Too broke to see that show? Volunteer

PORTLAND, Ore. - “Get your popcorn here!” Robby Smith says over the din of moviegoers filing in to see “Gran Torino” recently at Portland's Hollywood Theatre.

He started volunteering as a concession worker there a year and a half ago, serving snacks and drinks for three hours in exchange for a $6.50 movie ticket he can use or give to friends. Plus, there’s unlimited popcorn and coffee for him anytime he’s on the job.
 
“Just from working here, I save a heck of a lot on personal entertainment costs plus I meet so many others who have an appreciation for unique films,” Smith said. “I’m sure I save $20 to $30 a month, which adds up. And my friends save money too.”

The Hollywood Theatre isn’t the only venue giving back to volunteers. Organizations ranging from AmeriCorps to the Oregon Zoo rely on volunteers to save labor costs and make ends meet, while also giving back to those who make that happen. Locals can earn everything from nights on the town, trips out of town or tickets to events and attractions around town — all for donating a few hours of time.

“The real payback for volunteers in a downed economy is an opportunity to keep busy and expand their networks while they’re looking for work,” said Andy Nelson, executive director for Hands on Greater Portland, where Smith got his start volunteering in Portland.

His organization is coordinating “Dive into the Arts” volunteer opportunities from now until the end of May.

“We have a record number of people coming out to serve this year, an indication that volunteering is at an all-time high here in Portland.”

That’s the ticket

At Portland Center Stage’s Gerding Theater, house manager Robyn Hodges brings in 56 to 88 ushers a week to assist with seating and clean up of its live theatrical shows, from “Rag Time” this fall to “A Christmas Carol” in December.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time our ushers are able to view the performance the night they work/usher,” Hodges said.

Other volunteers keep things humming back stage, cooking for the cast party the Friday before the show opens, transporting actors and anyone coming in for a performance to and from the airport and working as bartenders or cloak room clerks.

“Those that don’t see the show while they’re working get invited to the dress rehearsal,” Hodges said. “If for some reason they can’t make it, we invite them back to see the show on another night.”

All are rewarded with “a wonderful big feast with cast, crew, directors and anyone involved in the product,” Hodges said. “It’s a good way to see behind the scenes with the actors and share in amazing homemade entrées, salads, pies, cakes.”

 With 760 volunteers each show season, Hodges is building up a standby list to start working this September with “Rag Time.”
 
This work-for-tickets offer is common among Portland’s live theatre venues. Portlander Connie Guist volunteers for five: Portland Center Stage, the Portland Center for Performing Arts, Artist Repertory Theater, the Northwest Film Center, and recently BodyVox, a dance company in Northwest Portland.

“I started volunteering in theatres as a graduate student, when I didn’t have any money,” said Guist, now 20 years into ushering for theatre productions. “I got a great break from studies and was able to see theatre for free. Plus, two years ago, I learned that as a volunteer I can get deductions on my income tax for miles and parking.”

Every little bit helps in a tough economy.
 
Venues like the Northwest Film Center, which includes the Portland International Film Festival, offer VIP perks like 20 first-run films, mingling with directors and producers of the movies and behind-the-scenes lectures about how the movies were made. Volunteers get a ticket for a future film for every one they work.
 
“Seeing the performances, and following the actors has been rewarding to me,” said Jeanne Devon, an early retiree who’s been volunteering for the Portland Center for the Performing Arts for 22 years. “Plus there are gala events for theaters, where we interact with people in town who care about the arts. Since volunteers work the event — checking coats, giving out gift bags, setting up or tearing down — we get in for free.”

For those watching their bottom line, “I highly recommend it,” Devon said.

Coming up roses

Eleven times a week, from May through June, the coordinator at the Rose Festival’s float-making barn pulls out a box of raffle tickets — one for every float-making volunteer working each four-hour shift. Winners get “little things that are nice rewards,” said coordinator Kendra Comerford, on staff at Portland float design firm Studio Concepts. Items range from hats, T-shirts and coffee cups to vouchers for airline tickets, all donated by festival sponsors.

Take Loren Marberry, a retired member of the Country Capers Square Dance Club, who for the past 19 years has gathered in the float barn to pull together each year’s club parade entry.

“I’ve won several raffle items over the years: T-shirts and hats and dishware and, my favorite, matching rubber band sling shot rockets to play with my granddaughter. Sounds silly, but my granddaughter loves ‘em,” Marberry said. “…The raffle’s a lot of fun; everybody likes the chance of winning.”

The Rose Festival uses hundreds of volunteers each year to pull together its April through June events.

“Some get cool event-dated T-shirts like the ‘One More Time’ band, or cool hats like the [Royal Rosarians wear], and some get sweaters and ride bracelets for the Waterfront Village,” said Richard Jarvis, public relations manager for the Portland Rose Festival Foundation. Those not granted swag are granted access to the events where they volunteer.

Meanwhile, one volunteer group each year works the Rose Festival merchandise booth at Waterfront Village.

“For ‘volunteering’ they get a flat fee and 2 percent of the sales toward their charity operation,” Jarvis said. “So they are working for their group more than themselves, but it is a good tradeoff.”

Will work for food

“It’s the little luxuries that count,” said Hollywood Cleanup Co-Coordinator Kim Cottrell, one of a dozen volunteers who trade two Saturday-morning hours of picking up trash or weeding in Northeast Portland’s Hollywood district for a large gourmet coffee to start the morning and a scoop of Baskin Robbins ice cream to end it.

“Sure, I could get that on my own, but it feels so much better to clean up the areas where I would frequent anyhow … and help the budget in the process.”

The next Hollywood Cleanup is June 13.
 
Around the corner at the Hollywood Theatre, along with free popcorn and coffee throughout a volunteer’s shift, “at least three times a year we try to throw a volunteer party, with free food and prizes,” said Justen Harn, the theatre's community outreach coordinator.

On May 9, any of the theatre’s 200 volunteers who worked at least three hours over the past three months were treated to pizza and beer donated from Laurelwood pub and a private screening of “The Money Fix,” a documentary that premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The director of the film stopped in to field questions.
 
“The folks that come out to volunteer at the theatre really understand the value of what we’re trying to do, and complement that,” Harn said. “But there are those that are extremely, extremely happy - with the economy the way it is - to have access to the movies that we show and a great night out on the town.”