Students: How To Prepare for Your First Visit
A few common sense tips will help you be prepared and possibly save embarrassment in the future.
1 Schedule your first visit
You may have already done this when you contacted the organization (see Chapter 4 of the eBook), but if not, contact them again and make sure that they are expecting you on a certain day and time.
2 Ask what to expect
Ask what types of activities you will be engaging in—will you be sitting in an office? doing manual labor outside? playing with children both indoors and out? These questions are important, as they help you to know how to prepare yourself.
3 Ask what to wear and/or bring
Even if you think what you wear doesn’t matter, you may be surprised to find the organization has a dress code or some clothing items will be more acceptable than others. Clearly if you will be working outside, you need to be dressed appropriately. If it is winter, you will need to dress warmly. If it is summer, you may be asked to dress for comfort, but instead of wearing flip-flops, it may be important to wear sneakers, for the safety of your toes (especially if you are working with mowers and tools). Many organizations have dress codes. Hospitals, for example, often are quite specific about what volunteers are to wear (often khaki pants and a collared shirt with the logo of the hospital). It would not be appropriate to show up in short shorts and a tank-top, even if that is what you most often wear and think you "look just fine." If you are working outdoors and you wear your favorite shirt, you would probably be quite upset to show up and learn that you will be painting (and thus your favorite shirt is now at risk of being permanently stained). Given that there are no standard dress codes for all volunteering endeavors, it is important that you ask before you show up.
Also, ask what to bring. It is quite common for volunteers to need to bring their own water and lunch, especially if you will be working for more than a few hours. Sometimes you may need to bring other things, like a notebook and pen (for taking notes during volunteer training and orientation), arts and craft supplies (for working with children), tools (for repairs and painting), or trash bags & gloves (for environmental cleanups). You may need to bring a photo ID, your social security number, or some other official form, like proof of immunization (especially if you are volunteering in a health care setting). Ask in advance so you are prepared when you arrive. If for some reason you are unable to get an answer to your questions about proper attire, and you know you will not be working outside, wear "business casual" attire and bring a bottle of water.
4 Get directions
If the organization does not have a website clearly showing a map to their location, and you are unsure how to find it, contact them and ask for their address and clear driving directions. Write them down. Perhaps drive by a few days in advance so you're sure to know where you are going.
5 Bring an open mind
Once you know what to expect, you know what to wear and bring, and you have directions helping you to get where you need to go, there is one more important thing to bring—an open mind. One concern people often have when facing new experiences is that they may feel awkward or uncomfortable in an unfamiliar environment where the people, situations, activities, customs, and perhaps even the languages are different. We have all felt a bit awkward and out of place our first time attending a new school, moving to a new neighborhood, or playing a new sport, but as time passed, the novelty wore off and eventually what had been new and unfamiliar came to be "normal" and very comfortable. Starting a new community service experience may be much the same—at first it may be different from anything else you have ever done before, but over time, it will become much more familiar. In just a few weeks you may find that you are the "expert" helping others who are the "newbies" to feel welcome and learn the ropes. In time, you may realize that volunteering with the organization or agency has become an integral part of your identity, and that when the time comes for you to move on, you will miss the people and tasks that have become quite familiar.
When beginning a new experience, planning is important. It is one thing to plan for new situations—by gathering certain information or by wearing appropriate clothing, but how do you prepare for new experiences that may bring unknown encounters with people who are not yet your friends? Practicing open-mindedness and cultivating an attitude of curiosity are key. It is likely that you know many people—your family, friends, classmates, teachers, teammates, neighbors, community leaders, etc.—and each of these people are different from you in some or many ways (in terms of appearance, age, gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, language, cultural traditions, religious faiths, health, habits, abilities, etc.). When volunteering, you will be adding to your circle of friends and acquaintances and you may be working closely with people who seem, at first, very different from you. However, the more you get to know them, the more you will find that you have in common. We all laugh and cry, feel strong at times and weak at others, get hungry and tired, take pleasure in something as simple as formations of clouds in the sky or bringing a smile to someone's face. We are all humans living together on planet Earth.