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  Volunteering With Extra HandsALS Family RegistrationAbout Extra Hands for ALS Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat Is ALS?Extra Hands In The NewsOur TeamBoard of DirectorsCareers With Extra HandsWhere Your Donations Go |
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Student Questions Mentor Questions ALS Family Questions Why is Extra Hands for ALS needed? Will I make a difference? top ALS is a rapidly degenerative disorder. Many people living with ALS today were normal, active people taking care of themselves and their loved ones 18 months ago. But ALS takes away their independence and saddles their families with the burden of caregiving. One of the most difficult aspects of ALS is that it disables people more quickly than they or their families can psychologically or practically adjust to the change. This often leaves them depressed and frustrated, and leaves family members and other caretakers overwhelmed. Having volunteers like you to depend on every week to help lighten the load makes a tremendous difference. It may not seem like a lot to dust, rake leaves, walk the dog, or make a sandwich, but to families living with ALS your help with ordinary tasks can be just what’s needed. Over the course of the school year, you will also have the chance to develop a close personal relationship with the patient and family, provide welcome companionship, and be an important source of emotional support. Then, by helping educate your community about ALS through public awareness events, you will make an important contribution to beating this disease. What support will I have during my volunteer experience? top All volunteers go through a training program before visiting ALS families. Volunteers are also teamed into pairs, so you will always have someone with whom to share rides or talk about the experience. Each volunteer team is guided by an experienced mentor, usually someone who has personal experience with ALS. Your mentor accompanies you and your volunteer partner to the first meeting with your patient and family. Your mentor also checks in with you frequently (and is always available for you to call) to answer questions, address concerns, or help solve any problems that arise. Your mentor checks in with the ALS family as well, so can help in case there are any communication difficulties. When it is time for you to work on a public awareness initiative, Extra Hands staff, partners, and mentors will help you develop your own ideas or suggest one for you. What is the time commitment? top Volunteers commit to one 2-hour shift each week, not including commute time, throughout the school year, thus nine to twelve months depending on when they sign up. They also commit to participating in one public awareness event per semester. The time requirements for the public awareness event will vary, depending on the event. What if I don't sign up at the beginning of the school year? top Contact the Program Manager in your area to find out if it is too late to sign up. Generally, we accept new volunteers any time as long as they commit to visiting an ALS family for long enough to be helpful. If we send new volunteers to a family every few months, this can make their lives more complicated which is something we have a responsibility not to do. Are hours flexible? What if I need time off? top Yes. You can pick any time that works for you and the ALS family: days, evenings, weekends. If you need to take time off, just work it out ahead of time with your mentor and ALS family. Do I need a car? top Each team will need a car to travel to the ALS family’s home. If you don’t have a car, encourage a friend with a car to sign up with you, or we’ll try to match you with a driver. And remember, there are plenty of other ways to help us fight ALS - contact your Program Manager for details. What do I need to do to sign up? What happens next? top To sign up, just visit the online sign up page. We’ll use the information you give us to help match you with a volunteer partner, mentor, and ALS family. Then we will let you know when the next training session begins. I’m interested in becoming a mentor. Can you tell me what is involved and how to get started? top It takes only 5 hours a month to be an Extra Hands mentor! To get started, the Program Manager will train you thoroughly so you are completely comfortable in your knowledge of ALS and what it means to be an Extra Hands mentor. Then you’ll be matched with a particular family in the community that is dealing with ALS. You’ll go out and visit with that family. Next you’ll be paired with a student team, whom you’ll meet and then take out to the family’s home to introduce everyone. From that point on, you are responsible for 3 things: 1) Once each month, go out and visit the family together with your students, pitching in to help with whatever is needed. This visit takes about two hours a month. 2) Once each month, you’ll meet with the Program Manager and the rest of the local mentors as a group for about an hour. At this meeting, mentors have the chance to assist each other with questions and to learn important information about new initiatives from the Program Manager. 3) On a regular basis, you’ll keep in touch by phone and email with your student volunteers and with your family, making sure everything is going smoothly. You’ll also help the students plan their public awareness initiative each semester, and you’ll keep the Program Manager informed about your team’s progress. I’m interested in helping an ALS family actively every week. Can I still do this as a mentor? top Yes. Mentors are required to visit the families they serve at least once a month, but many mentors choose to go more often. If you’d like to work with a family every week, you’ll simply go along together with your students each week and pitch in with whatever the family needs done. You’ll likely find you build a great relationship with both the family and your students this way. You are also welcome to visit your family on days when the students are not there, or to help with special projects. You may find you can do things the students can’t, like helping the caregiver research insurance plans or equipment or manage the home office. What kind of experience do I need to be a mentor? top Life experience is what makes a good mentor. Many Extra Hands mentors have had some exposure to ALS or other terminal or chronic diseases and thus understand the issues ALS families face. Other mentors are familiar with working with teenagers and young adults, as teachers or as parents. Still others were active volunteers themselves through their college days and can relate to the students they will mentor. An interest in helping others, in giving back to the community, or in working with youth or those less fortunate is a good place to start. If being an Extra Hands mentor sounds like something you might like to do, talk to your local Program Manager to learn more or to answer your questions about how the program could fit with your interests and background. What training and support do you offer mentors? top Before you become a mentor, you’ll meet one-on-one with the Program Manager to talk about the program and answer questions. If you and the Program Manager mutually agree becoming a mentor seems like a good fit for you, you’ll then attend a mentor training. At this training, you’ll learn about ALS, the Extra Hands program, and how to be a good mentor to your team. You’ll also receive a copy of our Mentor Manual, which contains a lot of rich information to support you throughout your mentor experience. The Program Manager will work closely with you as you get up to speed in your role and as your team gets started. Once each month, you’ll meet as a group with the Program Manager and the other local mentors to discuss issues and support each other. This is a terrific way to draw on the varied talents and experiences of the whole group. At these meetings, the Program Manager will also provide you with more information about upcoming Extra Hands initiatives and guide discussions on topics that will help you be even more effective. Should you have questions or concerns during your experience, the Program Manager and other Extra Hands staff are always available to help. I’m not sure I’m ready to become a mentor. Are there other ways I can help out with Extra Hands? top Yes! We can use your help in a wide variety of ways. Help support Extra Hands by getting your company involved, volunteer to organize special events, lend your professional skills to our work – or let us know what you have in mind. We’re appreciative of whatever time and talents you can offer. Do we have to pay for the Extra Hands service? top No. Extra Hands is a completely free service, supported entirely by our own charitable fundraising efforts. What kinds of things can the volunteers help out with? What kinds of things can’t they do? top Volunteers can help with any household or yard tasks. For example, they can walk the dog, wash the car, do the laundry or dishes, clean the house, mow the lawn, wash the windows, straighten out the basement, prepare a meal, get the groceries, watch the kids, or perhaps just sit and provide friendly companionship to the person with ALS while the caregiver takes a break. Volunteers can not do any kind of medical or personal care, including feeding, transferring, assisting with medications, or operating medical equipment. Volunteers also can not be left alone with a person with ALS if that person might require medical or personal care that the volunteer is not allowed to provide. Finally, volunteers are not permitted to transport either the person with ALS or any family members in any vehicle. Please talk to your local Program Manager about your specific situation to determine how Extra Hands volunteers can be of best service to you and your family. There are bound to be many things Extra Hands can do to make life easier for you. I’m sure there are other people out there who need help more than I do. Will I be taking help away from them by signing up for Extra Hands myself? top This is a common concern, but in fact there are so many volunteers who want to help that we are always looking for more families for them to serve. Especially at the beginning of each semester, we often find ourselves with lots of eager students who don’t have anyone to help yet! You certainly are not depriving anyone else of help by signing your own family up for Extra Hands. We serve a wide range of families in all income brackets. We serve families who already have a lot of help (from paid employees or family members) as well as those who don’t. Usually, Extra Hands volunteers help with the kinds of things that family members depend on each other to provide. With volunteers taking care of some of these daily tasks, families are able to spend more quality time with each other or to relieve some of the burden of asking loved ones for so much help. Importantly, by allowing volunteers to work with your family, you are playing an important part in the fight against ALS by teaching young people about this disease and inspiring them to raise public awareness, which is what will ultimately help us find a cure. So please don’t hesitate to call your local Program Manager and sign up for Extra Hands today! I’m not sure I have enough for volunteers to do at my house every week. Can I still sign up? top The best thing to do is to talk to your local Program Manager about your particular situation and brainstorm about what exactly you might need to get done. In our experience, caregivers are often surprised to realize how many things they used to do or want to do that now have simply fallen off the list of priorities. Your Program Manager will help you think through all the things volunteers do for other families and which might be helpful for you. If you’re still not sure you have enough to keep volunteers busy every week, you can start out by just having some volunteers come over for a couple one-time projects, like raking leaves or washing windows. Over time, if your needs change, you can shift to having volunteers come once a week – or even more often. Many families have several teams of students, coming anywhere from two to four times each week. Since life with ALS is hard to predict, Extra Hands is flexible to meet your needs. If you want to take a break from the program for a while, you can do that and then start up again later with as many teams as you need. Your Program Manager will work with you to plan a schedule that fits your situation. I have family members or friends who would really like to do more to fight ALS. How can they get involved? top You may have family members who live far away from you but who wish they could do something to help fight ALS. Or perhaps there is someone in your close circle who has the time, energy, and desire to really get involved in this cause. Let them know about Extra Hands. They can get involved as a mentor to another ALS family (either in your town or elsewhere in the country), or they can volunteer with us planning special events or helping us make contacts in a new community. We welcome their help, and we look forward to providing them with the opportunity to help you by working with us. |
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