Authored by Kelly Remick, Community Relationship Manager

Jennifer Allison has been putting on a Wage Hope My Way event in Northwest Arkansas for many years, so when she approached me back in January to discuss growing the presence in that area, I was eager to connect. Knowing recruitment is a major focus for PanCAN and given her current volunteer base, we thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to start a local affiliate in the Northwest region.

As the fearless leader, Jennifer stepped into the Affiliate Chair role, ready to build a grassroots army! My partnership with this new affiliate is successful because Jennifer and I have a trusting relationship and can talk through expectations and realities of her role as well as the other Leadership Volunteer Positions and how best I can support her. As her staff partner, one of my biggest goals is to empower her with the resources and materials she needs to be successful locally. Constant communication between the two of us helps to keep the affiliate on track with priorities and actively engaged throughout the year. I’ve been very impressed with one of the tactics she uses to enhance affiliate communication which is scheduling out meetings for an entire year so that volunteers are always able to check a calendar and find the next opportunity to participate. It’s been a great way to set expectations and provide consistency. I am inspired as I watch her lead the team with passion, honesty and a clear vision. Jennifer also helps people stay engaged by keeping them in touch with their personal connection. She consistently reminds volunteers to remember who they are volunteering for and why, just as she is driven to achieve our goals to honor her dad. The why is what fuels their passion!  

As the Affiliate Chair, Jennifer has recruited 9 other volunteer roles in the last 10 months, with many new volunteers eager and willing to jump in and provide support when needed. We had in depth conversations regarding each of these roles and the skills needed to be successful to ensure we were finding the right person for the right role.

When speaking with Jennifer, she shared with me her desire to focus on finding passionate volunteers who actively wanted to participate in the development of the affiliate. She had been working with many of her “target recruits” for years, so she was able to identify each person’s strengths and leverage those skills for specific roles. When she felt the time was right, she made the ask and the team naturally came together.

One of the hardest things Jennifer and I discussed was accepting that not everyone would be willing or able to take on a role as actively as she did. Everyone’s passions are different, as well as availability, so Jennifer had to be okay accepting “no” as an answer. Additionally, with the geography of Arkansas, there is a challenge with people who want to help but live far away from the majority of other volunteers. Finding activities that enable those community members to participate and keeping them engaged has been something both Jennifer and I are working on together, such as engaging companies for November Awareness in other cities.

I am excited to see how this group of great volunteers will continue to grow and make a difference for the future of this disease.