Toronto 2011 NABC Volunteering Opportunities

Volunteer Suite: We plan to have a suite available for folks who are volunteering on any given day. In this suite we will provide lunch and dinner to those volunteers who are working for us on that particular day. (This is instead of playing chits, parking costs, gifts like bottles of wine etc. Other teams that have tried this found that the volunteers appreciated this more since some of them were not bridge players, came to the site by transit, or just needed the timeout space away from the crowds at the tournament site.)

Lunch will be sandwiches, subs, pizza, soup, salad or these kinds of light fare. Dinner will need to be something a little more substantial. For example, we might serve spaghetti and salad and rolls one day and Shepherd's Pie with salad another. Our plan is to have volunteers prepare the dinners but purchase the lunches. We will also need to have someone in charge of the suite. (This person will be able to stay in the suite)

The Volunteer Suite Coordinator will need to schedule volunteers to work in the suite as well as organizing menus and getting volunteer chefs to make the meals (food costs borne by the NABC fund). (We already have some meals promised by volunteers).

Access to this suite will be restricted to those who are volunteering their services on that day. Badges will be provided to volunteers to help with this coordination.

Parking Coordinator: We all know that parking a car at the playing sites for an extended number of days can be very costly. Ideally, we would like to find a place downtown that would offer a certain number of parking spaces at a discounted rate for folks who are leaving their cars for 4 days? 7 days? These parking spots must be either close to the sites or close to transit so that the car owners can easily get to and from the playing sites. It will also need to be secure and well monitored as we will not take responsibility for lost or stolen items nor for any damage to the cars.

We need someone who will take on the task of finding such a spot for us and providing us with the information about the lot owners/managers so that we can make the appropriate contact with them.

Student/Adult Toronto Information Volunteers? It would be very helpful if we had some volunteers at both hotels (Royal York and Sheraton Centre) who can answer questions of visitors who are here from out of the area. Questions like, “Where do I get on the subway?” or “How do I get to the Rogers Centre from here?” or “Where is the Hockey Hall of Fame?” are bound to be asked. Ideally these can be answered by those most familiar with the area and with the city. If you can help us in this task we will be most appreciative. It may be that you know of students who are looking for their volunteer hours for graduation and this would be helpful to them as well as to us.

Partnership Desk We will be looking for volunteers to man the partnership desks in both hotels and for the Intermediate/Newcomer area as well. Ideally, you have some experience in this area and that experience is not hard to come by. Ask any of the tournament Chairs for any of the tournaments coming to your area if you can help and get this experience.

Registration Desk: As with partnerships, this will also be an area of considerable commotion and interest for visitors as they register for the tournament. Experience can be gained at any of you local tournaments but we will also be accepting volunteers without experience as our experienced help can train you quickly.

Prize Desk: Those folks lucky enough to win a prize like to be able to pick it up right after the game …. or days later!! We will need the prize desk staffed for several different times during the day. There will be no end of volunteering opportunities in this area.

Click here, or call Sally Rewbotham at 905-274-1903.