Practice Task 20 · Parts 1–4

From: Marisol Fenwick, Youth Program Coordinator

To: Desmond Achebe, Director, Brindlewood Community Centre

Subject: We may need to cancel Thursday sessions

Hi Desmond,

I wanted to flag a problem before it becomes urgent. Three of our seven regular volunteers for the after-school homework club have stepped back this month — one moved away, one started a new job with evening hours, and one says the two-hour weekly commitment no longer fits her schedule. That leaves us with four volunteers covering Tuesday and Thursday sessions, and Thursday is short by at least two people if we want to keep the same 8-to-1 child ratio the board approved last year.

I have posted the opening on our usual volunteer boards and asked current volunteers to mention it to friends, but nothing has come in yet. If we cannot find replacements in the next two weeks, I think we will need to either cancel Thursday sessions or reduce the number of children we accept, which would mean turning away kids who are already on the waitlist.

I also want to raise something I have noticed over the past year: most of our volunteer applicants are retirees or university students on placement, and both groups tend to turn over quickly, retirees due to travel or health, and students at the end of each semester. I wonder if we should look at recruiting from workplaces with flexible volunteer-leave policies instead, since a few local employers apparently give staff paid hours for community work.

Could we also revisit the requirement that volunteers commit to a full school term? A few people have told me they would help occasionally but were put off by the term-long commitment. I understand why we set that rule, since the kids do better with consistent faces, but I wonder if there is a middle ground, such as pairing occasional volunteers with a steady lead volunteer each session.

Let me know your thoughts, ideally before Thursday's session so I know what to tell the families who have been asking.

Thanks,

Marisol

— REPLY —

From: Desmond Achebe

To: Marisol Fenwick

Subject: RE: We may need to cancel Thursday sessions

Hi Marisol,

Thanks for catching this early. Let's hold off on cancelling Thursday sessions or reducing enrollment for now — I would rather try a short-term fix first. I can ask two staff members from the front desk to cover Thursday afternoons for the next three weeks while we recruit, since their hours already overlap with the program and covering counts toward their community outreach goals for this quarter.

On recruiting from workplaces: that is worth pursuing, but it will take longer than two weeks to set up partnerships, so treat it as a plan for next term rather than an immediate fix. I will ask our board liaison whether any local employers have already approached us about volunteer-leave arrangements.

On the term-long commitment, I am open to a pilot. Let's try pairing one steady lead volunteer with rotating occasional volunteers for Thursday sessions only, and see whether the children's routine holds up over six weeks. If it works, we can extend the model to Tuesdays as well. I do not want to change the rule outright until we have evidence it does not hurt consistency.

Please tell the families that Thursday sessions will continue as scheduled, and that we are actively addressing the shortage.

Desmond