Rake a Difference 2023

What Team Leads Should Know

What we want you to know: Rake a Difference (RAD) is a fun & engaging event! It allows companies, employee teams, school groups, and others an opportunity to service their community in a much-needed way. The event spans three counties (Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren). In 2022 the event served more than 320 seniors through the work of 133 teams comprised of 1,249 volunteers. Each year, however, the number of seniors who need the service increases, and we are unable to serve all of the seniors that call.  The more volunteers we have across the entire span of these three counties means more seniors can be served.

We realize that it may be harder for some teams to get out to outlying areas, so we are actively looking for service groups in those communities to join our ranks. This could be middle school or high school service groups like National Honor Society or Key Clubs; or Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs or veterans service organizations. We especially need help in rural and/or south Berrien County, rural Van Buren County, and all of Cass County.

Choosing a team name, location(s) & time:  We cannot stress enough how important it is that EACH of your team members knows what THE TEAM has chosen to do! 90% of registrations from teams have errors which greatly slows down the process of assigning teams to the seniors/houses they will serve. Your diligence with this enables us to respond to your questions more quickly and to get house assignments done sooner.

Please ensure that everyone on your team knows your team name and that they FORMAT it the same way when they register. (HINT: have them COPY the team name as you’ve sent it to them and PASTE it into the team name fields when they register). 

TALK with your team BEFORE you register to select the site(s) and time that the team wants to serve. Choosing the location(s) in which you serve and the time of day that you’ll rake should be done with the entire team in mind, not just what works for each individual on the team. We assign teams to houses based on the commonalities of those responses. These decisions should be made from the team’s perspective and all team members should know what those decisions are.  If members of your team select different cities and/or different times of day they will be separated into a different team and assigned different houses. Please help keep your team together by communicating your location(s) and time to your teammates right away. 

What does a team lead do?

·       Recruit volunteers and have them register by the registration deadline of Friday, October 13.  This is a hard deadline! Have everyone sign up on the Volunteer United site and electronically sign their waiver.

·       Choose a team name and communicate this to everyone on your team.

·       Pick the location(s) in which you’d be willing to serve and the time of day you’re available.

·       Communicate with your team regularly.

·       Help to troubleshoot any individual registration issues as they arise.

·       Communicate with the United Way of Southwest Michigan (UWSM) team as appropriate.

·       Pick up supplies from UWSM during the designated Supply Pick Up times or assign someone to do so.

·       Ensure that team members bring rakes and ladders (if your team is doing gutters). Also, if doing gutters, makes sure your team has a vehicle that can transport the ladder(s).

·       Deliver one RAD Senior Care Kit to each senior when you rake for them.

·       Have someone on the team take pictures and/or video and post to social media with the following tags #RakeADifference #UWSM #VolunteerUnited. Make sure to take a team photo.

·       Drop off unused supplies after the event.

2022 Rake a Difference Impact Data:

322 seniors were helped by 133 teams made up of 1249 volunteers.