Monday Is Deadline to Volunteer for Craft Beer Festival

Lee Ann Harvey, Decatur volunteer coordinator, sent out this list of upcoming opportunities to give back to the community or to volunteer.

Restaurants for Repairs – Benefitting Decatur’s Martin Luther King Jr. Service Project

Tuesday, September 18

Dine at participating great Decatur restaurants on Sept. 18. A percentage of the day’s proceeds goes to the Decatur MLK Service Project, a large scale volunteer initiative to help low income Decatur seniors live safely, comfortably and affordably in their homes by completing: needed repairs, weatherization, handicap accessible features and yard work. A list of participating restaurants (including links to their websites) is available at www.mlkserviceproject.com or www.decaturga.com/restaurantsforrepairs. There are restaurants for every price range and a wide variety of cuisine. Thank you to the following restaurants for participating:

Brick Store Pub

Café Alsace

Chick-Fil-A – Downtown Decatur

The Corner Pub

Harbour Bar

Leon's Full Service

Matador Cantina

Raging Burrito & Taco

Steinbeck's

Swirlin’ Twirlin’ Frozen Yogurt

Twain's Billiards & Tap

Universal Joint

The Yogurt Tap

The MLK Service Project is partnering with the City of Decatur’s “Keep it Indie-Catur” initiative to encourage people to shop, dine and support local businesses (http://www.visitdecaturgeorgia.com/index.aspx?page=673). Contact Lee Ann Harvey at leeann.harvey@decaturga.com or Lena Stevens at lena.stevens@decaturga.com, if you have any questions about Restaurants for Repairs.

Decatur Craft Beer Festival

Saturday, October 20, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

 The volunteer sign up form for the Decatur Craft Beer Festival is attached.  I always appreciate all of the hundreds of volunteers who make Decatur’s festivals such wonderful events.  Please carefully read the volunteer form and the information listed below. Please follow the directions listed below. If you don’t, it will delay your form from being processed. The longer the delay, the more likely the chance you will miss out on a volunteer slot.

Please sign up no later than September 10. Volunteer forms are processed on a first come, first served basis. The first round of assignments is given to volunteers who have helped at other Decatur events (those who volunteered at multiple events and/or took a leadership role at one or more events will be processed first); then I assign those who volunteered at the Decatur Craft Beer Festival last year; finally, I assign new volunteers. If you want to be considered for one of the priority placements, please sign up as soon as possible. Volunteer positions for this festival fill up extremely quickly. If you wait until September 10 to send in your form, there may no longer be positions available for the duty and shift you prefer. I will not send out confirmations or notification that I am unable to assign you until after September 11.

(Hint: To increase your likelihood of being able to volunteer, I highly recommend that you be as flexible as possible in your request for an assignment. If you sign up for a position that has had all of the slots filled and didn’t give other options, there is a good chance that you will not be placed.  First shift of all positions fills the most quickly. If you send in a blank form, I cannot process it, so please follow directions regarding completion of the form.)

Volunteers receive free admission to the festival, a beer tasting glass, and the good feeling of knowing that your volunteerism is helping us to fund community projects and organizations.

Please be certain to follow these directions:

• Everyone who would like to volunteer must submit a form with the requested information (the form can accommodate up to 2 people for the same position). Please don’t just send me an email. If you would like to volunteer with someone else, it must be on the same form; otherwise, I will not be able to place you together. For example, if you and your spouse want to volunteer together, both must be included on the same form. If you send in two separate forms, you will not be placed together and might not be assigned to the same shift or duty.
• I understand that people want to work with their friends. It is difficult for me to place groups together, since the layout of the festival frequently changes. Instead, go out to dinner with your friends after the festival to one of our wonderful Decatur restaurants and compare notes on your experience at the festival!
• Please provide complete contact information, especially email addresses, on the form. 
• Everyone working at Set Up, Souvenirs, or Volunteer Check In, must have previous experience working at one of these jobs at another Decatur festival (see list). Please note that volunteers do not receive a t-shirt, so we can donate more of the proceeds to the grantee organizations. If you would like one of the classic Decatur Craft Beer Festival t-shirts, please purchase one at the Souvenir tent.
• Please note that the first shift for all volunteer jobs fills up quickly.  If you sign up for a first shift duty, please also list a second choice (since first shift fills quickly, it would be in your best interests for you to choose an option on the second shift).
• Decatur Craft Beer Festival information is available at www.decaturbeerfestival.com. The list of beers will be posted soon.
• Proceeds from this event support community projects and organizations. We appreciate you volunteering so we may continue to make these donations.
• Please sign up no later than September 10th.  Volunteer confirmations will be sent out after that date.  Please be patient.  I am a staff of one and am also working on a number of other projects.  I will send confirmations (or notifications that I am unable to place you) as quickly as possible.  Thank you for understanding. All notifications will be sent before tickets go on sale (ticket sale info will be on the website).

You may sign up to volunteer at the festival by completing the attached PDF  form.  Signing up is simple.  You can print out the form, complete it by hand, and fax it or drop it off. You can also follow these steps to email it to me:

1 - Open the document.

2 - Fill in your contact information (tab from field to field).

3 - Click on checkboxes to "X" them.

4 - Add any comments to the "Comment" line.  (If you have indicated more than one assignment, let me know your order of preference or whether you are interested in doing multiple assignments.)

5 – Name and save your completed document.

6 - E-mail the completed and saved document back to me at leeann.harvey@decaturga.com. 

The form is attached as a PDF. If you have filled it out by hand, you can fax it to me at (404) 371-1593 or drop it off at Decatur City Hall (Decatur Downtown Development Authority office on the second floor) at 509 N. McDonough St. (at the corner of Trinity Pl.). Mailing it will delay the processing of your form.

If you have any questions, contact Lee Ann Harvey at leeann.harvey@decaturga.com or (678) 553-6548.

Season of Giving/Christmas Decatur

Volunteer Training

Choose either: Wednesday, September 19, 5:30 p.m. or Saturday, September 22, 9:00 a.m.

Decatur City Hall – Commission Conference Room, 509 N. McDonough St.

Season of Giving/Christmas Decatur is a community volunteer effort that pairs low-income children and senior citizens with generous contributors to provide holiday gifts to those in need. Since 1995, this very successful program has helped low income children (and their parents) and senior citizens look forward to the holidays.

In 2011, we arranged for holiday gifts for over 600 City of Decatur children and seniors. It may surprise you that we are hard at work with the preliminary arrangements for this program...already!

Over the past few years, our committee has strived to "warm up" the program for both donors and recipients by encouraging it to be less institutional and promote the neighbor helping neighbor aspect.

In an effort to do that, we ask parents to come and meet with a trained volunteer who will assist them with “wish lists” for their children. (Parents must apply in person.) This year, we will have 3 large scale application sessions scheduled between September 25 and October 16. Our goal is to ensure that everyone who needs help gets help.

To make these application times possible, we rely on volunteers within the community to help for a few hours with interviews. If you were involved last year, you know how rewarding it can be. The basic requirements are to know a little about what children like and to be friendly and welcoming to the parents who are requesting assistance. Essentially, the volunteers will sit with a parent and help to fill out a wish list for his or her child(ren).

The Season of Giving/Christmas Decatur committee provides some suggestions to help the process along. If you have children in the school system, you might be worried that it will be uncomfortable for the parents you know who are asking for assistance. We have found that not to be the case at all. In fact, having a familiar face or someone who also knows their children was comforting to many parents and promoted the community feel we are working to achieve.

You may choose either the training for volunteer interviewers on Wednesday, September 19 at 5:30 p.m. or Saturday, September 22 at 9:00 a.m. Please sign up in advance for the orientation. The training will only take about an hour and will take place at Decatur City Hall, 509 N. McDonough St.

If you'd like to volunteer but cannot attend one of those sessions, we will work around your schedule. Please contact Lee Ann Harvey at leeann.harvey@decaturga.com or aseasonofgiving@decaturga.com or (678) 553-6548 to sign up for trainings and to help with the application sessions.