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About - Volunteering

Email volunteers@medfordclothinglibrary.org if you are interested in volunteering with us.

This is a starting point; we'll figure things out as we go.

Principles

We demonstrate respect for our community members in everything we do.
We are de-centralized and non-hierarchical.
You can read more at Goals.

Volunteer Basics

A single person can take on as many or as few roles as they wish.
Volunteers will coordinate with each other for hand-offs and shared tasks.
Whoever is holding the clothing/boxes/etc is the current owner. The clothing library is not a legal entity and it cannot own anything.
Clothing boxes will be distributed from public locations, not from anyone's home.
The library has no location/building. Clothing will be keep at the houses of volunteers.
The library has no funding. You can read more at Not This.

Volunteer Positions

Acquisitions Volunteer
- What is being acquired?
  - Baby clothes size 0M-3M. Scroll down to view specifics.
  - Boxes for transportation and distribution. Scroll down to view specifics.
- They might collect donated clothing from the community.
- They might spend their own money on acquisitions.
- Donations are not tax deductible because the clothing library is not a legal entity.
Cleaning Volunteer
- They need to have access to a washer and dryer in a clean location, free of bed bugs and fleas.
- They will accept clothing from the Acquisitions Volunteers and will clean it all.
- They will verify the clothing is in good enough condition to re-circulate it.
- They might be good at getting stains out.
- They might be able to repair damaged clothing.
Packing Volunteer
- They need to have access to a clean location for handling the clothes, free of bed bugs and fleas.
- They will accept boxes and clean clothing from the Acquisitions Volunteers and the Cleaning Volunteers.
- They will sort the clothing into complete clothing sets. Scroll down to view specifics.
- They will neatly pack each clothing set into its own box, and will label the box with the clothing set type. Scroll down to view specifics.
Distribution Volunteer
- They need to have access to a car.
- They will accept filled clothing boxes from Packing Volunteers.
- They will use the website to (a) tell it what clothing boxes they have available and (b) when/where they will be distributing.
- They will commit to a two (2) hour window to be at the distribution location, so that requesters can pick up their boxes.
- We recommend you work in pairs (or more) when distributing boxes, so that you are not alone, and so that the location is not left unattended while someone takes a break.
- Scroll down for more details.
Webmaster Volunteer
- They will fund, build, and maintain the website.
- I am handling this position.

Specifics: The Clothing

We are starting with just baby clothes sized 0M-3M. We will not accept donations of larger clothing.
Why?

This is a small operation.
The more sizes we accept, the more incomplete clothing sets we will have taking up space in our houses.
If we accept more sizes, we could have entire queues of requesters that we aren't providing with any boxes.
Might as well start at the beginning of the baby's life.

See Clothing Sets for more details.

What amount of wear-and-tear is acceptable? And at what point do we remove an item of clothing from circulation? We will be figuring this out as we go and the guidelines will change over time. This is a starting point.

No rips.
No stains.
No missing or unusable snaps. No broken zippers.
No cracked appliqués (meaning those plasticy pictures that are heat-sealed to the fabric).
Nothing that looks dirty even when it is clean.
Bleached and faded colors are ok.

Specifics: The Boxes

Box size:

A 0M-3M clothing set requires a 25 quart (or 23.6 liter) box size.

When getting boxes, keep these things in mind:

Does this box demonstrate respect for community members?
- Boxes should be clean and undamaged.
- Boxes should be free of religious affiliations, political affiliations, and inappropriate content.
Is this box easy to handle?
- Boxes should be able to close firmly, so that they don't dump the clothes out if you drop them.
- It should be easy to confirm the contents. Boxes should either be see-through, or easy to open and re-close.

Label your boxes in this manner:

A label on the top saying:
- "Clothing Library" and "https://MedfordClothingLibrary.org"
A label on the front saying the size range and the type of clothing box it is.
- For example: "0M-3M Girl".

Example clothing box:
This is a 30 quart box, a bit larger than needed.
I used clear packing tape to attach the labels.

Specifics: Distribution

We recommend that Distribution volunteers have a partner with them while they are distributing for the clothing library. This is for safety, for community building, and so that someone remains available to hand out the boxes while the other person takes a break.

You'll need a website login and a walk-through of how to use the website to scheduled events. Contact the webmaster to get started.

Each distribution event will be scheduled for at least two (2) hours so that requesters have some flexibility in coming to pick up their box.

Distribution volunteers will display a "Clothing Library - Biblioteca de Ropa" sign while distributing boxes. This is so that requesters know who to talk to. The sign should be at least as large as a piece of printer paper, and the words should be as large as possible on the page.

Clothing boxes will not be delivered to private addresses. We are not checking ID, we are not keeping track of who makes requests. We are therefore also not taking on the danger of sending volunteers to un-vetted locations given by requesters.

The default distribution locations are public parks with public restrooms, such as Bear Creek Park (next to the back parking lot). This does not require permission or payment for us to use. This does mean that you'd be sitting around in the weather (cold, wet, hot, smoky).

Distribution volunteers can scout out new distribution locations. They are responsible for gaining and maintaining access to the location. Locations must be within Rogue Valley which is here defined as: Medford, Central Point, Talent, Phoenix, Ashland. Contact the webmaster to get new locations added to the website.