Volunteering Information: Know Before You Go
Volunteers help make our festival possible. Thank you, volunteers!
Registration/signing up
There are three ways to register as a volunteer:
- Individuals: Sign up directly at https://forms.gle/Ud9NfY5fqhaWgfJo8
- Groups: Please contact our volunteer coordinator: volunteer@asianamericanheritage.org. Our volunteer coordinator will work with you to sign your group up for volunteering. Members of your group should go ahead and fill out the waiver form: https://forms.gle/Ud9NfY5fqhaWgfJo8
- Students using x2VOL: Please sign up at https://forms.gle/Ud9NfY5fqhaWgfJo8. We will approve your hours on x2VOL once you have finished your shifts.
Shifts
There are five shifts:
| Timing | Number of volunteers needed | Special remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30am - 9:30am | 50 | Setup shift: GREATEST NEED |
| 9:30am - 11:30am | 20 | |
| 11:30am - 1:30pm | 30 | |
| 1:30pm - 3:30pm | 30 | |
| 3:30pm - 5:30pm | 50 | Teardown shift: Second greatest need |
Shifts are picked during volunteer registration. You can change shifts by emailing volunteer@asianamericanheritage.org. Please don't submit the Google Form more than once, as it will lead to duplicates in our data.
Perks
- Volunteers who sign up for two or more shifts (do not have to be consecutive) receive pizza.
- If you want something else and bring your credit card/cash, our food vendors this year include: boba tea, corn dogs, funnel cake, Asian food, and more (with more to come!)
- Volunteers who help us set up the festival at 7:30am - 9:30am get free coffee and donuts!
- Please note, these are first-come, first-serve, so it's best to get here as early as possible to enjoy these.
- Volunteer hour verification will be provided for each volunteer upon request, as long as you follow the sign in and sign out procedures.
| Shifts worked | How many shifts | Pizza | Coffee | Donuts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:30am - 9:30am | Yes | Yes | ||
| 3:30pm - 5:30pm | ||||
| 9:30am - 11:30am
11:30am - 1:30pm 1:30pm - 3:30pm |
1 | |||
| 2 | Yes | |||
| 3 | Yes |
For instance, if you worked from 7:30am to 1:30pm, you would receive coffee, donuts, and pizza.
Jobs
We have the following jobs, all of which require some degree of manual labor, but some jobs will be more labor-intensive than others. They will be assigned during the festival and they can be changed throughout the day, based on festival needs. Please let the volunteer coordinator know if you are unable to do a job.
Setup/breakdown helper
Help us set up and break down the various aspects of the festival. This includes tables, chairs, and tents.
This is only relevant during our 7:30am-9:30am setup shift and our 3:30pm-5:30pm breakdown shift.
This role requires manual labor (carrying and setting up/folding up tables and chairs). Gloves will be provided if you would like to use them.
Children's section staffer
Our children's section features paints and coloring opportunities for children to create their own art.
Recurring tasks:
- Shared plates of paint ("palettes") should have a healthy amount of each color of paint on them. Top up the palette if it's running low on a color.
- Go to the exterior hose faucet at the public restrooms to refill the bucket up with water.
Procedure of handling a customer:
- Provide them with construction paper. Let them choose the color.
- Provide them with a brush.
- Make sure there is a palette available for them.
- Once the painting is finished, offer to hang it up on the clothesline at the children's area so it can dry. IMPORTANT: Write the first and last name of the child on the back of the construction paper.
- Let them know to come back when they're leaving the festival.
- When they return, ask for their name and give them the painting. Some paintings may be similar, so be careful. You don't want to give the wrong painting to the wrong kid/parent! It could make the kids very upset!
Qualifications required: Good with kids, patient, kind, emphathetic.
This role may require some manual labor (carrying buckets of water for 50 meters).
Stage helper
To help us keep the show running smoothly, we need helpers on the stage! Things you may be doing include: ensuring the next performers are waiting backstage, working under the direction of festival staff, providing water bottles and certificates for the performers, providing directions on when performers should enter and exit the stage, etc.
Qualifications required: Able to roll out and roll up a carpet between different performances, as needed.
Survey taker
Each year, we survey our festival attendees for statistical and fundraising purposes. This is very important for us to be able to obtain funding from the City of Plano to help sustain future festivals.
Surveyors should politely circulate around the park and ask attendees if they would kindly complete a survey available at planoasiafest.org/survey.
Qualifications required: Confident, polite, communicative, and have a cell phone.
Parking lot manager
The Haggard Park parking lot is restricted on the day of the parking lot. Throughout the day, there will be various AsiaFest staff, contractors, and performers/speakers who will be parking here. The parking lot manager(s) will need to manage who is authorized to enter the parking lot, as well as ensuring parking spots are not hogged throughout the day. Only people with AsiaFest parking permits will be allowed to enter. Festivalgoers and other unauthorized cars should be kindly directed to park elsewhere.
Parking lot manager instructions: Parking lot management manual.
Qualifications required: Outgoing, assertive, polite, communicative, and have a cell phone.
This role requires minimal manual labor (setting up and moving traffic cones when allowing someone in/letting someone out).
Booth check-in assistant
We will have a booth check-in table. Two volunteers will need to help our booth coordinator. They need to be there beginning 8:30am to 9:00am and stay until the festival begins.
Procedures
On the day of the festival, please follow the following procedures:
Getting to the festival
Please see the below map for information on where you can park.
To avoid traffic on the day of the festival, we recommend taking the DART Red Line to Downtown Plano Station, which is immediately adjacent to Haggard Park. You can park at the Parker Road Station's or Bush Turnpike Station's free parking lots.
If you are being dropped off by car, please be dropped off at the #1 parking lot (at the southeast corner of G Ave and 16th St) or the #6 parking lot (north of 14th St between I and H Ave).
If you are parking your car at the festival, you can park at any of the parking lots except #2.
Signing in and signing out (IMPORTANT)
We will have a Volunteer Command Center (located at the AsiaFest Tent), where you will check-in and check-out as a volunteer. Everyone should do this, because you will be given a t-shirt, a volunteer lanyard, and assigned a job to be done.
If you are a student volunteer, it is very important you both check-in AND check-out at the AsiaFest Tent, or else we won't be able to provide you with volunteer hours.
If you are a group volunteer, your group leader should check in at the AsiaFest Tent for the whole group. You'll be given instructions by the AsiaFest Tent volunteer coordinators on what you'll be assigned to do.
During check-in, you will be assigned a job to complete. Please note, you may be allowed/requested to change your job throughout the day.
At the AsiaFest Tent, we will be providing resources to all volunteers. This includes:
- Donuts and coffee from the early morning until they run out
- Water
- Gloves, if you need them for set up/break down
- Pizza, for those who volunteer for two or more shifts
When you are checking out, if you are bringing your own volunteering form and need a volunteer form to be signed on the day of the festival, we will be able to do so when you finish your shift(s). A festival representative will be able to sign for you at the AsiaFest Tent.
While volunteering
Please keep the following in mind:
- You should be able to remain constantly in touch with our Volunteer Command Center in case you need assistance. If you don't have a phone, please be paired up with your parent/legal guardian or a volunteer who has a phone.
- As a volunteer, you are representing the Festival and the Celebrating Asian American Heritage Foundation. Please act professionally and courteously at all times.
- When in doubt, please call for assistance from a Festival Organizer, who will be wearing AsiaFest badges.
- Never leave your duty post unless someone has come to replace you or you're told you can leave. If you need assistance or need to be replaced, please make a phone call or text the Volunteer Command Center, who will be able to coordinate a replacement for you or tell you what to do. If you leave prematurely, you will not be provided with any volunteer hour verification, because we will not be able to ascertain how many hours you actually volunteered for us.
After the festival
If you do not have a volunteer verification form of your own, we will email you our AsiaFest verification form within a few days after the festival. When checking out, please be sure to verify your email on file is correct, as we'll be using that email to send you the volunteer verification form.
If you signed up to volunteer on x2VOL, our volunteer coordinator will verify your hours within a few days after the festival.
If you do not receive verification by May 10 at noon, please email volunteer@asianamericanheritage.org immediately so we can investigate your status.
