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Age Friendly Millinocket committee to launch "Handy Helper" volunteer sign-ups July 22–24
Summary
The Age Friendly Millinocket committee approved materials and set a July 22–24 launch window for a volunteer-run "Handy Helper" program, discussed background-check procedures, training and deployment logistics, and named communications and website tasks for rollout.
The Age Friendly Millinocket committee said it will launch volunteer recruitment for a new "Handy Helper" program between July 22 and July 24, aiming to coordinate the online sign-up with a town newsletter and a subsequent newspaper notice.
The committee chair said members finalized a paper sign-up form and a Google form and sent the latest version to the town manager for review before the forms go live. "We'll have a couple different ways for people to sign up to be a volunteer," the chair said, noting plans for print, social and radio outreach tied to the launch window.
A presenter on the work group described the administrative workflow: one volunteer will monitor incoming Google Form responses, send applicants a background-check waiver and the town volunteer waiver, and follow up after the police department returns background-check results. "We need someone to check the Google Form responses, and respond to volunteers, with the background check form and town waiver, and then follow-up with that person once the background check is back," the presenter said.
Committee members discussed which background checks will be required. One member said the usual local practice is a state-level check, and that a federal/FBI check is more costly; committee members asked staff to confirm which checks the town will run and whether the town's existing volunteer records can be reused to avoid duplicate screening.
The group also agreed to develop concise volunteer "do's and don'ts," a training/orientation approach (quarterly sessions or on-boarding as volunteers arrive) and a spreadsheet to track background-check expiration dates. They discussed pairing minors with screened adults for outdoor or light tasks and limiting tasks that create additional liability (for example, indoor ladder work), noting a need for clear age-based parameters.
Communications work included a draft press release, a rack-card blueprint, a radio script, and a website ‘‘wish list’’ to send to DesignLab. The communications lead said public-service announcements are typically free and recommended tagging partner organizations when posting on social media.
The committee plans to pause regular meetings in August and reconvene Sept. 15. Next steps for the Handy Helper launch are confirmation from the town manager on the forms, finalizing the communications pieces with DesignLab, and documenting the intake and training procedures.
