contact the volunteer coordinator. | |
| A family member has a role in the club organization, or you have completed a scheduled activity. Thank you! | |
What is the Red Zone?
Members who are “in the red zone” are those who haven’t yet signed up for anything.
What Happens If I Don’t Sign Up?
No children in your family will be assigned to a team in future seasons until you have signed up for an activity to make up for the season you missed. You won’t be able to access the on-line Registration Center if you have a red volunteer status for any prior season. If you make a habit of not volunteering, though, we’ll stop accepting your registrations completely.
My Family Situation Makes It Impossible for Me to Help
If you have a problem with helping out, the worst thing you can do is to ignore all the e-mail reminders until the season is over.
Please contact the volunteer coordinator. If you genuinely have a problem we’ll be happy to do whatever is necessary to help you out, but it’s up to you to let us know. We’ll be much less understanding if you just let the season slip by without saying anything.