For students
You have a free Saturday. Now what?
Four things this owes you. If it fails at them, it is not working, and that is worth writing in about.
- See what is actually available
- Real events, real dates, and a count of places left that you do not have to email anyone to confirm.
- Know what you are applying for
- What the work involves, how long it runs, where it is, and what to bring. Nobody should show up to a surprise.
- Find things that fit
- Your schedule, your area, the kind of work you want to do. If you are waitlisted, you keep your place in the queue, and when an accepted volunteer withdraws before the shift starts, the next person in line who can still take the shift is moved up automatically.
- Keep a record you can hand over
- Every credited hour stays attached to the event and the date it came from; if an organizer cancels an event, its hours stop counting and leave your transcript, and you are told. When a school or a scholarship asks, you can show the work instead of a number.
Showing up once still counts
Three hours at one event is a real contribution. When an organizer uses Auto Select and more people apply than there are places, the draw leans toward whoever has fewer hours, so a first time does not put you behind somebody with two hundred.
What other members can see
Your school, grade and bio are hidden from students browsing profiles unless you choose to show them, and the organizer of an event you apply to sees more, to run that event. Settings, under Privacy, shows what other members can see about you, and lets you keep your service history and certificates to yourself.
Hours are a record, not a score
Schools and programs require them tracked, so they are. The number is not meant to be why you came.