It was a great opportunity to interact with the many families that were referred to the event. I'm glad to have been part of the team of volunteers that helped register and welcome the adults and their children.
I was a bilingual volunteer at the check in table. I was so happy to be of assistance as most of the people I checked in were Spanish speaking.
It worked well to have participants fill out the publicity release form at the door as they arrived. This eased the congestion at the table.
We also appreciated having the slip of paper (with Spanish translation) to give families whose names were not on the registration sheets informing them of the time they could return for gifts and festivities.
Having the coordinators from the different centers and organizations present was also helpful to confirm that participants had registered when their names were not on our sheets.
Everyone, the children especially, looked like they were having a wonderful time!
Thank you for your generosity and helping to make the Christmas season brighter for so many families!
It was good I loved the fact that I was able to help, especially being bilingual. I felt maybe more of the check-in volunteers and greeters should have been bilingual to streamline our process. But overall, it was a good experience.
Wonderful and rewarding experience helping families locate the right gifts for their children. It was great to see how organized and passionate MHUW staff and MHUW volunteers were in making sure the event ran as smoothly as possible.
I worked the parent room with books, thank you cards and adult drawing sheets. It was a great experience for me but more importantly it was nice to have a room that provided opportunities focused on the parents. Several people wrote thank you cards and took drawing sheets for themselves or their kids. The fiction books went easily and probably more with younger parents and teens that didn't see titles they liked in the children's room. Parents with limited English were looking for fiction and religious books in Spanish as well as grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary development for themselves. These books were limited in supply. Resource books that helped parents work with their students on reading and grammar were also popular although we didn't have a big range in grade level work. Religious books were also very popular as were the few cook books available. Something people requested that we didn't have were English dictionaries, as well as Spanish to English dictionaries. Children's practice work books (the kind that have fun skills development in a variety of areas) would be nice to have as well. I know the books at this event were all donated which was very kind and appreciated. I make these other suggestions in case you have the opportunity to target certain books and workbooks from donors. My only other suggestion would be to move out more of the chairs so parents can maneuver more easily around the table. Those parents who made it into this room were very appreciative. Hope these comments are helpful. Of course I would do it again and appreciate the opportunity to help those in need. Carla Perez
