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Volunteer day

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Microsoft is teaming up with the city of Seattle to help with vaccinations across the city and gave employees first dibs at volunteering at the newest vaccination site at Lumen Field. I was able to sign up for a volunteer shift on the 3rd day of the event and it was pretty neat to see everything in action. The site is massive - it can supposedly administer up to 22,000 vaccines in a day. That volume is entirely dependent on vaccine availability though and when I volunteered, it only administered just over 2,000 shots. Still, it was impressive to see the scale and to see how well run it was. We chatted with one of the organizers and she said that she and about 5 others were called up in Feb to get this going in about 6 weeks. Pretty cool!

My shift was from 1:45 until closing time at 6:15. I selected "wayfinding" and got stationed at the handicap entrance to be a greeter. My job was to direct people to the right line (there was only 1 very well marked and roped off line so not hard to do), see if they needed wheelchair assistance (if yes, grab a volunteer wheelchair assistant), and count the number of people who came in on a clicker. Because it was the handicap entrance, it was not at all busy - I counted about 45 people coming in my entire shift! There was a lot of waiting around and chatting with other fellow volunteers, which, coincidentally included a former colleague who happen to be there too. It was nice to catch up with him.

It was very rewarding to be part of the event even though my contribution was miniscule. The next best part is that I now qualify to get a vaccine and I'm scheduled for my shot on Saturday! I'd actually love to do more shifts but apparently, word has spread that it's a very neat experience to be a part of and all of the volunteer spots for the next few weeks are already taken up. They even sent out an email to employees asking for those who have already volunteered to let others have a chance. 

Anyway, I'm so relieved to see a light at the end of the tunnel after this long long long year!   



This was at the end of the day after they had closed a few lines. In the background is where ou get the shot, in the foreground is the observation zone.

 

Comments

  1. WMarch 29, 2021 at 5:04 PM

    So weird! I posted a comment previously but it didn't show up! Anyway -- so cool that you got to be a part of this. It's a great thing to do. Plus, you're a part of history! And of course -- YAY you get the vaccine now too!

    ReplyDelete

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