Boots on the Ground Volunteer Fair is speed-dating for activism

Photo Courtesy of Nancy Mays

When friends Martha Lawrence and Nancy Mays scrolled through the battered trenches of Facebook in January, they were met with the newest mutation of societal panic. Doom scrolling is a wicked, taloned monster akin to Freddy Krueger. Our delicate brain chemistries don’t stand a chance when it starts to pry. Albeit typing until our thumbs fall off can spread awareness of rights getting demolished left and right, it’s also a lot of words rarely met with action. Empty rants evoke helplessness, solidifying our greatest fears—That change is slipping right through our fingers. We might as well go straight to the bottle of Xanax.

“Ever since the inauguration, there have been a section of the population fretting, seeing rights diminished,” says Nancy Mays whose passions reside in volunteerism. “We saw some hand wringing.” This “hand wringing” is nothing new to the social media platforms saturated with pleas and meltdowns in the name of social justice. It has its place, but online outrage isn’t enough. Mays and Lawrence challenge us to subscribe to action rather than isolated rage by countering everyone’s slow decent into madness with a question posed back to us doom scrollers: What if we made a volunteer fair? A job fair for nonprofits to match up the right volunteers with the right nonprofit.

“People responded pretty emphatically, like ‘Absolutely, I don’t know where to channel my anger, my frustration, my sadness,’” says Mays. One thing led to another, crying emojis met determination, and The Boots on the Ground Volunteer Fair evolved from wigged-out tirades on social media to an in-person volunteer resource hub.

Once the plan was underway, Lawrence had reached out to The Pitch about our Editor-in-Chief Brock Wilbur’s January “Letter from the Editor” which emphasized a goal to have our actions speak louder than our words this year. We asked our readership to help, and Lawrence and Mays confessed they had “a simple plan.”

The Boots on the Ground Volunteer Fair is an action-oriented event to match nonprofits to the individual their mission speaks to, fostering a long-lasting commitment to activism. Volunteer opportunities are not magical spandex; They don’t stretch and conform to everybody. Mays and Lawrence knew a different approach was necessary and created a match-making love affair set to the beat of a resistance-themed playlist.

There’s unquestionable value in face time. Mays and Lawrence intend to garner relationships and help volunteers internalize the impact of one’s actions on a level we can’t do from our couches. The link from volunteer to organization to marginalized individuals is more apparent in person than through digital text because networking and connections flow naturally with a physical person in front of you. Not to mention that isolation leads to fear. We must escape our bubbles of indignation and enter into conscious involvement in something much bigger than ourselves.

When asked about the methods used in nonprofit selection for the event, the two friends considered who was taking the punches with the new administration, pinpointing groups that work directly with immigration rights, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, climate activism, food and housing security, the foster system, healthcare access, and reproductive health. Mays and Lawrence admit they have concerns that this volunteer fair might find the wrong eyes and that not all attention is good attention. “We want them to have a very safe and welcoming environment so some organizations have asked us not to put their names on the list that we’re sharing with attendees. They will find out when they get there and we are respecting that.” All attendees are required to RSVP ahead of time for this exact reason.

As they developed the concept of a volunteer fair, Mays and Lawrence had one caveat for its nonprofits: their needs cannot be vague. Nonchalance has no place in activism. Let’s skip the fluff about “all help is good help” and say what we mean and what we need because words and well-wishes aren’t doing much. With this in mind, both nonprofits and volunteers are expected to pull their weight on March 1. Volunteers are expected to take action. And nonprofits are prompted to create tangible items they are looking for in their volunteers. “Coming to the fair is not action, that’s learning about action,” says Mays. “If you’re coming, we assume you’re committing to leaving with two to three action items.”

At the start of the volunteer fair, attendees will receive a name tag and a sheet of paper detailing the layout of tables and nonprofits, and what these organizations are looking for whether it be manual labor, administrative support, or a niche skill set. The friends aim to skip over ambiguity and simplify the process that can be intimidating for new volunteers. High hopes are that attendees linger for the entirety of the event and marinate in the value of physical face time, but they understand that people are busy. Mays presents an example of a soccer mom limited on time on a Saturday—30 minutes is enough time to spark a connection with a nonprofit and proceed into actionable steps.

In addition to match-making volunteers to nonprofits, the event will offer workshops to help strengthen advocacy skills. Communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills are necessary to accomplish palpable change. These are life skills that can be applied to all stages of a nonprofit’s mission and it’s what they need out of volunteers.

“The Resilient Activist” workshop targets the practice of activism within the confines of what’s right for the individual’s wants and needs. Not everyone is built for protests and not everyone can contribute manual labor. Instructing an introvert to go door-to-door is like telling a pig to fly. Although it might be an interesting social experiment to see how long they last until they’re hiding in the bushes, it’s no way to spark long-term commitment.

In the same breath, “How to Avoid Burnout” champions resilience and self-awareness to foster life-long activism as it can be emotionally and physically draining. This workshop is about filling one’s cup before another’s to be of service. It’s not selfish to preserve one’s energy, in fact, it’s vital for sustainable change.

“How to Engage with Elected Officials” is a workshop catered to those determined to reach out to the unreachable, aka the professionals of beating around the bush. To anyone who’s braved the task, you know it’s like stalking an ex and living with the agony of being ghosted. Sometimes phone calls, emails, DMs, or snail mail correspondence can’t penetrate the soundproof walls they live in. So, how can it even make a difference? And when should you save your breath?

“How to Talk to Your MAGA Aunt,” is a cheeky crash course in communication. “This is meant to not alienate people who disagree with you, but how do you have a conversation with people who disagree with you?” explains Mays. “It will provide practical, actionable guidance and also talk about why it’s important that you engage.”

Mays and Lawrence hope this is the start of an action-focused initiative. They plan to test the waters with these workshops to see if they click. If successful, they want to to integrate a workshop focused on media literacy and optimize the power of networking to find specialists to speak to those willing to jump into the volunteer pool.

The Boots on the Ground Volunteer Fair will be held March 1 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the unaffiliated Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church. RSVPs are open now.