FULFILLING CREW SERVICE COMMITMENTS:

For Oakton Crew to thrive, we need all families and teammates to meet certain obligations for financial and operational support.  Each family is responsible for fulfilling their required number of Crew Service shifts to keep our team moving like a well-oiled (and well-fed) machine.  Volunteer opportunities are announced and tracked via SignUp Genius forms, and vacancies are posted weekly in the Catch.  Service options are quite varied, and finding opportunities that suit your skills, interests, and schedule should not be difficult.

Crew Service shifts fall into the following categories, and during registration families are asked to select a few areas where they are most willing and able to help out.  Please note that all families are required participate in general fundraising activities, as well as to provide food donations to the Hospitality team for pasta parties and regatta tents.  Your service requirements are in addition to those basic responsibilities.

FUNDRAISING

Fundraising is a requirement for all of our Crew families, and the Fundraising team keeps Crew viable by coordinating campaigns such as Emailing/Letter-Writing, Tag Days, Spirit Packages, and reaching out to community donors for corporate support.

Without the Fundraising team to organize our efforts, Oakton Crew would not be able to field successful women's and men's teams, as our budget requirements for excellent coaching and quality long-term equipment would fall short.  

Oakton Crew receives no funding from OHS or FCPS, and is 100% financially supported by dues from OCCBC members, donations from families and friends, and additional support from community and corporate donors.  OCCBC is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and all donations are fully tax-deductible.  For more information about volunteering please contact fundraising@oaktoncrew.com.

HOSPITALITY

All Crew families are asked to make donations of healthy foods and salads for team events as part of their commitment to the team.  Hospitality volunteers organize these efforts and keep our athletes fueled the night before regattas by coordinating Friday Night Team Pasta Dinners, and also sustain the team on race days by staffing, maintaining, and restocking the hospitality tent with the supplies donated by Crew families.   

Service options for the Hospitality team include preparation of pasta, meatballs, or other foods as designated by the Hospitality VP, and Hospitality team members may also be asked to assist with dinner set-up and clean-up.  Supplies are provided by OCCBC.  In addition to pasta dinners and regatta day assistance, volunteer options also include team and alumni picnics.  Questions? Contact hospitality@oaktoncrew.com.

OPERATIONS

If your entire week feels like a case of the Mondays, then the Operations team is your chance to break out of that office, get some exercise, and do some work outside.

Service options for the Operations team are generally at Sandy Run or in the OHS erg shed, and cover everything related to maintenance of shells (boats), launches, outboard motors, oars, docks, gas cans, nuts & bolts, ergs, and every job that goes with keeping our team fully equipped with the best-maintained fleet at Sandy Run.

Sign up for Operations if you don't mind getting dirty, have an old pair of work pants, and are willing and able to use some elbow grease to keep our rowers afloat and fast. In contrast to serving a VASRA workday shift, a Crew shift focuses on repair and maintenance of Oakton equipment only.  For more information or to inquire about specific tasks and assignments, email operations@oaktoncrew.com.

volunteer coordinators & vasra rep

Many hands make light work, and Crew runs entirely on the support of our families meeting their service commitments — without those many hands, the team cannot function effectively.  Assistants to our Volunteer VP help keep families aware of our service needs, by drafting announcements for our communications platforms such as the Catch and Twitter, and then follow up to make sure those service positions are filled.  Volunteer coordinators work across all other Service categories to ensure the volunteer needs for each role are met, and each month we need many tasks covered to fully support our team.

Oakton Crew is also responsible for meeting our VASRA requirements, to help with the massive effort needed to coordinate local regattas.  In addition to filling our spots on work days and race days, Oakton needs a team representative at VASRA monthly meetings, held at the Vienna Fire Station on South Center Street. If you would like to help coordinate our volunteer efforts, please contact volunteers@oaktoncrew.com. 

LOGISTICS

The Logistics team manages all of the details for getting our athletes safely where they need to be, including arranging buses and parent chaperones for transport to and from Sandy Run during on-the-water training in the spring.  Logistics assists with getting parking details and other information out to parents on local regatta days, and works with coaches to get race-day details out to the team.  Logistics also coordinates lodging and transportation details for travel regattas such as the Stotesbury Cup in Philadelphia and SRAAs (Nationals).

Knowledge of Excel spreadsheets is helpful for Logistics assistance, but not required.  If you are organized and are good at following up on lists of to-dos, we need your skills for our Logistics team.  Need more information?  Email logistics@oaktoncrew.com.

Communications/PUBLIC RELATIONS/SOCIAL MEDIA/PHOTOGRAPHY

The Communications team is responsible for sending out the Catch and other Crew email announcements, maintaining our social media presence through Twitter & Instagram, and coordinating Oakton Crew's outreach to the community through press releases and submissions to local newspapers.  Communications also works with Technology to keep our website running and up-to-date.

If you like to write or edit, or have a background or interest in media & public relations, please consider sharing your talents with the Communications team.  For more details please contact communications@oaktoncrew.com.   

A FEW OF OUR BOARD ROLES WOULD BENEFIT FROM ONE OR TWO ASSISTANTS DURING THE YEAR — please reach out if you have an interest in filling one of these positions:

HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT AND DON'T SEE WHERE IT FITS INTO ONE OF OUR EXISTING CATEGORIES? PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO: volunteers@oaktoncrew.com, and we'll find a place for you!