Volunteers: The KERA Connection

Allison Farley can’t promise KERA volunteers who are single and looking that they’ll meet their future spouse during a pledge drive. But, she’s quick to point out, it’s happened more than once.

Anne Caskey won’t swear that every Channel 13 Auction volunteer is going to make lasting friendships and establish valuable business contacts while having fun in the process.

But with 3,000 bright, active, and involved fellow volunteers to choose from, the odds are better than good.

And both Farley and Caskey say it’s not every day that a volunteer is offered a full-time job at KERA.

But it’s not unheard of.

As KERA’s volunteer coordinator, Farley is responsible for putting volunteers together with the numerous jobs that help Channel 13 and 90.1 survive. From research and marketing to staffing phones at 6 a.m. during a radio pledge drive, volunteers move the station along from day to day. Farley’s growing group of volunteers may work in radio one week, TV the next; they’ll see and do it all.

Caskey, herself a volunteer, has a more specialized task-recruiting volunteers for the annual Channel 13 Auction. For fifteen years now, the auction has been KERA’s largest single source of unrestricted program funds. And the reason it’s so successful is the involvement of volunteers on every level, from gift solicitation and pick-up to keeping track of the inventory that swells between January and June every year.

“I may be biased,” Farley admits, “but I can’t think of many more satisfying and exciting ways to spend a few hours a week than being a KERA volunteer. Just this month, for example, several volunteers are going to be involved in KERA’s production of The Texas Debates at SMU. They’ll be doing everything from seating the audience to escorting and assisting the presidential hopefuls who are taking part in the nationally broadcast debates.”

Farley points out that groups of volunteers are needed as well as individuals, especially for pledge drives and other events that call for lots of people. “Volunteering as part of an organized group has its own special appeal,” she says. “It can be like a night out with your friends for a good cause, and, of course, most employers are happy to turn on a Channel 13 pledge drive and see fifty of their staff answering phones in the company’s T-shirts.”

Farley and Caskey agree that volunteering at KERA is much more than simply a way to spend some time. It’s a chance to hone business skills and develop new ones, an opportunity to exercise responsibility, and a great way to put one’s leadership qualities to use.

Sign up now for some of the most rewarding experiences ever by calling volunteer coordinator Allison Farley at (metro) 263-3151. To become an auction volunteer, call Anne Caskey at (214) 871-1603. What they want is your time and talents; the return could be the time of your life.