Volunteer
Information
Thurston County Inclusion relies on volunteers to accomplish our mission. Volunteers are valuable at all of our events, both school-year activities and summer camp. We have many volunteer roles available and encourage volunteers to try out different roles. Roles include group leader for activities and events in which we split our participants up into groups, station leader such as art or music etc, one-on-one support (helping some of our higher need participants navigate through our activities and events) and photographer. There will also be opportunities throughout the year to volunteer behind the scenes for those who may be interested.
Application
Interested volunteers need to complete the volunteer application below. Send the PDF application to register@thurstoncountyinclusion.org. Once this has been completed, interested volunteers will need to pass a background check. The background check needs to be completed once every three years. After you submit your application, you will receive an email from a Thurston County Inclusion staff member letting you know your application has been accepted and next steps for volunteer training. If you do not receive an email from a TCI staff member after 1 week of submitting please contact Samantha@thurstoncountyinclusion.org
Volunteer Orientation
We ask volunteers to attend a volunteer orientation during their first year of volunteering. The Fall/Winter orientation date is TBD. If you should begin volunteering before a group orientation is made available you can contact TCI’s executive Director at Samantha@thurstoncountyinclusion.org to set up an orientation via zoom or in person.
Volunteer Opportunities
Year Round Volunteers:
We offer a variety of events throughout the year for youth including our Harvest festival, Holiday parties, museum days, beach walks and more. Our volunteers sign up for all or partial shifts for these events using our website registration (under events tab). We usually try to discuss what areas of interest you have beforehand and place you in a station or position that works best for you for the specific event or outing.
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Summer Camp Volunteers:
Summer camp volunteering works the same as year round volunteering however our summer camp programing is our largest programing that TCI offers. It is usually longer shifts, more frequent and provides more opportunities for fun! A more detailed scheduling will be available May 2024
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What to Expect:
Being a volunteer we hope you build friendships and have fun during your shifts with us. On a typical shift you're asked to arrive up to an hour before the activities or event begins and we usually will prep you on what our day will look like at time of arrival. We deal with a variety of youth with a variety of abilities and needs. We will always inform you of what a specific youth would need if you are placed in a “one on one” situation. Again, we hope to find a specific job that you feel comfortable in.
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What Should I Wear?
Wearing comfortable clothing is usually a must. All volunteers will be given a TCI shirt upon first volunteer event or received at their first event. Any clothing you are not afraid to get dirty in is also crucial. Often our activities such as painting etc can tend to get a little messy. If a location has a specific attire required such as closed toed shoes etc, we will always inform you days before of such attire needs.
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