Since UCAAN was started in 2009, we've always loved the holiday season and wrapping gifts for those in our community. It's always been a fun, uplifting experience and we're looking for more fabulous gift wrapping elves to connect with this season!
I started UCAAN in 2009 after my own personal battle with rare terminal cancer twice. I have since dedicated my life to this cause to help focus on cancer patients as opposed to research. The vital needs of cancer patients, the resources, the information they never get anywhere else. We focus on bridging that gap! To date, UCAAN has impacted the lives of 10,000 Cancer Patients Nationwide in 10 years. We hope that if you volunteer with us this holiday season that you may consider donating your time throughout the year, if not we understand. :)
We will be offering our holiday gift wrapping services at the Oaks Shopping Center in Thousand Oaks from December 1st till December 24th.
We always need help with Clean up after we close (December 26th-28th).
A few things to know:
We DO Have Fun holiday Hats for volunteers to wear as our awesome elves!! We may need to try and make some for Hanukkah too. Oooh another fun project! Onward
For shifts we generally have up to 5 volunteers, we can accomodate larger groups, but please contact us in advance 805-479-1032. :)
- We love groups, especially community and corporate groups! Boy scouts, girl scouts, Local businesses like Farmers Insurance and Healthnet have participated. If you do have a group, when the event volunteer website link is up, we ask that you click as many spots as you have volunteers and then email us a list of the volunteer names per shift to ucaanorg@yahoo.com (We will explain further once you contact us with interest)
- Shifts will range between 3 and 4 hours, if you're only able to volunteer for 2 hours, when we have the event link volunteer site up, please include a comment saying "Only available 2pm-4pm", so we can make sure to get other volunteers to fill the needed spots.
- We love when children want to help, but ask parents if your child is under 15, we ask that at least one parent attends with them. Volunteers over 16 do not need to bring a parent.
- We think it's great when families come to volunteer and we embrace it. Please join us this holiday season. The youngest kids we've had helping were 5, yes we can even assign volunteer activities to 5 year olds!)
- We have all volunteers put their phones away, this way we're not distracted and can focus on the job at hand. We do have busy work projects for when it's slow. :) Like making wrapping paper bows and believe it or not, paper beads.
- Volunteers that volunteer more hours are encouraged to bring a snack or even lunch, we will have a refrigerator (a mini one) and we do have waters for volunteers.
- We do enjoy having students who need to complete community service hours for school. Please note: We do not have a form to submit to your school, please be prepared with your form when you volunteer. Also, we ask that you wait till the end of your shift to get it signed. Please don't rush us, as many times we have a lot going on at once. But your form will be signed! :)
- We do occasionally get people who need to volunteer for court ordered community service, please contact us in advance prior to signing up for a shift. 805-479-1032
- Because We have a Store (Yes, we are NOT outside in the cold) we have a physical store, we ask that since you are representing our cause that you dress appropriately - no cut off shorts, no short skirts, tops or shorts, no exposed midriffs, no perfume, no tight revealing clothes. The mall wants us to have great volunteers that represent UCAAN & the mall.
- We ask that ALL volunteers respect the way we do things at the gift wrap store, we've been doing this for a long time and the processes we have are for a reason. Please do not overstep the rules and policies. This is for your safety and the safety of our patrons that use our store.
We will be posting a link soon for the dates- and times our store will need volunteers. If you are unable to make your shift please: 1) Contact us and let us know 805-479-1032, 2) Go to the website where you scheduled your shift and remove it, this way others can sign up for the shift.
The Exact address where we will be located will be given to volunteers who sign up through the event sign up page, Here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4aabac22a4fc1-gift2 Please DO NOT JUST SHOW UP without signing up!
Thank you! We look forward to working with you!
