Volunteer at the First Northeast Disability and Agriculture Conference Presented By Healing By Growing Farms – Spring 2023 Service Series

https://cglink.me/2dA/r1993243

Volunteers are needed to support this landmark conference being held in Connecticut. Dwight Hall will assist in facilitating transportation to and from the conference. Volunteers are asked to register both on this Yale Connect page and via the conference registration page (more info below).

About the Conference:

The Northeast Disability and Agriculture Conference is a first-time regional event designed to educate and empower the agricultural community. Through workshops and presentations, farmer attendees will learn how to better advocate for themselves, and service provider attendees will learn how to identify potential distress risks within the community. Together attendees will learn how to build a network sharing skills and resources to improve accessibility and reduce industry incidents of suicide.

About Healing by Growing Farms:

The conference is presented by Healing by Growing Farms, a community that fosters a holistic healing approach that reconnects trauma survivors to themselves, nature, and the environment. We seek to empower individuals to engage in sustainable and regenerative permaculture.

Information for Volunteers:

This will be an amazing educational and life experience for volunteers as they engage and interact with attendees from over 7 states and with a community of people with ALL abilities from all walks of life from food justice to food growers to environmental justice to forestry, fishery and mental health to name a few.

Responsibilities: Will include but are not limited to the following as other needs may come up on the day of the event.

* Set-up/Tear-down

Chairs, tables, a podium, microphones, etc. are all a big part of our conference. Rooms have to be put together with adequate seating for attendees and often, this involves a quick change to the room layout for another session. Volunteers help to quickly get these spaces set-up and then dismantled again are vital.

* Coat Check

People don’t really like walking around conferences with their coats and bulky belongings. Most sessions have chairs packed-in pretty close and there’s not a whole lot of room for people to be lugging around a lot of stuff especially when they have physical limitations. Having a few volunteers that will work at an area specifically designed for people to leave and then later pick-up their coats is vital to our event.

* Greeters/Ushers

Helping to fill rooms in a systematic way. For the large sessions, it’s important to evenly fill the space. Having ushers to show people to a specific seat is definitely helpful. Even if we aren’t ushering people, just having a greeter to help attendees know where to go or just verify that they are at the “right place” is a necessary service.

* Parking Attendants: As this is an ALL-ABILITIES EVENT and over 40% of the survey respondents reported having some type of limitation

Parking space is always a huge concern and having people that will direct cars will make the most of our available space. It’s one of the more labor-intensive jobs at the conference, but one of the most important given all the potential limitations attendees may have and the weather.

* Runners

Miscellaneous needs pop-up at a moment’s notice. Something may be needed in one of the breakout session rooms, or a message needs to get posted that a session is going to be in a different location. When things like this happen, having someone that can quickly attend to it is crucial. These runners keep the pace of the conference moving and help keep our event host and volunteer manager on the know with happenings.

* Meals/Coffee/Water Station

Keeping everyone hydrated and fueled at the conference is important. Having someone help set up the meals (breakfast and lunch) and monitor the snacks/coffee and/or water for attendees is really important especially when done with a smile.

* Information Table Attendant

There’s plenty happening during a conference and attendees will frequently have questions. They’ll need location information, time information and sometimes just a little help to find the best session for them, the healthcare room and the resources room.

* Registration Desk

Having people to get attendees registered and off on their way at the conference is a very important first point of contact. Smiling volunteers that help people get started at the conference is as important as the front desk clerk at a hotel.

Help with displaying event signage, giving badges, life saver cards, signing attendees out at the end of the event and sending them to get their stipends, as well as monitoring the virtual attendance; tracking and recording for all (4) sessions will be vital to ensure we capture all our numbers for funder reporting purposes after the event.

* Workshop Monitors

Sometimes called “presiders,” these volunteers stay in the workshop rooms to make sure everything is running smoothly. They attend to anything the presider may need during the session and act as an official from the conference.

* Copywriter

After the event we will need at least one volunteer to help us develop communications including: Content on website, Resources Library on website (we are collecting virtual resources) and the creation of an online and print Newsletter with post conference highlights, pictures, stories and the such.

* Wayfinding and support

Volunteers to provide assistance to guests throughout the conference including connecting with the Mental Health Triage Licensed Professional who will be available for attendees at the event.

* Audience Q&A

During the conference we may need to facilitate Q&A with the audience which may involve roving microphones. The volunteer will aid with the distribution of microphones amongst the audience as needed.

* Social Media

Volunteer to run our social media accounts for the day featuring live stories, interviews and photos to make our event engaging from start to finish. We already have a pre-conference event consent attendees completed as part of their registration process allowing us to use their audio, pics, etc.

* Raffles & Fundraisers

Dedicated volunteers roam throughout the conference to engage with attendees and sell tickets for our social impact cause at Healing By Growing Farms.

How to Sign Up:

1. Volunteers should register on the Yale Connect event page.

2. Volunteers should also register at the conference page located here:
https://forms.gle/jCui5va7KLwBFz526