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DDA webinar: strategies to recruit and retain volunteers for home-delivered meals
Summary
Sydney Enns, director of volunteer engagement at the Department of Disability and Aging, told coordinators that recruitment and retention must be balanced, outlined intake and screening procedures, and recommended practical recruitment channels, ambassador programs, short orientations and low-cost recognition to hold volunteers.
Sydney Enns, director of volunteer engagement and senior center liaison at the Department of Disability and Aging (DDA), led a statewide webinar for nutrition-site coordinators on recruiting and retaining volunteers for the home-delivered meals program.
Enns framed the session around two priorities: finding volunteers where they are and keeping the ones that already serve. "Statistically we spend five times more money and time recruiting volunteers than focusing on retaining the good volunteers that we have," she said, urging coordinators to shift part of their effort toward retention as well as recruitment.
Why it matters: coordinators told Enns they are working with limited staff and budgets, and volunteers keep meal routes running for many rural and urban clients. Losing volunteers risks missed deliveries and more travel for remaining drivers. Enns offered concrete tactics intended to limit coordinator workload and strengthen volunteer loyalty.
Key recommendations
Recruit where volunteers already…
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