Phoenix Pride Parade - De-Staging Lead

 Amazing that it's already March! Time certainly does fly. So just a quick update on the past few months about me joining the Phoenix Pride Parade Committee as De-Staging Lead.


Although I have been participating with the Phoenix Pride as a Volunteer for the past several years, this year, (really the end of 2012) I was given the opportunity to take over the De-Staging Lead/Manager position from the previous De-Staging Lead who took over the Route Manager position. Thanks Robin!

So since December I've attended the monthly Parade Meetings to help with the planning. My biggest pieces of this as you would guess from the "De-Staging" name is recruiting and organizing volunteers for the end of the parade. On the day of the parade this will be crucial, as my team will need to make sure we direct and organize the flow of traffic from the Parade Route into the De-Staging area, making the parade move smoothly at the end.

I'm lucky in the fact that I get to coordinate this also with my employer's Diversity and Volunteer Councils which I am also a member of each. With the Diversity Council I help promote diversity at my workplace with events and informational that tie into my employers commitment to diversity. With the Volunteer Council I help plan and coordinate at least two events in the year, participate in as many other volunteer events as possible, in addition to being the person in charge of our internal social interactions within my employers internal social platforms that vary from wiki, pages, socialcast, etc. Because of this, I have so far a good amount of volunteers.

Now all of the managers and directors also have the task of reaching out to businesses and ask for donations for the Swag Bags.The parade will have 4 announcers and 5 judges that each receive a Swag Bag with items from various businesses.

That's has been my biggest challenge so far, therefore if you know of a business or you are a business and would like to donate items or certificates/gift cards please let me know. Phoenix Pride is a 501(c)(3) organization therefore if needed a donation form/letter can be provided for tax purposes.


Here's more info on the Phoenix Pride Parade and Festival:

The Pride Parade kicks off at 10 am on April 6, 2013 immediately followed by the two-day Festival that is from Noon to 9pm.

If you would like to volunteer with the Parade and/or Festival click here.

Learn more about Phoenix Pride:  http://phoenixpride.org/