Verner Experiential Garden (VEG!) and Volunteer Coordinator
REPORTS TO: Director of Family and Community Partnerships
Whitney Rea Wrea@verneremail.org
SCHEDULE: 8:30 am-5:00 pm Monday-Friday
There will be a 30-minute lunch break and 3 times a year we will have a garden event that will be 4-6pm and the start time on those days will be 10am.
POSITION OVERVIEW:
The purpose of this position is to create a more robust volunteer program, create stronger relationships in our community, and support Verner’s mission of delivering high-quality early childhood education by enhancing outdoor learning experiences in Verner’s Experiential Garden at North Carolina Outward (VEG!) for our children in our gardens ages birth to five. The member will impact over 250 children and families within Buncombe County and will have opportunities to learn from other programs around the community! They may also take some of the produce from the garden for their personal use.
LOCATION: Verner East- 2586 Riceville Rd. Asheville, NC and Verner Central- 566 N. Louisiana Ave. Asheville, NC (main location will be at Verner East)
RESPONSIBILITIES:
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Recruit volunteers for the classrooms, gardens, and outdoor space
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Onboard and train volunteers
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Maintain contact with volunteers
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Manage volunteer schedules while communicating with relevant staff about when volunteers will be on-site and what tasks they will complete
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Support classrooms to visit VEG! weekly in intentional curricular activities during those visits
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Create and update the VEG! curriculum as needed
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Manage ongoing garden task list for classes and volunteers
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Lead weekly garden times with classrooms
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Water, cultivate, transplant, weed, and harvest garden beds while prioritizing the space as a learning environment for children under the age of 4
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Organize, clean, and maintain the garden shed and the garden tools
QUALIFICATIONS:
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Garden experience and knowledge of plants
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Previous classroom experience working with children, birth to kindergarten preferred
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Small group/volunteer management preferred
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Ability to work as part of a team
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Excellent communication skills, especially good listening skills
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Knowledge of safe tool use
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Landspace and/or construction experience is favorable
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High school diploma or GED
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Ability to pass a background check
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US Citizen or Permanent Resident
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands and fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls, and talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to reach with hands or arms. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. Physical ability to spend time outdoors in the garden on your feet and knees on uneven grounds.
The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
Verner Center for Early Learning is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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