Opportunities From: United Way of King County

CommUNITY Challenge Volunteer Roles

Head Captain (Team lead for team of “Free Agents”) Main lead of team, liaison between volunteers and athletes. Coach athletes, create own content and workouts Can take on all responsibilities or have volunteer support. A background check is required to be a Head Captain, 18+ Team Tech Support Tech Expectations: Charity Footprints Support, Zoom, E-mail/Text Log miles into Charity Footprints for team members Set up Zoom meetings, provide basic tech training to team members. Help facilitate the Pit Stop Zoom meetings for your team. Act as overall “tech support” for your team. Team Cheerleader Work with head captain to provide encouragement and support to teammates. Stay connected with team members via Zoom, call, text, etc. on a weekly basis. Maintain confidentiality of team members (address, phone, etc.) Send a gift, start a phone tree, mail a letter, throw a zoom party. Virtual Unified Partner Sign up to compete right alongside (remotely) an athlete competing in the CommUNITY Challenge Volunteers will be assigned to compete as a Unified Partner with an athlete who has requested a pair for the CommUNITY Challenge. Work with your athlete to set goals for your daily activity. Virtual Unified Partners are encouraged to check in with athletes to talk about training plans, offer encouragement, and support with submission of results. A background check is required to be a Virtual Unified Partner, 18+ Virtual Coach Sign up to help athletes along the way as they train and compete for in the CommUNITY Challenge. After signing up, volunteers will receive a virtual coaching training course to learn more about the process. Volunteers will then be assigned to an athlete/group of athletes who are looking for a coach. Virtual Coaches will check in with the athletes to give training tips, encouragement, and support with the submission of results. A background check is required to be a Virtual Coach, 18+ Resource Fair Host Do you have a skill (cooking class, magic show, leading a live workout, dance class) that you'd like to share with the Special Olympics Washington community? Sign up for this role and we will connect with you to get a live class/demonstration scheduled! Resource fair sessions will be held from the week of May 17 to the week of June 21. Resource fair events will be held in the evening on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Social Media Advocates Like, Comment and Share Content from our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Post on social media using the hashtag #SOWAVirtualGames Virtual Fans in the Stands Bring the noise and join us to cheer on the athletes as they compete in our CommUNITY Challenge. These videos will be recorded and then shared out directly with our athletes as well as on FlipGrid. If you have a group of 10+, contact us to set up your own Virtual Fans in the Stands Session. Cheer Cards Get your creative skills going and share your best Cheer Cards for our competitors to see during the CommUNITY Challenge. Once you are done creating your cards, there are a few options! You can post them on our FlipGrid page. You can post the pictures on Facebook/Twitter using the hashtag #SOWAVirtualGames E-mail the completed cards to arider@sowa.org Finally, you can also mail them to our office where they will then be mailed to our athletes! Creation of Encouraging Videos Head over to our FlipGrid and create an encouraging video!  Instructions for using FlipGrid will be provided Post your video! Videos can be messages of encouragement, good luck, great jobs, what do you miss about SOWA, your favorite SOWA memory, anything encouraging!

 

Ongoing Virtual Volunteer Roles

Letter Writing Looking to send some encouragement from athletes while we are all at home! Let us know how many letters you would like to write, and we will supply a list of athletes. Supply your own materials, and then once you are done, send them to our office at 2815 2nd Ave, Suite 370, Seattle, WA 98121 where we will address and send them out to the athletes. Messages of encouragement, your favorite Special Olympics memory, what you miss about events, what event you are looking forward to when we return? Have a favorite recipe that has been getting you through quarantine? Write it out and send it along with your card!

Operation Tech Connect Volunteers

As the world continues to move in a digital fashion, our Operation Tech Connect program is here to help connect our Special Olympics Washington athletes with access to technology as well as the help to navigate the digital world. Operation Tech Connect volunteers will help those who need assistance in navigating their devices (phones, tablets, gaming equipment) as well as a deeper understanding of how to engage with these technologies.

If interested, please click "respond" and we will follow up with more information. 

Volunteer Duties:

Operation Tech Connect volunteers will be connected with one athlete over a six week period. Main Support Roles: Teach set up of technology devices Training of online communication tools (Skype, Teams, Zoom, etc.) E-mail Support: Support with the creation of an e-mail account and provide training around e-mail basics. Microsoft Word Suite Training – Provide high level training around products such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Online Safety Training – Educate on the importance of safety and privacy while using technology devices. Tech Support can be delivered via: Telephone Online How To Guides In person distance visioned IT “on-call” squad Community Challenge Support (Spring 2021 Season) Tech Expectations: Charity Footprints Support, Zoom, E-mail/Text Log miles into Charity Footprints for team members Set up Zoom meetings, provide basic tech training to team members. Help facilitate the Pit Stop Zoom meetings for your team. Act as overall “tech support” for your team.

Volunteer Requirements:

Volunteer must be over the age of 18 and complete a background check to become certified as a Class A volunteer. Volunteer must have strong technology skills. Information must be presented in a user friendly matter. Good communication skills and patience are necessary. Volunteer must be able to commit to an ongoing volunteer role. Timing of training sessions can be flexible and will be coordinated in the partnerships.