Tamara Roach is the Operations Director at The Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson, NC. With responsibilities in every area from accounting to information technology and volunteer coordination, Roach needs all the help she can get to be part of a community center that houses 21 health and human services programs under one roof. Coordinating large events that can require over 100 volunteers a day was an overwhelming task until Roach discovered SignUpGenius.
"I had heard about it from a friend whose child's school uses SignUpGenius, but I thought, "too expensive for us," so I didn't pursue it. About a week later one of our board member's told me about it again and that it was FREE," says Roach. "I went home after our board meeting, looked up SignUpGenius, began playing around with it and was instantly hooked."
SignUpGenius has continued to be the go-to online program for the group, as they use the system to schedule volunteer needs for impromptu fundraisers and other benefit events like the annual Ada Jenkins Gala and the Fire BBQ and 5k Race throughout the year. Roach is thrilled that she can actually send out emails via the SignUpGenius system. "We have a database of almost 1200 in SignUpGenius, and we encourage people to share our SignUpGenius with others looking to get involved with the Center through volunteering or students looking to fulfill community service hours." The system saves valuable time for a busy Director like Roach, who notes, "It takes 95% of the back & forth e-mail leg work out of planning/scheduling volunteers for an event."
For those that are multi-tasking organizers, SignUpGenius offers invaluable resources and allows easy access to group information all in one place. Roach touts "ease of use" and the fact that volunteers can see in real time what opportunities are available as major perks. Other positives? "I can send a "Thank you" e-mail to those that did volunteer for an event and can duplicate a sign up. I personally enjoy looking at the stats to see how many people are actually interested enough to look at our events and consider volunteering for them," she adds.
Roach has high hopes to get several of the other Ada Jenkins initiatives using SignUpGenius to coordinate services in a more effective manner. "We are working with our Free Medical Clinic and Dental Clinic to begin using SignUpGenius to schedule their clinic volunteers. This will make a world of difference in the time spent scheduling their on-going clinic volunteers. Then we will move to teaching our other program directors to utilize this tool," Roach says.
Those that come to The Ada Jenkins Center are often in crisis situations from circumstances like job losses and illnesses. We are thankful to provide a service that allows the individuals working in a community center like Ada Jenkins to spend less time managing spreadsheets and more time serving those in need.
To read more about The Ada Jenkins Center, visit their website. If you are an organization that is making an impact on your community while using SignUpGenius to coordinate, please feel free to share with us on our Facebook page or in the comment section below.
