Well, well, well. It seems all of the volunteers and many athletes received a message last night about their athlete assignments. Wait, what?

It was definitely in error. It occurred when the wrong keys were hit in sending out an athlete confirmation. However, it is the volunteers that are super confused right now. I want to apologize to all of you for the crazy barrage of emails.  

So that everyone is back on the right page, here is a recap of what is happening now. This has been shared with all of the volunteers, but I encourage you to share it with anyone that reaches out to you as well.

Volunteer Recruitment: With 5,900 volunteers in the database, and due to an overwhelming show of support for our athletes, we have had to close volunteer registration. Thank you one and all for your support of this fantastic event!

Background Checks: Background checks are complete for anyone in the database prior to May 12^th. There will be a last round of checks for anyone that registered after that. You will be notified if you do not pass the check. Otherwise you are accepted.

Assignments: You will begin seeing emails inviting you to accept your position and role with the Games. These will begin happening today!

1. You will be invited to view your role. This is your volunteer job. You will need to log into the secure volunteer database in order to accept your role. We have done everything possible to ensure that you have been assigned a role based upon your availability and your interest.
2. If you accept your role, you will be given instructions to choose your schedule based on that role.
3. If you decline that role, we will reassign someone else in your place. You will be placed on a waiting list for a new assignment.
4. If you receive a notice that a role has not yet been assigned to you, it means that we will assign you as soon as we have a role that meets your availability.

Schedules: You will get an email when it is open. The email will give you the instructions you need to select your shifts for the Games. See above for more details.

Orientation: Our volunteer orientation will be completed online. It will be made available this Thursday, June 11^th. In order to access the online training, you will need to create a user name and account for the Fairfax2015 website. This is different from the volunteer database. It may seem confusing now, but we’ll walk you through the steps when it goes live.

Accreditation and Uniform Distribution: Your volunteer credential and uniform will be available at our Volunteer Headquarters beginning Wednesday June 17th. (that is 3 days earlier than we anticipated)

Our headquarters will be located at:

1800 Cameron Glen Drive Reston VA
Hours of Operation:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (0900 to 1700)
Thursday, Friday 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM (1600 to 2100)
Saturday, Sunday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (1000 to 1800)
The process itself takes less than 10 minutes. But please plan for lines during the evening and weekend times.

Opening Ceremonies: We would love for you to volunteer for Opening Ceremonies! But if you are not volunteering, please grab some tickets and welcome our athletes! Please click here for tickets!

Closing Ceremonies: We will have a limited number of tickets available for Closing Ceremonies. This event is not open to the public but is for our athletes, volunteers, and those that brought the Games to Fairfax. We will get you more information on tickets when available. They will be first come, first serve.

Communicating with Us: We are overwhelmed with phone calls and working our way through them as best we can. But we are better with email. So email us volunteer@fairfax2015.com. 

Will you guys look stylish wearing these amazing shirts? As with previous World Police & Fire Games hosts we have color coded our shirts based on positions within the organization. Our amazing volunteers will be wearing these bright blue t-shirts proudly displaying the eagle logo on the front and the social media #fairfax2015 hashtag on the back. These shirts will be distributed during your credentialing June 7 through July 4. Other colors representing various functions include light blue for Games staff positions, yellow for event officials and red for our medical team. 

Along with colorful shirts we have several additional goodies for you as well. Stay tuned!

 

 

We are so excited about the next two months. Can you believe that the Games will already be a memory in two months?! So many of you have signed up so long ago, and now we are finally at the point in the journey where all the planning falls into place. So, let’s do this!  You all have been getting monthly newsletters with updates but we want to take a little time to explain the timeline of events moving forward.

1. Recruitment: As of today, we have over 5000 individuals in our database who have stepped up to support our athletes as volunteers for these Games. These volunteers (and those still yet to come) will fill the 18,500 different shifts available.

2. Background Checks: We have completed most of the background checks for volunteers. See now—that wasn’t so bad!

3.Assignments and Jobs: We are now going through each of the 5000+ different volunteers and assigning you all a job based upon what you have told us about your interests. We have also started interviewing and assigning our Volunteer Leads like Volunteer Coordinator and Venue Supervisor.

4.Scheduling and Shifts: Right now, we are scheduling our large groups, corporate sports sponsors, and sports specific volunteers into their venues and locations. Beginning June 1, we will open up the scheduling to all of our Games’ volunteers. You will get an email notice and then will be able to go into your volunteer account and schedule yourself for your exact day and time. Your options will be based upon the preferences that you gave us. You can make changes to those preferences now, if you would like.

5.Training and Orientations: Beginning June 1, we are going to offer our Volunteer Orientation Online. Isn’t technology grand? You will be able to access the training through our website www.fairfax2015.com. Once completed, you’ll even get to download your certificate of completion. For anyone that likes the hands on approach, we’ll have a few in person trainings also. These will be offered the very beginning of June, during evenings and weekends. We’ll be hosting these in person trainings at the Fairfax County Government Center and at the Games time Volunteer Headquarters in Reston. Sign up will be available soon.

6.Volunteer Credentials and Uniform Distribution: Every volunteer will need to get their official Volunteer Credential, pick up their uniform, and receive the official Volunteer Handbook. The Volunteer Accreditation Center will be hosted at the Gamestime Volunteer Headquarters off of Cameron Glen Drive in Reston VA. The Center will open on June 7^th and run through the Games with evening and weekend times available.
 
Below is a Timeline of all the upcoming activities so that you can get them on your calendar.
 

May 1	Begin Supervisor Interviews
May 1	Promote Cheer Squads and Pep Squads of Spectators
May 1 – 15	Internal Scheduling: Large Groups and Corporations. Supervisors
May 15	Choose Supervisors
May 15 – June 20	Supervisor Site Visits to Venues
June 1	Self-Scheduling for volunteers opens
June 1	Online Orientation Available and required for Volunteers
June 8-13, 15-20 & 24-25	Orientation – General In Person
June 7 – July 4	Uniform and Credentialing
June 26	Games Start!
July 5	Closing Ceremony

 
I hope you are as energized for this experience as we on the organizing committee are. This is going to be an awesome international celebration of athleticism, bravery, and honor. It is your appreciation for our heroes, your love of your community, and your sense of adventure that is going to make all this successful. Thank you!

The Fairfax 2015 World Police & Fire Games are seeking one of the most important elements of a successful event – volunteers! The Fairfax 2015 Volunteer Services Team has recruited thousands of volunteers, but is still looking for more helping hands.

Eileesh Buckley knows first-hand how exciting and rewarding volunteering at the Games can be. Having volunteered at the most recent competition in Belfast, Eileesh Buckley is hoping to come back for this year’s Games in Fairfax, Virginia. Eileesh got involved in the 2013 Games for some good fun and found her experience to be extremely rewarding. Eileesh volunteered at the registration desk.

“Working at the registration desks was great fun as I made new friends on that team, while also meeting so many competitors and their families visiting for the Games,” reflected Eileesh.  Eileesh found that meeting the varied mix of Games athletes was the most interesting part of the multi-sport event. From competitive athletes, to those participating for the social aspect, she saw the sense of camaraderie that the Games drive begin to develop between these unique invidividuals.

This summer, the WPFG will be hosted by Fairfax County from June 26 and July 5. The Games will bring together more than 12,000 law enforcement officers and firefighters from across the world to compete in events ranging from ice hockey to muster, a fast-paced athletic challenge based on the teamwork, speed and endurance required of firefighters. There are volunteer roles available in the following areas: Protocol, Venues and Competition, Registration and Accreditation, Media Relations, Logistics, Transportation and Special Events.

For many of the volunteer positions, no previous experience is required. Join in on the fun and apply to volunteer here: http://fairfax2015.com/volunteer