Volunteering At KCC

Sunday Volunteer Sign Up

Portland LocationWhen you arrive to the center on Sunday morning, have you noticed that the doors are open, the lights are on, the offering bowls are filled, and there is hot water for tea downstairs and at the teaching table? This is because a few of your dharma siblings have set aside some of their time to prepare this for you. Please sign up to make these Sunday Practices possible!

SIGN UP

The volunteer roles are:

  • Opener/Greeter
  • Teacher tea and Shrine tender*
  • Closer

Descriptions

*Position requires training – contact Pat Parker (oaktreegrl@aol.com) before signing up


Other Volunteer Roles

With a small staff, volunteers are critical to KCC’s fruitful operations. Through volunteering, you can establish and deepen your relationships with Sangha members and support KCC’s mission.  To learn more about volunteering, contact Sally Mead – mead.sally@gmail.com.

Sunday Practice Volunteers

  • Zoom Hosts – Host KCC programming through Zoom teleconferencing
  • HVAC volunteer – regulates the heating and cooling
  • Potluck prep and cleanup – maintains volunteer list for potluck Sundays
  • Sunday Opener – Make facility welcoming (open the building, turn on lights, prepare water and snacks, etc.)
  • Greeter – Greet people as they enter the Portland Center; connect with new guests
  • Flower Team – prepare flowers for all events

Facility & Grounds

  • Cleaning Team – weekly cleaning of facility
  • Facility purchasing – Stocks supplies for bathrooms, cleaning
  • Hospitality purchasing – stocks snacks, teas, pens, tissues, etc.
  • Yardwork – Maintenance of Portland Center’s yard including watering, planting, weeding (Dharma Diggers Photo Gallery)
  • Facilities manager – oversees all facility needs
  • Facilities Project Consultants – review and advise prospective projects

Media & Outreach

  • Photographer – Photograph events, curate photos and manage photo storage
  • Brochures – Create brochures for distribution
  • Website maintenance – Publish articles, maintain calendar events, etc.
  • E-newsletter – Create, coordinate, and publish KCC’s monthly e-newsletter
  • Email lists maintenance – Add/remove addresses from Announce, Livestream, and Community email lists
  • Communications – Create event announcements, website articles, other communication
  • Bulletin Boards – Maintain content and design of bulletin boards in Portland Center
  • Sangha directory – Maintains list of current addresses, phone numbers of sangha members wishing to share their information to stay in touch

Books & Education

  • Book store – manage bookstore
  • Library – Add books to catalog and reshelve books

Classes & Events

  • Retreat Team – registration, venue preparation and cleanup at SCOL, cooks, etc.
  • Classes – registration, venue preparation and cleanup at Portland Center, hosts, etc.
  • Scholarship Team – Review applications and select recipients for scholarships applied towards non-KCC residential retreats (ex: India)

Update from the Volunteer Support Service Group & Sunday Coordination – Jan 27, 2024

Hello folks,

As you know, we truly count on ALL of you and our volunteers to keep our Sangha moving forward! We are thankful to have a large group of volunteers supporting the many activities and service groups involved in running KCC. There are MANY WAYS to get involved! We will work together to find you a role that fits right. We want you to have a rewarding experience.

In addition to our volunteers, we are fortunate to have our wonderful staff, with Liza leading the way. Cynthia Irvine, Wilder Lyon and Vicki Fields at SCOL are also a part of how we make KCC happen. We also appreciate Gwen Wolfenbarger, who until last month, provided remarkable operations management. We will truly miss Gwen as they step into their new career as a Music Therapist.

With volunteering, there are so many options to get involved, from Board Members – to Retreat Registrars  – to Sunday Openers, Closers and Shrine tenders.  As you likely know, I am Volunteer Support Coordinator and feel honored to work with my small Support Team. This has been Makiko, Sally and Rosemarie until just recently!!

Maybe you have noticed the slide show on Sunday Shamatha, that Kate Rutigier has recently agreed to join our team!! She will be coordinating the Sunday volunteer folks. Fortunately, there are people who have committed to 1 Sunday a month through June, but things come up at the last minute and we find someone else to cover. Kate will watch over this and provide support to anyone new to one of these roles. Thank you so much Kate! Makiko and I both appreciate you coordinating this!

If you’re reading this and want to connect with Kate, her email is katerudigier@gmail.com .

If you have interest in other volunteer roles, the long list of possibilities is available on the webpage https://kcc.org/home/news/volunteer/.  Feel free to get in touch with me if you want even more information: mead.sally@gmail.com

So warmly, Sally

Information about Service Groups & Volunteers

We are grateful for your volunteer help to keep KCC running so that the dharma may be shared by all. Whether you are a one-time volunteer, or are signing up for a long-term commitment, your participation is valued.

If you have questions, ideas for how things could work differently, or need help with your assigned task, it is important that you know whom to ask. At KCC we are trying to balance shared decision-making with effective leadership. For example, KCC has a small Board of Directors (board@kcc.org), all friendly and helpful sangha members. However, they focus on broad policy issues rather than day to day details of our operation. So where to turn when questions arise?

At KCC we have Service Groups Coordinators (most of whom are volunteers) to address many of the day-to-day issues.

Miriam Hammer works with volunteers on our Portland facility and grounds: Building and utility maintenance and repair, minor construction or erection such as raising the tent or installing shelves, monthly and special event cleaning, gardening/watering, and yard work: mzhammer@gmail.com

Sarah Lyon and Vicki Fields are largely responsible for anything out at our retreat center in Goldendale, Washington: scol.kcc@gmail.com

Linda Besant and Cynthia Irvine coordinate fundraising and finances: lindabesant@icloud.com and cynthia@kcc.org

Sally Mead is our volunteer coordinator: mead.sally@gmail.com

Our Executive Director, Liza Baer (liza@kcc.org) is always willing to lend an ear, but reaching out our Operations Manager, Gwen (gwen@kcc.org) is best when you have a question about program support (zoom hosting, shrine tending, etc.)

Both Gwen and Sally help coordinate our Sunday volunteers:
gwen@kcc.org and mead.sally@gmail.com

In general, reaching out to someone directly involved with the task you are doing is most helpful. If something comes up that you feel should be addressed by a broader audience, contact the Service Group Coordinators, as they meet monthly to share notes about the workings of KCC: kcc-sgc@kcc.org