Borrowing volunteers from neighboring schools

Parent groups short on volunteers might try "sharing'' volunteers with other schools. This way, schools get the extra hands when they need it and don't have to miss opportunities because they don't have many helpers.

by PTO Today Editors

02/07/2016

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e’s an idea if your parent group is short on volunteers. Instead of sending out a tersely worded note asking for help from your parents, how about borrowing some volunteers from a neighboring school? We came across a story about schools in Chattanooga, Tenn., doing just that and we think this is a great idea. In Chattanooga, one school had literally hundreds of volunteers (can you imagine!) while another had just a dozen. So, the school with all those helping hands sent over volunteers to the less-fortunate school to give it a boost. Think of the possibilities. If you could get some neighboring schools interested in this idea, you could create a volunteer swapping program. There are many opportunities for this, including providing babysitters for each other during parent meetings. Also, volunteers could assist a neighboring school by manning the snack or carnival booths so parents could enjoy these events with their children instead of working the event as likely do most of the time.

The Chattanooga story was particularly touching because the school in need of help had been without a parent group for a decade. It was really trying to make a go of it and those borrowed volunteers made a big difference.

That’s a win-win, as they say, especially for the kids.