Career Story: Nonprofit Volunteer Coordinator

Hello, my name is
Ashley, I am 30 years old,
ASHLEY, 30
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, CITY TEAM

I work for Cityteam, which
is non-profit here in the bay.

I make $43,500 a year
as a volunteer coordinator

slash administrative assistant.

Cityteam is a non-profit,
Christian organization.

We are a drug and recovery program.

It's similar to the
alcohol anonymous program

where it's 12 steps,
and within those 12 steps

what we try to do is
help them understand

their reasons are for using the drugs

and also ways to equip
them to not use drugs as well.

We also incorporate applying

scripture to their lives
in order to live it out.

So, a list of some of the
responsibilities in my role include:
ASHLEY’S RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

processing and tracking donations,
-PROCESSING AND TRACKING DONATIONS

creating different opportunities
for people to volunteer,
-CREATING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

building partnerships
with some of the different
-BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS W/ HOUSING SITES

single room occupancy
housings in the area.

Our main project for Cityteam
are Saturday clinics.

We have a group of people,

the max we can hold
are about 50 people

and we'll have them
split up, bring in 100

to 120 bags of food,

we call them bags of love.

Then our men in our
program they take them down

to the single room occupancies

that I was talking about earlier.

What they do is they'll go
into the rooms, knock on the doors,

hand people the lunches,
ask them if they need anything,

ask them if they would like prayer,

and then let them
know about our lunches.

We have an all-you-can-eat
lunch for the people,

anyone on sixth street
in the area that comes in.

We also do foot washing,
we'll wash their feet,

provide them with a new pair of socks

every Saturday, and so that's something
that we do for people as well

and then you get the
opportunity to get to know people

and it's a very intimate
and humbling experience,

and we've learned
that people open up more

because you're
beneath them at that point.

They're up here and then
you're kneeling at their feet,

and so they'll speak to you more.

Another thing we're able to do
is our clothing distribution,

which is we let them go
downstairs and pick out about

three items of clothing,
and if we have shoes

or anything then they're
allowed to pick that out as well.

It's really funny,

people are very
entertaining and you get

so many divas when they
pick out clothing, it's just a joy.

And, you get some
amazing requests, and

it's amazing, you'll get
hugs and people love you for it.

So, I make $43,500 annually.

The pay is on the lower
end of the spectrum

considering how others
are doing in the area,

but that is expected
for working at a non-profit,

but, you get other benefits.

The mindset and skills that
one would probably need to work

for an organization like Cityteam

would be definitely
a great multi-tasker,

great organizational skills,

patient, you'll need
a lot of patience,

kindness, definitely have to be
kind and show people kindness,

and be able to be open
to expect anything for the day.

The days could go up or down, you
never know, so you have to be flexible

for the type of work that I do.

You definitely have to see
the bigger picture of things,

it's just important to

to be able to look
past whatever is happening.

Some people may come in
and be frustrated for the day

and may take those
frustrations out on you,

so you have to be able to not
take it personal once you're there,

and to always show kindness

and a good heart, and to show people
what love and friendship looks like

when you work for
an organization like this

because people are hurting,

and the people that you're
encountering are hurting people,

so you want to be that
light and be able to show them

what a healthy person looks
like or what something looks like

when it comes to love or kindness.

So, the worst day on the job

probably would be if someone comes in

for the lunch period and

they're either intoxicated

or they're having a bad day

or they haven't been
able to afford their medication,

so they're either seeing
things or they're drunk

and they're causing
problems with the other guests,

kind of have to be a bouncer
and break up a fight or something,

so that's kind of a rough day.

The days where I come home
and I feel like I did a great job,

those are the days when I get a
random hug off the street from like

a homeless lady or
something, and they are just like,

"you don't understand
what you do for me,"

or, "your smile
just lights up my day."

My favorite is when a student,
like a sixth grader from

a school comes to
volunteer and they just get it,

they are excited to do,

in my mind, God's work, it's something

activates inside
of them and they just,

they're transformed, they want
to do it, they have a hunger for it,

they go home and they continue
to seek it out, like they start

volunteering with
students or children or

serving on the
weekends with their families,

it becomes their mission to do

whatever it is that they can do to

save someone or to help someone,

and for me that

that makes me understand this is why

I'm doing what I'm
doing and it brings me joy.