Volunteer Archives - Walt in PA

The 2012 USPSA Season certainly has been a busy one for me. Aside from shooting, I spent a fair amount of time volunteering at two local clubs. My time was spent primarily working with Southern Chester County Sportsmen's and Farmers' Association to develop and setup stages. Towards the end of the season, the Match Director at Southern Chester needed to step aside until the 2013 Season. When that happened, my part in stage design stopped, although I continued to help with setup on match day. Yesterday I received an email from that Match Director about the upcoming season. It would seem that two of the major volunteers, which help with setup on the day prior to the match, are retiring. Since the volunteer crew that does setup on the day prior only consists of three people, this has a major impact on how matches run. The issue boils down to the club not having enough help to completely setup, shoot, and break down in a single day. To ease the strain, three men would arrive the day before to staple targets onto sticks, label targets for placement, haul props to shooting bays, and completely setup the 75 yard bay. The following day a larger crew would arrive to setup everything that was sorted the day before. At this point there is a bit of concern regarding how to setup next year with limited volunteers. The big question is clear, how does this club increase its number of volunteers? In 2012, matches were limited to roughly 75 shooters on a pre-registration system. I've heard that registration often filled up within a few hours. Do you think that this has an adverse affect on volunteers? Regular volunteers are signed up to shoot automatically and are not required to race to a computer for registration. Other clubs offer volunteers a discount on registration (For instance, I help at Lower Providence Rod and Gun Club and reviece $5.00 off for helping. While it isn't a lot of money, I appreciate it none the less), Southern Chester does not. Do you think this has an effect on the number of volunteers that show up? If you were in charge, how would you increase the amount of help you receive to make each months match happen?