Hello, I'm Deanna Springer live at the Great Wisconsin Quilt
Show with insights to this year's event. I am in the
volunteer lounge and I am joined by Mike McKinsey, volunteer
manager for PBS Wisconsin. Welcome, Mike.
>> Thank you. Deanna The volunteers here at the Great
Wisconsin Quilt Show truly form the heart of this event. Year
after year. They support the mission of this show. Each year,
500 volunteers come down and help fill about 950 volunteer
shifts, over the last 20 years, we've had 2500 volunteers
volunteer from 16 states and 72 countries, 72 counties. Oh my
gosh, sorry about that. Yeah. So we've had, we've had a great
turnout this year. We're, yeah, we have a lot of repeat, repeat.
>> volunteers that come back each year and captain roles and
things like that. >> Yeah. Each year we have about
50 to 100 brand new first time volunteers. So that leaves about
400 that come back year after year. We've had we have close to
20 volunteers that have done, I think every single year.
>> And what are some of those volunteer positions you're
looking for? For the great Wisconsin Quilt Show?
>> We've got everything. If you like to be in front of the show,
dealing with our guests, coming in and greeting them with a
smile and giving them an event guide, we've got greeter
positions. If you like something a little bit more chill where
you can, people watch. We've got hand stampers, ticket sales,
raffle sales, if you want to handle the quilts, you can be a
quilt exhibit attendant and wear those white gloves. And with
those white gloves comes a lot of power. You get. You are the
only, folks in the building that are allowed to touch the quilts
with those white cotton gloves. So, education ticket takers,
room attendants? >> Yes. The workshop assistants.
>> The lecture assistants, we, those are some of our most
popular volunteer jobs. But we. >> Because you're in the room,
you're observing, and then you're taking in the lecture
while you're also, you know, volunteering to monitor the
room. year, those volunteer positions
open up in early July. So if you want to get started, we would
love to have you come down and you just go to quilt show.com
and click on volunteer. >> And we also have volunteers
in the Quilt To Give area in the atrium surrounding the education
rooms. We do a project each year called Quilt To Give, and we're
sewing bed quilts for individuals and families in
need, and volunteers get to help cut and sew and stitch those
quilts as well. >> Absolutely. Some beautiful
machines over there and a fantastic captain that if you're
if you're not sure about the machine, they'll get you started
and you get to try out. And those machines and work on the
quilts, it's a lot of fun. It's one again, one of our most
popular volunteer jobs. >> Right. And what kind of hours
are you asking for volunteers to help.
volunteer shifts are about 3.5 hours long. So if you come in
and volunteer in the morning for your shift, you can then take in
the show the rest of the rest of the afternoon. Or if you want to
come volunteer in the afternoon, come early, use your volunteer
ticket and your volunteer and take in the show.
>> And volunteers are the only people that receive free parking
to the event. >> Yes, free parking, free entry
on the day you volunteer, you get some great snacks up here in
the volunteer lounge. And, it's a lot of fun. We'd love to have
you. Mike, for all you do for the
Great Wisconsin Quilt Show. Thank you, Deanna for everything
you do for PBS Wisconsin. Thank you. How many years have you
been working in the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show?
>> This is my eighth eighth year.
>> Congratulations. Well, as you know, we're celebrating 20
years, so we appreciate you and everything you do. And you're
always looking for volunteers all year long for other PBS
Wisconsin events. >> Absolutely. Yep.
contact with you throughout the year?
us here at the station would be volunteer at PBS wisconsin.org.
You can email us or you can give us a call at (608) 265-4436.
We'd love to hear from you. >> Perfect. Well thank you Mike.
It was so nice spending time with you today. And it's only
day two of the event. So we have another full day and a half to
go. >> Looking forward to it. It's
been a great show and thank you to all our volunteers, our
volunteer captains. Special education captain Alan
Hackbarth, our quilt attendant. Captain, just, been with us
since the beginning. >> In all 20 years they've been
with us, volunteering as captain. Cheryl and Alan.
>> Yep. All 20 years. Amazing, amazing.
>> So thank you for joining me, Mike. And thank you everyone for
tuning in and to learn more about this year's event and next
year's event, head over to Quilt Show.com.