The group exists to help interested Girl Scouts plan, prepare and earn money for travel. A Girl Scout and her available family members may or may not choose to work at the Rose Quarter. This is a great money earning vehicle, but it does require a large commitment, so girls & family members should seriously consider the following before deciding to take on a Rose Quarter commitment.
- Are you willing to work 2-3 shifts each month with each shift lasting between 4-5 hours?
- Are you willing to serve alcohol at events and obtain your OLCC server's permit? There is a $50 fee & the permit is good for 3 years.
If your answers are yes...here's what you need to know.
In order to "work" a shift, each person must have a valid Multnomah County Food Handler's Permit. The test is only offered online...here is the link for the test. I need to send in a copy of your card to the program, so please either mail me a hard copy when you print it, or email me a copy of your card. The test costs $10 and the permit is valid for 3 years.
OLCC Training...this is required for us to work any events that allow the service of alcohol. The permit costs $23 & is good for 5 years. The training class also has a cost (both online & in person) of approximately $25. Here is a link to the OLCC online training site...(they also have a classroom offering that runs about 3 hours instead of the 5 hours of the RQ class) - they say the test takes about 20-30 minutes.
You can do OLCC training one of two ways...online where you take the course & bring the paperwork to the Rose Quarter for final processing or via a class sponsored by the Rose Quarter. The OLCC final permitting takes about 30 days to process and during that time adult volunteers may only work the non-OLCC events unless you have your signed permit application and the scorecard from the OLCC showing you passed the exam.
Application
NFP training...this is the training required of everyone (including any girls) that will be working at the Rose Quarter. It is free to us all participants...the classes run from 6-9pm. There is a 60 person limit on the classes.
Now, the roles in a stand...
Stand Leader
Money Person
Cook
Cook Helper
Both the Stand Leader & the Money Person have to be 18-years old.
The Stand Leader is the person that inventories the stand ahead of the event & at the end of the event. In general, this is the person that is responsible for making sure that the jobs are done...first to arrive & last to leave. The Money Person is the person that picks up the cash box & reconciles the till at the end of the night. The Money Person is not the only person that can staff the till during event...they are just the person that is responsible for picking up the cash drawer & counting it as well as reconciling it at the end of the night with the RQ staff. However, anyone who is running the till at an event where alcohol is served will need to have an OLCC permit.
The Cook & Cook Helper are the people that are putting the hot dogs on the cooker, slicing pizza, etc. The food related work that needs to be done in a particular stand. Girls 16 & 17 with food handler's permits can work these stations. There is no heavy/dangerous equipment for them to operate...so it's a good way to have the girls participating.
We will receive event schedules around the 15th of the month for the following month. We then have about 7 days to fax back our requests for events. We have to tell the RQ how many people we will have available at each event and they'll do the scheduling & send the confirmation back to us. We will generally have the confirmed schedule back within about 5-7 days after the submission deadline. Once I have that, I will forward it back to everyone. If we have enough volunteers to staff more than one stand at an event, that doesn't count as more than one event...but it does increase our "donation" amount for that event.
For events where there is alcohol service, we will have to show our OLCC permits when we come to staff the event.
The Rose Quarter will provide us with uniform shirts at the beginning of each shift, but we are responsible to come to "work" in black pants and closed toe/closed heel black shoes. We will also need a baseball cap style hat (I have a supply of those for us). Anyone not in uniform will be sent home & if that causes us to have to use paid RQ staff to meet the staffing requirements, then we'll have a deduction from our donation amount to cover the cost of that staff person.
And if you're wondering if this opportunity is worth the commitment...check out the events payout info.
