Volunteers


Committee Volunteer Positions, 2024 – 2025

HMBHS Grad Night is a small 100% volunteer-run nonprofit and always needs volunteers! There are positions with time commitments in the fall, and others in the spring. Some positions take just a few hours of work one day and others need a few hours each month. Share a position with a friend.

Without your help, there is no Grad Night! We have teams to plan the party and pay for the party (fundraising), open positions are in blue below. Almost all of our leads from last year area available to mentor and answer questions. Volunteer and ask questions here.
Come to our fall meeting Wednesday September 25 @ 7PM @ in the backroom of the HMB Brewing Company at the Harbor!

General

co-President – Dawn Novarina, one needed
Tracks schedule and deadlines; leads monthly meetings; coordinates between teams, manages senior gift.
Treasurer – Sarah Simnett
Tracks and manages GN funds using Quickbooks Online, pays bills, files annual reports.
Secretary – open, one needed
Reviews and Manages meeting notes.
Marketing & Publicity – Regan Daniels
Increase our visibility, support ticket sales, fundraising and volunteer recruiting.
Correspondence – Tim Riley
Thank you letters to donors from fundraising letter, Auction & CoastsideGives donations.
Social Media Helpers – open, multiple needed
Assist our marketing folks in putting out the word on fundraising, ticket sales, etc. as needed
Web, Database, Files, Permits & Transition – Dawn Novarina
Oversees website, file management, digital notes and archives; help in transition to new committee chairs and members; backup for co-presidents if needed.

Pay for the Party team

Pumpkin Festival Poster Hanging – HMBHS students community service hours
Manage students who blanket the Coastside with promotional posters and brochures for the Pumpkin Festival from Labor Day to mid-October. Grad Night earns a donation of $2500 for this task.
Fall Fundraising letter – one open
Fall donation letter goes to coastside merchants, foundations and past donors; target is $7500. Students can earn community service hours helping to get this out.
Coastside Gives – Kristina Lugo
Coordinate with Coastside Gives for Giving Day on May 5th. Review possible bonuses, coordinate with social media helpers to earn possible bonuses and increase donations.

Silent Auction

The Auction is our key fundraising event and provides more than 50% of our fundraising, so there’s need for multiple folks to split the work. These are critical positions, we can’t do Grad Night without them.
Silent Auction & Raffle Coordinator – two open 
Overall auction coordination, identify and manage venue & emcee, manage food, drink, dessert donations.
Silent Auction & Raffle Donations Lead – Vanny Love, Julian Basler
Primary donations outreach along with auction donation letter.
Silent Auction & Raffle Attendance open, one open
Build attendance through ticket sales using social media, our email list, other channels;  send out complimentary tickets to donor, HS teachers, school and district admin.
Silent Auction & Raffle Received Donation Management, one open
Confirms receipt of donations (digital & other), updates spreadsheet/database with details.
Silent Auction & Raffle Certificates, one open
Produces promotional display flyers and certificates as needed for each auction item.
Silent Auction & Raffle Check-in & Check-out – Kristina Lugo
Manages onsite tracking of bidders, bid sheet, item match and checkout at auction close.
Silent Auction Helpers – open, need multiple
Donation followup & pickup, write auction item descriptions, update donor names and websites.

Plan the Party team

Registration & Ticket Sales team – Erin Bautista, mentor, one open
Manage registrations & sales of Grad Night tickets, school communications re: ticket sales.

Event registration & Check-in – Steve Travis, Rochelle Ross
Order registration supplies (May), creates badges and is in charge of check-in on the night of the event (9-10:30).

Decorations team –Jen Veilleux(chair), three open
Develop party theme, plan & organize decorations. Theme is selected in the fall, planning begins in January, and execution February-May.

Food team – Jennie Loft, Melinda MacNaughton
Purchase, request donations and coordinate food needs for the party. Oversees food, setup, donations pickup and the volunteer schedule for the day and night of the event.

Prizes team – one open, Cathy Lu
Do you like to shop? There is a big budget for many great prizes the grads can win and you can start shopping online and/or in person right away to take advantage of discounts to get the best buys throughout the year. This team purchases the prizes and bring them to the event when we set up. Shopping sales online and in-person as needed. Sets up the prize room display on the day of the event.

Entertainment team – Mindy Sammons
Coordinates the party entertainment using existing vendors or new vendors as appropriate. Finds talent and party fun and oversees vendors and contracts. Coordinate with decorations committee.

Volunteer recruiter – one open, Lynette Curthoys
This team recruits volunteers for committee positions and for the event itself, using email, social media, Nextdoor, business and school groups, GN volunteer alumni and GN alumni of >3 years.

Memory Lane – Jen Guevara, one open
Manages the Memory Lane display with collages that families put together of their Senior’s school life. Notifies parents, collects collages from UPS Store, organizes display of collages.

Mail boxes – one open
Manages collection of notes & letters to each senior from family members, creates a generic congratulations letter for all attendees, picks up letters from HS and distributes to GN mailboxes.

Take Down/Clean Up lead + team – five needed
Very Important! This team comes in starting at 5AM and takes over from the volunteers who have been at the event overnight.  The Take Down Chair coordinates the AM volunteers who complete the remaining packing and cleaning up started by the night shift. Oversees return of boxes and equipment to the shed.