Volunteers Make It Happen
With Fiesta 2007 only five days away some may wonder how this entire ten day party really comes to life. How in the world can you plan for a festival that has 103 events, 3.5 million participants and an economic impact to the city of San Antonio of over a quarter of a billion dollars? You do it with one statistic I left off - 75,000 volunteers.
Fiesta is the largest volunteer event of the year in San Antonio. Most people would be shocked to know that number of paid staff working for the Fiesta San Antonio Commission can be counted on two hands. The rest of the work is done by volunteers across all the events and organizations, all the way up to the President of the Commission.
Each year the planning starts with the election of the President-elect (the President is actually picked a year in advance to give that person time to prepare) and the rest of the Executive Committee at the general membership meeting of the Commission, this year to be held in May.
From there the committees start forming within the Fiesta Commission for activities related to the overall structure of Fiesta. Coincidental with this work are the planning groups for each of the various events managed by the participating member organizations or PMOs for short. Those groups reflect on the event of the past year and plan for the upcoming Fiesta's event, making changes where needed.
Starting in January the majority of the work really begins with tickets being sold, pre-event meetings occurring across the city, and the ever-daunting task of lining up the army of volunteers who will man the food booths, set the street chairs up, and provide manpower in general for the events.
For some events the role of volunteer is something that has been handed down from generation to generation of families. It almost seems that some of those coveted positions in NIOSA are written into the wills of long-time volunteers. In other cases people get their first taste of altruism by joining the ranks of some Fiesta event such as the Fiesta Pooch Parade or Sticky Wickets.
In the end Fiesta brings out the cooperative nature and diversity of San Antonio through the ranks of volunteers, some 75,000 strong. It really is more than just a party.
Fiesta is the largest volunteer event of the year in San Antonio. Most people would be shocked to know that number of paid staff working for the Fiesta San Antonio Commission can be counted on two hands. The rest of the work is done by volunteers across all the events and organizations, all the way up to the President of the Commission.
Each year the planning starts with the election of the President-elect (the President is actually picked a year in advance to give that person time to prepare) and the rest of the Executive Committee at the general membership meeting of the Commission, this year to be held in May.
From there the committees start forming within the Fiesta Commission for activities related to the overall structure of Fiesta. Coincidental with this work are the planning groups for each of the various events managed by the participating member organizations or PMOs for short. Those groups reflect on the event of the past year and plan for the upcoming Fiesta's event, making changes where needed.
Starting in January the majority of the work really begins with tickets being sold, pre-event meetings occurring across the city, and the ever-daunting task of lining up the army of volunteers who will man the food booths, set the street chairs up, and provide manpower in general for the events.
For some events the role of volunteer is something that has been handed down from generation to generation of families. It almost seems that some of those coveted positions in NIOSA are written into the wills of long-time volunteers. In other cases people get their first taste of altruism by joining the ranks of some Fiesta event such as the Fiesta Pooch Parade or Sticky Wickets.
In the end Fiesta brings out the cooperative nature and diversity of San Antonio through the ranks of volunteers, some 75,000 strong. It really is more than just a party.
posted by Fiesta San Antonio @ 1:09 PM
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