A warm welcome at the door, a friendly smile at the Lakewood Café, and a pleasant usher to help you find your seat; priceless amenities when you visit the Reif Center! We are lucky to have a fabulous facility, but our volunteers make it more than just a building. These often uncelebrated individuals offer up their time, effort and energy for free, and we couldn’t operate without them!
“It is our Reif volunteers that transform what would be an average smalltown experience into a memorable, world class one for our patrons. All elements of their visit to The Reif, from a friendly greeting, tickets, seating, cleanliness of the venue, the cafe, gift shop, merchandise, to the time they leave, are all made better due to the selfless generosity of our volunteers.” -Amy Savela, Patron Services Manager
With a full-time staff of only eight, volunteers fill the gap and enhance your visit at the Reif Center, both visibly and behind the scenes. They do much more than take a ticket and show you to your seats! You don’t see them cleaning the auditorium before and after each performance, helping an artist set up their merchandise table, or make sure the coffee and hot chocolate are ready at intermission. And, when there is some hot chocolate left after intermission, they will often bring it to the tech crew!
Volunteers operate our gift shop, help decorate the lobby for Christmas, and run errands for artists. If you get a mailing from the Reif Center about an upcoming performance, a volunteer has likely assisted with the project at some point. If you see our kiosks at the college, arena, mall, or YMCA, a volunteer has updated it! There is even more help needed when we bring a performance to the Yanmar Arena or a local lake for a boat in concert, and our volunteers rise to the challenge! At the arena they help set up chairs, sell a more extensive selection of food and help empty the trash cans at the end of the night. If you like Rock ‘n’ Roll, we still need volunteers for Hairball on May 16th. Help the Reif Center and listen to some great music!
You would think our boat-ins wouldn’t need any volunteers, there are no tickets, no seats and no concessions! But we do like to send a canoe or kayak around with a fish net to collect donations, and usually one of our volunteers will take that gig!
So why help? There are perks to being a volunteer at the Reif! The most obvious one is earning tickets to shows. You can volunteer for performances you are not interested in and get tickets to the shows you do want to see, or share them with friends and family. You may get to see a bit of sound check or help your favorite artist sell merchandise. But, when we surveyed our volunteers and asked them what the best part of volunteering was, their answer was overwhelmingly….you, the audience!
Interacting with our patrons is our volunteer’s favorite activity. David Marty used to call the Reif Center “Grand Rapids’ front porch,” and it’s very true. You will catch up with old friends and meet people who are new to the community. Our volunteers are good will ambassadors for the Reif Center, both when they are here, or out in the community.
Do you have an artistic talent? You can help paint sets for a Theater Arts production! Are you interested in lights? Sometimes we need volunteer spot light operators! Maybe you want to serve on our board, all volunteers!
Young or gracefully aging, there are many ways your time and experience will make a difference! But, be warned, once you start volunteering it can be very hard to leave!
For details on volunteer opportunities, email boxoffice@reifcenter.org or call 218-327-5780.
