CITY, COUNTY OFFER SUPPORT
At the start of Joycelyn Fankhouser’s shift at a recreation center in Denver, she watched as another volunteer grabbed a whiteboard, pulled together chairs and began teaching English.
He wasn’t a teacher, nor was it his job to teach a new language to native Spanish speakers. It was however, his job to help, and that’s exactly what he was doing, Fankhouser said.
“There was 40 people out of the 300 residents there that sat and rotated,” said Fankhouser, an emergency manager with Boulder County. “Every chair was taken in that room all day (by) people trying to learn English. I thought that was really cool.”
Fankhouser — who organized a volunteer partnership between Boulder, Boulder County and Denver — recently spent time at one of Denver’s makeshift shelters that are housing migrants — many of whom are from Venezuela and other Central American countries.
Fankhouser began speaking with Denver officials about how Boulder County could help support the city following the emergency declaration issuance in December in response to the surge of migrant arrivals. Initially, Denver requested to bus about 100 migrants to Boulder County, but after conversations continued, officials landed on a different plan: Boulder would come to them, Fankhouser said.
“It’s just us offering our expertise from all of the disasters we’ve been through,” she said. “It makes more sense for us to go and support them, so that those who are working can get back to their day jobs.”
On Jan. 13, City Manager Nuria Rivera-vandermyde sent out an email alerting employees about the volunteer opportunity. Boulder hourly workers who complete a 12-hour shift during the work week receive their normal pay plus a $50 stipend for a day shift or a $200 stipend for a night shift. Staff who work outside their normal work hours earn their usual pay plus a $150 stipend for a day shift or a $300 stipend for a night shift.
Salaried employees earn their usual pay in addition to a $150 stipend for a day shift or a $300 night shift stipend. The stipend rate is the same for salaried staff who volunteer outside their regular work hours.
Fankhouser said the county is not offering stipends to its participating staff.
Employees can work a total of three shifts, and as of Friday, Boulder staff had worked 44 shifts in Denver, and county workers had worked nine shifts, Fankhouser said. She did not know the total number of workers who have signed up. Both the city and the county will continue offering support as long as Denver is in need, Fankhouser added.
One concern both the city and county addressed at the start of the process was to ensure departments had the bandwidth to allow staff to spend the day, night or weekend volunteering.
Both Boulder and Boulder County made sure supervisors were aware of the volunteer opportunities and spoke with staff who were interested in participating, said Elizabeth Crowe, deputy director for Boulder Housing and Human Services.
“It takes a toll, and people can feel very burned out,” she said. “We just want to be aware of that and truly enable people to tap into that compassion and be sure we are really doing this in a way that is mindful of the existing work,” she said.
Although Megan Newton did go back to her normal day hours after volunteering overnight Jan. 22, she was able to work remotely and was primarily on call, to ensure that she was able to rest after her shift at the shelter, she said.
In Denver, Newton assisted during the shelter’s “quiet hours” and fielded questions from migrants.
Newton said she has volunteered at organizations in Denver that support people experiencing homelessness. But the work with migrants was new to her.
“I do have a tangential experience, and so it can be helpful,” she said. “(This) is something new and different, and I always want to give back.”
Ingrid Castro-campos and Lynette Badasarian both volunteered at the same location Jan. 25, but were assigned different duties. Castro-campos worked the front door of a shelter and checked people in.
Badasarian helped with inventory — making sure people had warm winter clothes and other essentials. She also did laundry.
“We had to haul a tremendous number of bags for the laundry service to pick up, and we worked with two men (who were migrants) who worked alongside us and just helped us transport them across the gym,” Badasarian said.
“It was wonderful — the help that we received from them and the kindness that we received working with them — you could see that they just wanted to help. They just wanted to give back, and we appreciated that.”
Castro-campos said for her, the most important part of the role was being able to treat each person with dignity and respect.
“They have come through so many countries where they have endured tremendous hardships — being robbed; corruption; being stopped and questioned; being cold; hungry; she said.
“They’ve been through jungle (and) desert. The human component is there, and for volunteers like us, (we) really carry those values and offer that in these settings.”
In the coming weeks, Fankhouser will also be coordinating a debriefing session and will have a counselor who specializes in trauma speak with city and county employees about any second-hand trauma they may be experiencing as a result of their time volunteering.
“I feel it’s really important to make sure that we have that available through this,” Fankhouser said.
Information on Denver volunteer opportunities and needed donations is available at bit.ly/3wuihzz.
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