Gingerbread Showcase

Volunteer Ambassador Guide

The Gingerbread Showcase is fun, it’s festive and most importantly, 100% of the money you help us raise will help build

homes for local families living in need of decent, affordable housing! To date, over $178,000 has been raised at this event.

Thank you for joining our team of Volunteer Ambassadors.

Your role is to welcome visitors to the Gingerbread Showcase and encourage them to vote and donate to support

Habitat for Humanity Victoria.

Habitat brings communities together to help families build strength,

stability and independence through affordable homeownership.

Founded in 1990, Habitat Victoria has built 22 homes and served 26 families locally.

Welcome to the Gingerbread Showcase’s new home!

Parking

• Volunteers on the 9am – noon, noon – 3pm and 3pm –6pm shift have access to free underground parking. Those on the 6pm – 9pm shift can park on the street.

• From Humboldt Street, enter the hotel’s driveway to the main front door and parking area. Stay right and press the intercom button. When the front desk answers, let them know you are an ambassador and they will open the garage door.

• There is plenty of parking near the elevators down on the second level.

Front Desk staff are fantastic!

If you have any hotel-related questions, just ask any hotel staff. They are eager to help.

Papers, papers and more papers…Enter the Showcase and proceed to the Volunteer Table. If there is a volunteer there, you can ask where to find the liability waiver, the sign-in sheet and the name badge cards. If no one is there, you are sure to find everything you need in the binder or folder on the table.

A completed waiver is mandatory unless you volunteered with the Showcase before OR on our build site in the past two years OR you are a current volunteer in the ReStore. Place the signed and completed waiver into one of our blue donation mailboxes. Check the date on the daily sign-in sheet, then sign in with your name, the time you started and then of course remember to sign out when you are done. We track all volunteer hours.

Write your name on a name card and insert it in the card holder with lanyard. This will identify you as an ambassador to visitors.

If you have time, take a few minutes to read comments from other ambassadors in the spiral notebook. It is full of useful information.

Now you are ready to greet visitors!

Welcoming visitorsOur many repeat volunteer ambassadors have honed their skills after numerous shifts and they have found that visitors respond best when the approach is friendly but not too assertive.

A good opening line is “Welcome to the Gingerbread Showcase in support of Habitat for Humanity Victoria. Here is a ballot if you would like to vote for your favourite.” If they seem receptive, you might add “Have you been to the Showcase before? ” Please give children the children’s ballots (not an envelope ballot).

Once they have a ballot and pencil (one pencil per family), you can let them enjoy their walk through the displays and casually keep an eye on them in case they have any questions.

If you come out a few times to volunteer, you will become more familiar with the creations and will know a few interesting facts you can share. The bottom line? You are there to welcome the public, let them know the event is a fund-raiser for Habitat for Humanity Victoria and that they are voting for the People’s Choice Award (to be announced first week of January).

2016 Gingerbread Showcase ambassador Mike

welcomes visitors

Thanking visitors for coming

It is always best to have one volunteer at the entrance or near it to

welcome visitors and one at the back by the volunteer table to thank them for coming. There are occasions when there is only one volunteer on a shift. Not to worry – just try to balance your time between arrivals and departures as much as possible.

When people reach the end of the showcase, they often aren’t sure where to put their ballot. Please point out the donation box, and be sure to thank them for supporting Habitat for Humanity Victoria. You can also ask them to return the pencil as we need to recycle them as much as possible.

Finishing your shift

• At the end of your shift, take off your lanyard and remove your name card. You can keep the card for your next shift or place it in the recycle bin. The lanyard stays neatly wrapped up on the table.

• Sign out on the daily time sheet and if you are on the 6pm –9pm shift, please place the completed daily time sheet into the donation box.

• Did a visitor make a comment, critique or suggestion? Or do you have something to share? Please add this information to the spiral notebook on the Volunteer Table.

• Replenish pencils, ballot envelopes and children’s ballots at the entrance as well as on the table. Make sure the space look neat and tidy.

• That’s it – you are done! Please be sure to take all your belongings with you.

Tips from previous years• People have asked why we don’t sell gingerbread cookies. We

cannot as we are not able to handle cash. Caffé Fantastico is generously donating profits from sales of their scrumptious gingerbread cookies to Habitat Victoria.

• If someone wants to write a cheque, that’s great! Please ensure it is payable to Habitat for Humanity Victoria.

• Yes, we do take credit card donations. The Habitat forms at the entrance and on the volunteer table are specifically for this purpose. If possible, please have them write in ink.

Credit card form

Children’s ballot

Voting envelope

More tips!

• Sometimes people ask for guidance about how much to donate. The most popular donation is $5 but we also receive many donations of $10 and $20.

• Charitable tax receipts will be sent to anyone donating $25 or more provided they are Canadian citizens and have included their full mailing address. Completing the information with a pen would be appreciated.

• Washrooms are located across from the spa and by the front desk.

• Dress comfortably in business casual attire. You will be on your feet for most of your shift. The chairs at the Volunteer Table are best used for completing paperwork.

• The front desk is your go-to for any concerns you might have (too hot, too cold, light burnt out, person in the fish pond , spill to be cleaned up, etc.)

Even more tips!

• You do not need to be an expert on Habitat for Humanity – we have a supply of brochures for anyone expressing interest in learning more and we have the slide show running on the TV monitor. It answers many questions they might have.

• Volunteers come from all walks of life: students aged 16 and up, corporate teams, family members sharing quality time together, seniors with time to help out in the community – in short, anyone who is able to stand for 3 hours and who is happiest when sharing a delightful experience with visitors from near and far. Tell your friends and encourage visitors to add their name to the list of potential volunteers for next year. It is located on the Volunteer Table along with the 2018 baker sign-up sheet.

• Our goal in 2017 is to raise $55,000. It has been proven that when volunteer ambassadors are present, donations go up!

• We have volunteers who do as many as 30 shifts each year!

• Thank you for volunteering your time and we hope you will be back for many more shifts !

Habitat for Humanity VictoriaAdministrative Office

849 Orono AvenueVictoria, BC V9B 2T9

250-480-7688 info@habitatvictoria.comwww.habitatvictoria.com

ReStore Westshore 849 Orono Avenue

250-480-7867

ReStore Victoria3311H Oak Street

ReStore HoursMon – Sat 9:30am – 5:30pmSundays 11:00am – 5:00pmClosed on statutory holidays