M ā la’ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School
Volunteer Guidelines
Mala’ai, The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School cultivates the relationship between students and the land through growing and sharing nourishing food in our outdoor living classroom. Our work reaches beyond the boundaries of our garden connecting land stewardship, culture, health and pleasure with lifelong learning.
This page is for you to keep for reference.
Welcome. We greatly appreciate your interest in becoming a volunteer with M ā la’ai. Our primary focus and commitment is to create engaging and healthy learning experiences for our students. Volunteers play a vital role in our garden. Our goal is for volunteers to find their time at Mala’ai to be deeply rewarding. Most importantly, volunteering demonstrates to students the caring and commitment of the larger community.
All regular volunteers must do an orientation, garden tour and a volunteer application and screening for
Mala’ai and the Department of Education (DOE) before working with students in the garden.
Ways to Volunteer:
Gardening and Special Project Volunteers These volunteers are mostly self-directed, working on specific areas in the garden or doing special projects on their own (designing, building, etc.). Gardening volunteers work to help maintain the garden itself. Mala’ai provides tools and gloves for volunteers, but if you have favorites of your own, please bring them with you.
If you have a specific skill set or interest please let us know.
Scheduling: Please let the Garden Manager know when to expect you, and if there are specific things you would like to work on. During your orientation to the garden, you may want to choose what project you would like to start working on and discuss it.
Class-time Volunteers work in the garden alongside students and teachers and M ā la’ai staff, sometimes supervising a small groupof students on their own. (We aim to have volunteers to work with every class.)
Scheduling: You will be scheduled to work in garden during schooldays with students. Class-time
Volunteers generally work in the garden with the same class or classes each week for a semester.
Committing to one day a week at a regular time sworks best with our volunteers’ schedule. This consistency allows us to rely on your help and is also most rewarding for the students, since it allows them to build relationships with adults. Please let us know days and times that work well for you. We rely on our vlunteers, if you cannot come for your regular class please let us know in advance. The Garden Manager will call you if there is a change in the schedule due to weather or school activities.
For your first visit during classtime you will join the class and shadow veteran volunteer or M ā la ʻ ai staff for the day’s activities.
Docents help lead garden tours and show visitors around. Docents will need to have enough knowledge about our programs and history to be able to speak to the different interests of visitors. We encourage
Board Members and experienced volunteers to consider being docents. If you are interested in helping to host some of our many visitors, please let us know.
Scheduling: This will be scheduled on a “by need’ basis.
Contact: Garden Manager, Holly Sargaent Green: 987-0092
Program Director, Amanda Rieux: 640-3637
Executive Director, Alethea Lai: 989-7861
Waimea Middle School office: 887-6090
M ā la’ai Core Values:
Generosity of Spirit, Integrity, Sustainability, Beauty, Harmony, Connectedness, Appreciation, Respect and
Pa’ahana (hard,industrious work)
Mala’ai Volunteer Guidelines 4/17/20
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M ā la’ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School
Volunteer Guidelines
Conduct:
Garden Agreements
I WILL BE: Safe, Kind & Respectful, Use my time well, Have an open mind, Be my Best Self
These agreements are the basis of our behavior and attitudes in the garden. We ask all people in the garden, students, faculty, staff and volunteers to understand and be guided by them.
As a volunteer you are serving as a mentor to the students. It is of utmost importance that dress, attitude, language and actions reflect respect and integrity, to the people and the place.
Please refrain from using cellphones during classstime. We all love to use our phones, but it is disruptive and sets a poor example for our students.
Interviews, photographing students, videotaping, and special projects require permission from the
Garden Teacher and the school. This is a matter of both respect and legality.
Please check with us before bringing friends and family to see the garden during a school day. We are happy to have you share about our work, but want to be sure not to disrupt class.
What to wear: You will be working with Middle School Students. Please wear clothing that is appropriate to the middle school environment. School dress code dictates: no short shorts or skirts, no spaghetti strap tank tops and midriffs and cleavage should be covered. Waimea weather changes quickly - and is sometimes cold. We recommend layering and bringing a change of clothes - expect to get dirty. Bring a jacket or sweater. As you will be gardening, you may want to wear close toed shoes. You may also want to bring a hat, sunscreen, drinking water and healthy snacks.
Arrival:
All volunteers check in at the school office or once you have been given a school ID, sign in to the garden Visitor Log.
Class-Time volunteers arrive in the garden 15 minutes before class.
Sign in
Check in with the Garden Teacher or Assistant to review the lesson/focus for the class and to determine your garden job for the day (working with a small group of students).
Walk through the garden to see what is happening there.
A Day in the Garden for Students ( please see Garden Class handout)
Chant, 2 minutes of silence, Observations, Opening Circle/mini-lesson, Intro to jobs, Choose jobs, Get tools, Garden work, Clean up, Final Circle, Snack
After Class
Help clean up at end of class. All tools, materials, gloves cleaned & put away.
Please check hoses are all turned off- especially in compost yard
Help tidy Tent and Cooking Area
No knives out! Please check and tidy kitchen area if you have worked there.
We are grateful for your interest in becoming a volunteer for M ā la’ai. Please fill out the information on the following page and return it to the Garden Manager.
M ā la’ai Core Values:
Generosity of Spirit, Integrity, Sustainability, Beauty, Harmony, Connectedness, Appreciation, Respect and
Pa’ahana (hard,industrious work)
Mala’ai Volunteer Guidelines 4/17/20
2
M ā la’ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School
Volunteer Guidelines
Mala’ai, The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School cultivates the relationship between students and the land through growing and sharing nourishing food in our outdoor living classroom. Our work reaches beyond the boundaries of our garden connecting land stewardship, culture, health and pleasure with lifelong learning.
I have read the Mala’ai Volunteer Guidelines. I understand and agree to them.
Signature:
Name:
Date:
Phone #s:
Email address:
Mail address:
Birthday:
Emergency contact:
Health Insurance Information:
Please let us know if you have any health conditions we should be aware of.
Please fill out the information above and return to Garden Manager.
Mahalo for your interest and support. We look forward to working with you in the garden!
M ā la’ai Core Values:
Generosity of Spirit, Integrity, Sustainability, Beauty, Harmony, Connectedness, Appreciation, Respect and
Pa’ahana (hard,industrious work)
Mala’ai Volunteer Guidelines 4/17/20
3