A Day in the Life of a ShivaMaya Volunteer

At ShivaMaya, our volunteers are our super stars! They are the heroes who take time out of their busy schedules to help us out with our mission. Our volunteers are diverse - they are students, parents, young professionals, retired citizens, small business owners, and overall awesome people who are the life-force driving this organization forward.

We often go to college campuses to hand out flyers and also post online on our social media channels looking for volunteers. However, we also get people eager to help out with our various workshops who have heard of our programs by word of mouth and just want to be a part of the movement.

On a typical day, depending on the workshops and training planned for the given month, a ShivaMaya volunteer might have to help out with a wide variety of duties. For example, if we are preparing for an introductory workshop in a village or slum for little kids, we usually arrange for fun games, quizzes, and exercises and we also offer fun gifts. For such a workshop, our volunteers are tasked with getting in touch with the local youth organization which will host us to find a location and also finalize other logistical details. These youth association members are usually a great help when it comes to getting our target members all in one place for the workshops or activities.

Then the volunteers also come up with ideas for the various activities to engage the kids and procure ideal gifts and presents. Gifts may vary depending on our budget and the type of activities planned and usually include chocolates, school supplies, toys, and clothes, among other things. These gifts are then wrapped with colorful papers and bows.

On the day of the workshop, the volunteers usually meet at the designated location with all the supplies. After setting up the microphone, table, gifts, games, and banner, the volunteers must keep meticulous records of all the kids who show up for the workshop. We collect their contact information so that we can follow up with them from time to time.

Then once the workshop begins, it’s a chaotic scene with kids running around, organizing them by age, conducting the planned activities, meeting their parents, making presentations, handing out gifts to everyone and making sure that we establish ourselves as a warm, friendly, and trustworthy ally that they can depend on from now on. Thanks to our volunteers, we are able to go for at least two such introductory workshops per month now.