Participation in Your Association is COOL: Volunteering Made Easier
By Stephanie Yamkovenko
It’s a question almost every person who wants to volunteer asks at some point—how much time will this take? People are busy with schedules packed with appointments, to-do lists, and obligations, and occupational therapy practitioners are no exception. Even with busy lives, many practitioners want to volunteer but might not know about opportunities available to them. Volunteers are essential to the viability of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). The organization is successful, in a large part, because of its members and their dedication to leadership and participation.
The launch of AOTA’s Coordinated Online Opportunities for Leadership (COOL) database will serve to ensure that members from all backgrounds and geographic areas have access to volunteer opportunities within AOTA.
“We realized that AOTA was often ‘recycling’ volunteers and that many of the same faces emerged in leadership positions,” says Kathryn Loukas, OTD, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA. “We felt that we could better use technology to connect people and projects within the Association.”
Members can use the COOL database to create an online volunteer profile with their interests, expertise, and available time commitments. The profile will allow AOTA staff and commission chairpersons to find members who meet the criteria for volunteer opportunities as they arise.
“We want to provide a place for our members to let us know they are interested in volunteering,” says Maureen Peterson, MS, OT/L, FAOTA, and chief professional affairs officer at AOTA. “Members are able to be specific about how they wish to volunteer, and we can respect the many time constraints our members have, as well as open up many opportunities to a broader base of individuals.”
The idea for the COOL database began in 2007 with former AOTA President Penelope Moyers Cleveland, EdD, OTR/L, BCMH, FAOTA, and her efforts to include more members in AOTA activities. During her presidency, Moyers Cleveland met many inspired members who wanted to get involved with the national Association. It soon became clear that AOTA needed a system to coordinate and organize these efforts, and to make it as easy as possible for members to get involved at all levels.
To achieve the profession’s 2017 Centennial Vision, AOTA also needs involvement from members at all levels of the profession. “We will need to call upon many of our members for their expertise and perspective as we tackle the issues facing the profession in the next 7 years,” says Peterson. “Having this database makes finding the right volunteer for a specific project so much easier.”
Since 2007, dedicated members and AOTA staff have worked tirelessly to create the COOL database, which provides access to volunteer opportunities for all members.
“We know that more diversity and greater numbers of volunteers will strengthen the Association and build the AOTA community,” says Loukas. “This database will be inclusive of volunteers across practice contexts and cultural and geographic areas, and will honor the time constraint needs within the volunteer sector.”
All AOTA members are invited to complete a volunteer profile for the COOL database. Following completion of the profile, members can examine possible volunteer opportunities that match their area of expertise, years of experience, amount of time available to volunteer, and other criteria.
“The volunteer sector needs to find, develop, support, and facilitate leaders to create a broad and inclusive professional community,” says Loukas. “COOL is a strong step in that direction and could be the beginning of a new era of member participation with AOTA.”
Stephanie Yamkovenko is AOTA’s staff writer.
