Events recap
Street festival volunteer day: what one Saturday raised
Sixty volunteers, eleven stalls, and a stretch of road closed to traffic: a recap of the August volunteer day, with what it raised and what we will change next year.
On Saturday 22 August, the high street was closed to traffic from ten in the morning until six in the evening for the neighbourhood street festival. For the third year, we ran the information stand, the cake stall, the second-hand book table, and the children’s corner. This is a short recap for everyone who helped, and for anyone thinking of joining next year.
Who came
Sixty volunteers signed up for a shift; 57 turned up. Twenty-two were volunteering with us for the first time. Most shifts were two hours long, and most people stayed for longer than their shift.
The festival organisers counted about 6,000 visitors over the day. Our stand was at the corner by the library, next to the music stage, which was good for visitors and hard on conversation.
What we did
The stands each had a simple job.
- The information stand answered questions and signed people up for the newsletter and the volunteer list. 148 people left their email address; 31 asked to hear about volunteering.
- The cake stall sold 640 slices of cake baked by 40 volunteers and supporters. It sold out by half past three.
- The book table sold about 900 second-hand books at $1 each, donated over the summer. The children’s books went first.
- The children’s corner ran a drawing table and a short story-reading every hour, led by volunteers from the reading club.
What it raised
The day raised $4,860 (sample figures):
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cake stall | $1,920 |
| Book table | $905 |
| Donations at the stand | $1,435 |
| Card payments for monthly gifts (first month) | $600 |
| Total | $4,860 |
The costs were $310: the stand hire, printing, and card reader fees. Everything else, from the cakes to the tables, was given.
Eleven people set up a monthly gift on the day. If they keep giving for a year, which most monthly donors do, that is worth more than everything else we raised on the Saturday.
What we will change
We ask every volunteer the same three questions after an event: what went well, what was hard, and what should we change. The answers this year were clear.
- The stand by the stage was too loud to talk to people. Next year we will ask for a spot further down the street.
- The cake stall ran out too early. We will ask more bakers and sell slices at the same price all day, rather than halving the price after two o’clock.
- New volunteers wanted a short briefing before their shift. We will hold a fifteen-minute briefing at the stand every two hours.
Thank you
To everyone who baked, sorted books, carried tables, read stories, and stood in the sun for longer than they had signed up for: thank you. The money goes to the community kitchen and the reading club, as it did last year.
The next big volunteer day is the winter food drive in December. If you would like to be on the list, sign up as a volunteer.
