Manual for Homeless Christmas Wish List
Contents
Summation of Christmas Wish List project1
History and Future Plans for the Christmas Wish List project
including spin-off application for global peace……God willing2-3
Five Stage Summation of the Christmas Wish List process:3-4
Stage One - Identify Coordinator and Webmaster, then talk to Shelters
Stage Two - Recruitment of volunteers See “Form for Volunteers” attached
a) Spokespersons
b) Interviewers
c) Typists
d) General Publicity.
Stage Three- Conducting Interviews
Stage Four - Media (see “Media Procedure” below) and Gift/Card Delivery
Stage Five - Thank yous
Job Descriptions5-9
Job Description of Coordinator
Job Description of the Webmaster
Job Description for the Spokesperson
Job Description for Typists
Job Description for Interviewers
Job Description of General Publicity Volunteer
Media Procedure 9-10
Topics to Discuss with Shelters10-11
Presentation to Council, School Board and other Politicians11-12
Suggested Timeline13
Summation of Christmas Wish List project:
Two key positions of Coordinator and Webmaster are identified. One or both of them meet with local shelters to determine whether the project is welcome. A suggested agenda for this meeting is part of this manual(see “Topics to Discuss with Shelters” below) . If the project is approved by the shelters, the Coordinator and Webmaster work together to recruit volunteers and proceed with the project.
Homeless people are interviewed either by a volunteer or by filling out an interview form themselves which they receive from a shelter. They write/talk about what they want for Christmas and give a little bit of biographical information-only what they feel comfortable sharing. Only first names and last initials are used for anonymity. ID numbers are created by the shelters so gifts can be distributed efficiently. The interviews are typed by volunteers and loaded onto the website.
Publicity is created through the use of the media (newspaper, TV and radio) as well as the distribution of posters, contacts through the internet, announcements and appeals to churches, schools, businesses, governmental representatives, and other organizations. This publicity is for the purpose of encouraging members of the community to go the website, read the stories, buy a gift and/or card and deliver it to the shelter identified bythe homeless person.
If possible, the gift recipients can be provided with paper and pen and encouraged to write thank you notes which can be posted on the city website after Christmas.
The project has been very well received by the media, shelters, community and churches, receiving national media and thousands of personalized gifts for the homeless. It is a powerful form of encouragement to everyone involved, all while holding up the name of Jesus to the community, leading the way for the community to at last, have a constructive way to help the poor.
History and Future Plans for the Christmas Wish List project……God willing
In 2005 the Christmas Wish List was conducted in Vancouver, BC, Canada, by members of the church of Christwith a lead time of only about 4 weeks. However, despite the short time, it was wildly successful, bringing in about 2,000 gifts for the 150 homeless people who were on the list.
In 2006 the project was conducted in Vancouver and Calgary with similar results. Each person on the both of the Christmas Wish list websites received a gift and many received several duplicates of their wish list.
The media was extremely supportive with wide coverage in local and national newspapers on radio and on local and national TV.
In 2007, Vancouver, Calgary, Chicago Illinois and the Manhattan church in New York city participated in the project with over 900 interviews listed on the website.
Calgary had over 600 interviews listed and received gift pledges for the vast majority.
Vancouver had about 300 interviews listed and received gift pledges for each gift, for each person listed on the site.
The American cities had a lack of media, but the church members provided most of the gifts for those listed on the site.
The plan for 2008 is to increase community awareness without total dependency on the media for publicity by contacting 6 sectors in each town:
1&2) government and businesses - to include publicity for the project to their employees,
3) schools – to encourage students to have presentations by church members to raise their awareness about the homeless and take on some of those listed on the website as class projects
4) churches – encouraging them to help with volunteer work of typing, interviewing as well as doing publicity within their own groups for website visits
5) Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – to encourage them to use their own networking means like inclusion in newsletters, emails and other connections for publicity of the project.
6) Celebrities – to create more media with photo opportunities
The long term plan for the project is to encourage every church of Christ in every city that has homeless people to participate in the project.
GlobalPlan
The even longer term goal of this project is to use the story/wish list-sharing template for global peace-making. Based on the principal that “an enemy is someone whose story you do not know” – listing stories of individual people who are in need, in other countries, especially in war-torn areas so that connections can be made between those of diverse political, cultural and religious views.
It is hoped that once the Christmas Wish List project receives media attention in North America, it can be used as a platform to launch a larger peace initiative.
Five Stage Summation of the Christmas Wish List process:
Stage One - Identify Coordinator and Webmaster, then talk to Shelters
Two volunteers from the local church are identified:
1. a Coordinator(see Job Description below) to organize volunteers, printed materials, events, media andother publicity, and
2. a Webmaster(see Job Description below) to set up, input data and maintain the local website.
Each of these positions may or may not, depending on the numbers of people involved, wish to recruit assistants.
The first step to see if the project is viable is to contact the local shelters in the cityto see if they want to take on the Christmas Wish List project. (see “Topics to Discuss with Shelters” below). If the shelters want to participate, then the Coordinator recruits volunteers from the church and the community and proceeds to Stage Two.
Stage Two- Recruitment of volunteers See “Volunteers List” attached
The Coordinator communicates with friends, family, small groups, and/or church members and leadership to recruit volunteers from the church(es) and community. This can be done through announcements in services, meetings with leadership, bulletin submissions, flyers or any other way that is appropriate for the congregation.Using the attached Form for Volunteers helps to coordinate each person’s available times and specific jobs that people volunteer for.
Volunteers will be needed for the following tasks:
1)Spokespersons --2 people for this position is ideal.It’s convenient if the Webmaster and Coordinator can fill one or both of these roles, but this position can also be filled by others who are personally convicted about the project. See “Job Description for Spokesperson” below. It usually happens that people who are good at coordinating details are disinclined to do media and vs. But media can be done by anyone who has the sincere desire to do so.
2)Interviewers-those willing toconduct interviews with homeless people See “Job Description for Interviewers” below.
3)Typists -those willing to type interviews and send them via email to the webmaster who will post them on the website. See “Job Description for Typists” below. Also needed is for typists who will volunteer after Christmas to input the thank you notes from the gift recipients.
4)General Publicity -those willing to circulate posters, make announcements and presentationsto groups, request donations, meet with political representativesand sendemails about the project. See “Job Description General Publicity” below.
Stage Three- Conducting Interviews
After discussion with the shelters about the appropriate times and places for interviews, all volunteers wanting to participate in interviews should be notified. Email lists make this job much easier rather than using the phone. If phones are used, a phone tree is recommended -- where one person calls several others, who call several others.
Blank interview forms can be left at the shelters for homeless people to fill out themselves. A schedule to pick up the completed interview forms will be decided, this should happen every few days. The sooner the interviews are typed and posted on the web, the more likely their wishes will be granted.
Stage Four - Media (see “Media Procedure” below) and Gift/Card Delivery
The Coordinator arranges to contact all media outlets in the area, that is, newspapers, TV, radio, and magazines. One or two spokespersons are identified to speak about the project.
Early media can be arranged to cover the presentations to Council and/or School Board if this option is chosen. See “Presentation to Council, School Board and other Politicians”
After the interviews are conducted and posted on the website, the media is notified so that members of the community will go to the website and read the biographical stories and respond by purchasing the requested gift(s). Gift(s) and/or cards are prepared with the personal identification as specified on the website, then delivered to the appropriate shelter. The shelter then distributes the gifts and cards to the recipients.
Stage Five - Thank yous
Paper and pens are distributed with the gifts. Arrangements should be made with the shelter to have the thank you notes delivered to the coordinator or appropriate volunteer. The thank yous are added directly to the website in the same way as the interviews.
Job Descriptions
Job Description of Coordinator
This position should be taken on by someone who can work full time on the project during the month of December and part time during the month of November.
If you choose to make a presentation to the municipal or city council, School Board or other organization, you may need to start before November to make an appointment. Many of the tasks for the Coordinator can be shared with the Webmaster and vice versa. This can be decided on an individual basis.
The Coordinator should be highly motivated by the project with a thorough understanding of the goals. A fairly high level ofresourcefulness and persistence will be needed when attempting to identify and make contact with the right person at media outlets. Organizational skills,like the capacity to foresee details that will be needed, for example, if you set up a table to recruit volunteers you should have pens and volunteer forms ready before people arrive to sign up or when planning for interviews, space needs should be previously viewed.People skills are required to communicate effectively with shelters, volunteers, the media and the community. Saying “thank you” sincerely, is a big part of the job and you will be rewarded with many many thank yous in return.
The first job of the Coordinator is to contact the shelters to see if they want to undertake the project. Using the “Topics to Discuss with Shelters” agenda below, discuss the various aspects of the project, recognizing that the shelter staff members are the experts when it comes to the details.
Then, if the project is welcome, the Coordinator begins the process of volunteer recruitment from the churches and community.
The Coordinator recruits volunteers from their own congregations and others, as well as from the community, whatever the Coordinator and church finds most comfortable. The Coordinator and local church may want to consider appealing to other organizations including other religions. Working together on a project to help the poor may be an ideal way to build bridges, promote mutual understanding and demonstrate Jesus’ love. Keeping in mind that for the name of Jesus to be lifted up, and for God to get the gloryis the ultimate goal of this project so media presentations and website appearance are the two vehicles to ensure that this message iscommunicated to the community.
The list of volunteers should most efficiently be kept in 3 separate email lists (typists, interviewers, and general publicity) as well as one combined list so messages can be sent out to each group separately or all at once.
The Coordinator also:
1
- manages the discussion of the project with church leadership, including any media decisions that may be required
- collects information about the local homeless situation including statistics as well as links to other websites which can provide additional information about the plight of the homeless in the area
- manages printing of any materials including posters for display, (see Poster attached) interview forms, (see Interview Form attached)
- ensures that interview forms are transferred from the interview volunteers to typists,and provide typists withspecific instructions
- organizes schedule of interviews with sheltersbetween the homeless andvolunteers as well as any preliminary interview skills training needed
- manages volunteers participating in the “General Publicity” - identifying their strengths and distributing tasks appropriately
- writes and distributes press release (see template Press Release attached).
- keeps list of names and phone numbers of homeless- friendly reporters from shelter workers and arrange times and locations for spokesperson(s).
- assists Webmaster to address special requests originating from Website
- encourages children’s Sunday school classes to draw personal cards for the homeless
- discusses with churches possibility of using churches as drop off sites for gift packages
- liasons with participating churches or other supporting organizations which want to be listed on website ensuring that information that appears on the website is as requested (this can also be handled by Webmaster)
- encourages all supporting organizations to include on their own website.
- encourages churches to print off the names and individual stories of homeless people who are still ungifted, for the Sunday before Christmas to be inserted into bulletins
- encourages participating churches to conduct complementary sermons and Sunday school class topics about helping the poor
- ensures that shelters provide paper and pencil for gift recipients’thank you notes and arrangements are made for the transfer to the appropriate person after Christmas.
- try to find someone (preferably a young person) who wants to mentor the process of organization. They can also function as an assistant. All the skills for this project are transferable to other good works projects.
1
Job Description of the Webmaster
This position may require only a part time worker. The Webmaster can also be the spokesperson since they are well aware of numbers of interviews and other information on the website. The Webmaster works closely with the Coordinator and shares tasks as negotiated between the two including:
- Get all information and graphics for display on website
- Review all interviews received from volunteer on websitefor appropriateness. No inflammatory or objectionable material should be included in any stories. Also ensure that no identifying information is included. A decision should be made with the coordinator about whether to allow extravagant requests.
- Include accurate information about the local sponsoring churches
- Include link to the local church(es) website
- Include statistics and other information about the local homeless situation
- Placement of link and logo of each participating shelter or other supportive organizations (the more, the better)
- Attend to special questions and requests received via website
- Ensure that all information about shelter address and specific times and location for gift delivery is accurate and up to date
Job Description for the Spokesperson
Two people for this position is ideal. This ensures that one is available when the other is occupied with another interview. However more than 2 spokespersons may cause confusion. Usually the time requirements for interviews starts slow, at the beginning of December, but as Christmas gets closer, the requests for interviews increase. Most all of the interviews will be conducted during business hours but there may be the occasional request in evenings or weekends.
It’s a great encouragement for members of the church to see “one of their own” letting their light shine to the community with their good works (Matt. 5:16).
The spokesperson will need to be prepared to talk to newspaper reporters, speak live on radio, and appear on TV - live and recorded. In preparation for the media contact, the spokesperson should consider the central messages they want to communicate and succinctly express those thoughts. Media is usually used in “8 second sound bites” so try to condense what you want to say without being “wordy”. Sincerity is the primary quality that should be communicated to the media.