​Helpers Information at Room in the Inn - All Souls / LDS Collaboration

Helpers Information at Room in the Inn (RITI) - All Souls / LDS Collaboration

Thank you so much for signing up to help (or being interested in helping) with the Room in the Inn week at the Cathedral of All Souls.  It is greatly appreciated!

Notes and directions on the different opportunities are below.  This is a work in progress!  Please send any comments or suggestions to steve@hargadon.com.

For reference, the current signjup spreadsheet is at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s5HYwLMoMs25SrctTUs5nWq78lbMKKrJJ4Y1wHXVSI0/edit?usp=sharing.


First Sunday Setup:

• [currently no information on this]
• The group that does the setup this year will get trained and we’ll have more information to post here later.  There is stored material to get out, mattresses to be brought in, and mattress covers to be removed.  Partitions need to brought over from Zabriski Hall (they are a little fragile).  Night stand boxes?  
• Flowers?  See if we can get donated.  Bud vases in the kitchen.  A dozen flowers?  Ask Trader Joes / Publix / Ingles.

Second Sunday Cleanup:

• [currently no information on this]

Breakfasts:

• Breakfast is provided separately from the sign-up sheet.
• Overnight hosts prepare and set out breakfasts, as well as put out the lunches to be taken that day by the ladies.
• The overnight hosts should also clean up after the breakfast.

Lunches:  

• Volunteers bringing sack lunches are to bring them the day before they will be used, as they will be given out the next day at breakfast to the ladies as they leave All Souls for the day. It’s important that the lunches arrive early enough that those overseeing the program know that they don’t have to worry or make other arrangements. You can also indicate on the spreadsheet what time you're going to bring them.
• Lunches may include lunch meat, chips, etc., to be packed by the women, or preferably they may be pre-packed in sacks by the volunteers.
• There have typically been 12 women in the program, so unless otherwise communicated, that's how many lunches should be prepared.

Dinners:  

• Dinner volunteers help provide a meal by bringing either a salad, pre-cooked entree, or dessert to serve the women. Please indicate what you are bringing in the spreadsheet.
• Because you and or other volunteers will be there to fellowship and eat with the ladies, please bring enough to serve 20 or so.
• NEW: Although small groups and families participating are welcome, it is important not to overwhelm the ladies with larger numbers. If you are going to bring more people than are signed up to bring food, please check with the coordinator to make sure it will be OK.
• Please deliver your part of the meal in time to be served by 6:30 p.m.
• It is greatly appreciated if you will eat with the ladies and/or then help clean up after supper. It's understood if you can't stay for the meal, but the company and conversation (and the occasional dog?) you bring if you can stay felt to me like it's as important as the food.  The dinner hosts typically leave when the overnight hosts arrive.
• Allow the women to assist you in cleaning up if they offer. Working together will promote fellowship and trust among both the women and your volunteers. If someone doesn’t wish to help that’s okay.
• Be careful of foods that people are often allergic to. If you are bringing something with fish or peanuts or milk in it, please be careful and label it well, and please make sure you're not the only person bringing that part of the meal.

Kitchen Notes:

• What plates / cups / utensils to use…
• Cleaning instructions...

Evening Activities:

• Don't feel badly if some or even most of the women don't participate, or participate only for a short period of time.  They've had a full day out and about, and the after-dinner time is sometimes the only time they have for quiet or alone time.  They will appreciate your being there.

Overnight Volunteers:

• A minimum of two adults (one must be female) are needed as overnight volunteers to spend the night with the women.  
• Dinner Hosts or Overnight Volunteers (or both) should arrive at your location in time to assist those who are preparing food or delivering food.  This is generally by 6:00 p.m. The volunteers that are eating with the women should always be present to greet them.
• PLEASE do not allow male volunteers to access the area where the women are sleeping.
• The doors should be locked at dark and lights out for the women is 10:00 p.m.  
• At least one volunteer MUST REMAIN AWAKE AT ALL TIMES.  All of the women may not be able to sleep all night and that is okay but there is no smoking after 10:00 p.m. until the next morning.

Driving:

• Drivers in the morning and evening are needed, but have to be trained. Email steve@hargadon.com for more information.
• The morning driver should be prepared and ready to drive the ladies at 6:30am to the Homeward Bound center on N Ann Street. Once they are dropped off, the van is returned to be parked by the offices on the Swan Street Side.
• The ladies are picked up at the N Ann Street facility at 5:45pm and brought directly to All Souls.
• All bus trips should be logged in the log-book in the van with starting and ending mileage.

Special Notes About the Facility:

• Smoking is only allowed on the front porch.
• Guest women are never allowed in the kitchen for safety reasons.  Volunteers should get anything in the kitchen that they need.

Bed Linens for Room in the Inn (RITI): [Thanks to Jan Garver]

• Blankets and pillows are stored in the balcony above the parish hall.
• Blankets are washed periodically by a volunteer when they become soiled. This is not often necessary because a sheet lies between the woman and the blanket.
• There is a washer and dryer in the kitchen, so linens can be washed there if there is a spill which needs immediate clean up.
• The linens are furnished by Mission Hospital Laundry located on the west side of Biltmore Avenue at 345 Biltmore Avenue, phone 213-5260. They furnish a large number of linens. There are often extras.
• Linens (sheets and pillowcases) are to be picked up, on the Saturday before the Sunday of the week the church has RITI, between 10:00 a.m. and 3 pm when the laundry closes. Their lunch is between 11-11:30 am. If the linens are not ready, someone can put them together quickly. Most employees speak Spanish, but they recognize “Room in the Inn.” There are stairs on the right side of the building at 345 Biltmore. Below the stairs are two white garage doors and a grey door to the right of the garage doors. The clean linens are usually inside that door on the right hand side.
• Saturday night is the last evening that the women are at church. Sunday morning the linens need to be removed from the mattresses and the mattresses removed from the parish hall before the adult education class begins.
• To return the dirty linens, use the stairs to the left side of 345 Biltmore. On the right side at the bottom of the stairs are loading docks and soiled laundry. Anyone there can receive the soiled laundry at that location. The linens can be returned to the facility any time during the week.
• Past coordinator, Mike Stevenson, says “I tried to take it back on Sunday morning after we cleaned up Zabriskie Hall just to get it taken care of. I would dump the linens outside the building at the top of that slope whether anyone was in sight or not. It never seemed to be a problem. There will be linens that are not used, but don’t worry about separating the dirty and clean – they wash it all anyway. Take all the linens back – don’t try to send the clean ones with the mattresses to the next church.”

In Case of Emergency: