Volunteers of the Rochester Mutual Aid Network should familiarize themselves with the information on this page. It outlines our protocols, methods we use for cummunication, as well as some best practices when it comes to safety.
Before volunteering for any of the tasks on the Volunteer Form, please read through the related section on this page. You'll need to confirm with us that you've read these sections before you'll become an active volunteer for that task. This helps us keep everyone on the same page, and gives you a better idea of what you're signing up for. Thanks for reading!
In general, we do not recommend that you volunteer for any task that would put you in contact with other people if:
If you are volunteering for the Network and it involves leaving your house, you must wear a mask. This includes when you are making purchases on behalf of the Network, delivering supplies to members of the community, or visiting one of our neighborhood hubs. Masks are provided at all of our hubs, so if you do not have access to masks we have plenty for you. After receiving your mask from the hub, you will be required to wear it at all times when at any of the hubs.
Please wash your hands often! We recommend using the “Happy Birthday” method, where you scrub your hands while singing/humming the “Happy Birthday” song twice. This should be about the equivalent of 20 seconds, which is the minimum hand washing time recommended by the CDC.
Deliveries should be made contact-free. If you are delivering aid to someone, call/text them to let them know you have arrived and leave the care package on their front step or outside of their door.
With regards to specifically dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we recommend the following reading:
CDC Guidelines for Disinfecting Your Home
The Dos and Don’ts of “Social Distancing”
The above reading is not meant to be exhaustive, but should act as a great baseline of information to keep yourself and our community as healthy as possible. If you are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, please practice strict social distancing and refrain from any volunteer work that requires you to leave your home!
Right now, the Network has general meetings once a week, Wednesdays at 6pm EST. These meetings are held using Google Meet Video Conferencing, which can be accessed through your phone or on your computer. Google Meet also offers real-time subtitles. Our agendas are released ahead of time on Slack, and the meeting invite link is shared there as well.
These meetings act as our main decision making arena and are open to all members of the Network. Meetings are generally comprised of report backs from the various internal task groups, as well as setting goals and deadlines ahead of our next meeting.
Do not feel obligated to join them, but we’d love to have you when you can make it! The Network operates on direct democratic principles, so we encourage members of the Network to participate in as much decision making as they have time for.
The Networks main methods of communication are the weekly general meetings and our Slack. Our Slack community is very active and is used for everything from rapidly coordinating request fulfillment to discussions on internal procedures. When you become a member of the Network, you will be sent an invite link to join the Slack community so you can become engaged with the community on a day-to-day basis.
We occasionally use email, but these communications are usually just about updates to the website, or requests to update user profiles etc.
The Rochester Mutual Aid Network operates as transparently as possible and makes its decisions in a directly democratic way. Decisions are made in both meetings and on Slack.
The Network is organized in small task groups with specific areas of concern (i.e. outreach, logistics etc), and each of these task groups have coordinators who act as points of contact/information for the task group. Task groups are not organized in a top-down command structure, so coordinators are just that; they help facilitate the operation of the task group and help new volunteers get up to speed. They are not the leaders of or those who make decisions on behalf of task groups.
In general, the Network makes every attempt to formalize structure, in an attempt to keep things running smoothly, while also trying to remain flexible in our decision making processes. The nature of each individual request that the Network fulfills is unique, so flexibility and adaptability are prioritized over formalization in instances where we think formalization may be a hindrance.
As of this writing, we are in the process of drafting bylaws to help codify our decision making procedures, as well as define working groups more clearly.
Hubs act as the nervous system for the Network. A hub is a location that stores shelf-stable food, cleaning supplies, medical supplies etc that the Network uses to fulfill requests. Our hope is to have hubs spread out all over the city, making it easier for us to facilitate aid between neighbors.
If you choose to run a hub, the Network will supply masks, and all of the items that will be stocked at the hub will be purchased by volunteers using the Network’s funds.
The Network has developed the following safety protocols, with regards to running or visiting a hub
Also, please be sure you have reviewed our General Health & Safety guidelines on this page.
A hygienic space where food can be stored. You’ll need enough space for a few large plastic bins and maybe some shelves, and it will be very important to keep this space clean.
Running a hub is a highly involved task. Hub coordinators need to communicate with purchasing volunteers to arrange drop off of supplies, put together care packages to fulfill requests, and coordinate with Request Administrators to put together care packages. Generally, care packages are scheduled ahead of time, and hub operators have access to a section of the site that lists the packages scheduled to go out of their hub. We also utilize a drivers schedule to send drivers to hubs to pickup and deliver care packages.
The Network currently has a few hubs, so if you decide to run one you won’t be required/expected to fulfill every request that comes in, but we wanted to make sure you have a reasonable understanding of the amount of work this requires before you volunteer to run a hub.
As a hub, you’ll be in contact with various members from the Network.
It’s up to you how you’d like to be contacted. Texting/calling seems easiest, but if you’re uncomfortable with making your personal phone number available you could opt to limit your communication to Slack.
When it comes to running a hub, volunteers have taken the time to write up some tips they’ve learned along the way to help manage hubs.
Delivering aid to the community is a critical task within the Network given the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. If you volunteer to deliver aid, generally you will be visiting one of our hubs to pick up care packages and deliver them directly to the people who have requested aid. Sometimes you will be contacted with a request to pick up other items, such as clothing or occasionally pieces of furniture. The intent is the same though, deliver aid to those who need it.
If you haven’t already done so, please let us know on the Volunteer Form what type of vehicle you have access to. This will help our Request Administrators know if, for example, you have room for a crib or bed frame.
When performing deliveries on behalf of the Network, please
Also, please be sure you’ve reviewed the General Health & Safety guidelines on this page.
Every other week, an email goes out asking drivers to sign up for delivery shifts that run out of our various hubs. If you sign up for a shift, please make sure you can cover it. We rely on the drivers’ schedule being accurate to make sure we can get all the care packages out to those who need them. Each schedule runs for a two week period.
We also use the #drivers channel on Slack to help fill in the gaps. If someone needs a shift covered, or if we get a request that falls outside of our normal hub package deliveries, folks use the #drivers channel to put the call for help out. If you’d like to stay up to date on any driving help we may need, we suggest installing the Slack app on your phone (available for iOS and Android).
If you are volunteering to give rides to those who lack transportation, it is important to follow these guidelines to help keep both you and those you may give rides to healthy.
The above list is not exhaustive! Please read the full CDC guidelines regarding ride-sharing!
Thanks for agreeing to help us as a Buyer! You’ll be helping keep our hubs stocked with materials for care packages and common requests, as well as going out on ad-hoc buying runs for individual requests that aren’t shelf stable or that we don’t usually stock.
First things first, make sure your volunteer form includes whatever wholesale clubs you have membership with. We can get you a card for Restaurant Depot but for Costco and BJs we depend on individual buyers having access. If you don’t no worries, it helps us know who we can send where though!
When performing supply purchases on behalf of the Network, please
Also, please be sure you’ve reviewed the General Health & Safety guidelines on this page.
You’ll want to check out our price list: RMAN Hubs/Buying Doc. We’re constantly updating our best sources for supplies to make sure we’re spending donors’ money wisely and you can help with that! Any time you’re out on a run or just doing your own shopping keep an eye out for stuff on the price list and update that spreadsheet. Careful to record the prices in the same units (per ounce, pound, serving or unit depending on the item), but otherwise the more information we have the better decisions we can make as an organization. Some volunteers like to snap pictures of prices while in the store and go back through their camera roll when they get home, but whatever works!
Administrators will reach out to you when they’ve got shopping that needs doing with a list from a specific store. They’ll also provide you with a document so you don’t have to pay tax on goods for RMAN. Please don’t use that for personal shopping or you’ll get us in trouble, but make sure you have a copy any time you buy for RMAN!
Thanks again, and feel free to reach out to us if you have concerns or ideas to improve our process here!
If you’ve made a purchase for the Network, you can request reimbursement on this page (the link is also available under the Volunteers menu in the site’s main navigation).
Requests for reimbursement must be submitted within two weeks of when the purchase was made. This is necessary for us to properly budget, as well as keep an up-to-date balance of our operating funds.
To submit a reimbursement, you just need a picture of the itemized receipt. If you’ve done a direct cash transfer through an app like Venmo or Cashapp, please submit a screenshot of the successful transfer. Thank you!
The Network has a tax exempt form you can use when making purchases on behalf of the Network. You can download the form here. Please only use this exemption when making purchases for the Network! It’s also a good idea to check with the store you’re shopping at to make sure they’re going to accept the form before loading up on supplies. You shouldn’t run into any problems, but it’s a good idea to double check. Especially if it’s your first time shopping at the store where you’re going to use the exemption form.
If you have any questions about the form or how to use it, please feel free to ask in the #logistics channel on Slack.
So, what exactly is a “Request Administrator?” Basically, when a request for aid comes in through the Network, they are the people who organize the logistics needed to provide the requested aid. We generally refer to them as “Network Admins” internally, so if you see someone referring to “admins” or something along those lines, they’re probably talking about a Request Administrator.
There are many admins that volunteer for the Network, so please keep that in mind as you read through these docs. If you choose to volunteer for this task, you won’t be alone/have to take on every request yourself. So don’t worry!
Admin work can be complicated. It requires a lot of communication, some on-the-fly decision making, and a little stress. But we’re working hard to refine our processes and keep things documented so coordinating requests will get easier as time passes.
When a new request for aid is received through the Request Aid form, a notification is sent to the #incoming-requests channel in the Network’s Slack with some of the request’s details. This channel is monitored by everyone who has volunteered to be a Request Administrator. At this point, anyone can “claim” the request, which just means that they are going to take responsibility for coordinating whatever logistics are necessary for fulfilling the request.
The automated message that gets sent to #incoming-requests has links in it that allow admins to view and claim the request. Once you claim a request, it will show up on your Admin Overview Page, which allows you to keep track and manage the request(s) you’re currently working on. There are a suite of tools built into the site to help you work through requests. You can keep notes for yourself about requests, break things up into sub tasks, leave comments for other admins or hub managers, as well as schedule care packages at hubs to be fulfilled.
Once you’ve gone through an Admin Training Session (keep an eye on our calendar for the next one), you’ll be given access to the #incoming-requests channel, the #admins channel and the admin sections of the website. The #admins channel is a great place to ask questions, we’ll do our best to help you through the process!
Yes! We know that request administration can be complicated and has a lot of moving parts, and we’re more than willing to help you along the way! If you’re considering volunteering to help coordinate request fulfillment, we encourage you to do so. You won’t be immediately thrown into the deep end 😊
After you’ve completed an Admin Training Session (keep an eye on our calendar for the next one), you’ll be given access to the #incoming-requests and #admins channels in Slack, as well as the various admin sections of the website. The Admin Docs section of the site has much more thorough documentation for you to use as a reference.