About Home Help Requests
Overview for Members & Volunteers
See all of our neighbor-helping-neighbor services HERE
The HSW home help effort can best be thought of as a way a neighbor who needs a hand might contact a kind neighbor who enjoys being helpful. It’s nothing much more than that. The help could simply be someone willing to take on opening a too-tight lid on a new jar of pickles. Or walk a dog. Or, replace batteries in a beeping smoke detector, hang a picture, or repair a loose towel bar. Again, it is a neighbor helping a neighbor.
The steps to arranging home help with
an HSW volunteer
1. The member communicates the details about what they need help with by going HERE. The form found on that page can be a guide on what to say on a request made by a phone call. The more notice provided, the better.
2. The coordinator responds to the member with a phone call or email to confirm the request and get any needed details.
3. The volunteers are notified by HSW via email of the request using the details provided by the member to the coordinator.
4. The volunteer calls the member directly to confirm and ask questions. An agreement on specifics is set.
5. The volunteer reports via the HSW system that the request has been accepted and provides details as appropriate; the system immediately marks the request as “assigned.”
6. The volunteer and member communicate to each other directly about any changes. Afterward, both parties are contacted by HSW by email for a brief follow-up.
The key to making this home help program work is keeping expectations reasonable. And, as always, members planning ahead as much as practical and volunteers being flexible is helpful as well.
Sometimes simple tasks turn out to be not so simple. Members shouldn’t expect volunteers to do any task that the volunteer lacks confidence in doing. In all cases, HSW volunteers offer services that coincide with their schedule, interests, and abilities.
No doubt there will be times when the volunteer and member determine the help needed requires the expertise of a professional. Go here to see the HSW guide to professional resources.
Guidelines for all volunteers and members
How HSW members and volunteers
work together, one-on-one
The simple idea behind Here to Stay in Wintergreen is to connect those who have a need for some assistance with neighbors who are willing to volunteer to help. While that idea might be straightforward, life can sometimes become complicated. Some basic rules and guidelines are useful in managing expectations.
While a member’s request and the volunteer’s assistance are neighborly, it’s not informal. Reliability is important to both volunteers and members. The base of most of Here to Stay in Wintergreen’s standards and procedures come from real-world “village programs” developed over the last several years.
Our procedures, guidelines, and rules only outline how it all might work. The key is having everyone involved not only being careful, respectful, and kind but also maintaining a sense of humor.
There are limits
Sometimes simple tasks turn out to be not so simple. Members shouldn’t expect volunteers to do any task that the volunteer lacks confidence in doing. HSW volunteers offer services that coincide with their schedule, interests, and abilities.
When a volunteer determines a service requested by a member requires the expertise of a professional, they can explain this to the member. Go here to see the HSW guide to professional resources.
Volunteer background checks
Due to the often personal nature of the work done by volunteers directly for HSW members, our insurance company recommends requiring a background check of all volunteers who work one on one with members.
Here to Stay in Wintergreen uses a third party, Choice Screening, that provides this service. All information is confidential.
General Guidelines & Rules
Discretion on the part of both volunteers and members is key. Both members and volunteers are required to maintain the confidentiality of any proprietary or privileged information to which they are exposed while being served by a volunteer, whether this information involves an HSW member or another volunteer. Personal information should not be shared outside the organization. Both HSW members and volunteers should be careful in their informal conversations with friends and family regarding details of any situation of the individuals in HSW’s program. HSW does not sell, rent, exchange, or share the individual personal information of members or volunteers for use by third parties.
Volunteers and members should maintain a friendly professional demeanor, avoiding unnecessary close physical contact when working together. Volunteers and members should avoid offering comments and advice about personal situations.
Volunteers and members should not act on behalf of or make statements representing the official position of the organization unless they have been authorized to do so by an officer of the Board of Directors. For example, volunteers should not make statements to the press, broadcast media, or other organizations without prior authorization. No volunteer or member is authorized to sign any agreement involving contractual or financial obligations on behalf of HSW.
Members should not offer gifts or tips to HSW volunteers. Volunteers should decline if any are offered.
Volunteers are asked to be prompt and reliable in reporting for assignments with members so as to free up HSW resources for others. Members and volunteers should notify HSW promptly of any changes, issues, concerns, or problems.
Volunteers may decide to stop volunteering at any time; members are not obligated to participate in any HSW program. Volunteers are asked to inform the HSW office if they cannot continue in any role and give as much notice as possible. To help the organization grow and learn from its experiences, volunteers and members are asked to be candid about their experiences, knowing they can rely on the discretion of the HSW administrators.
HSW will dismiss a volunteer or member who fails to fulfill the basic requirements of the organization.