Volunteering
Read the Volunteering thread on the discussion forum

    Volunteering is where the rubber hits the road, the wheat is separated from the chaff, the talk turns to walk. So, it's not for every body. But if you get that butterfly thing in the belly from knowing you made it happen, it just might be for you.

    Four Quarters knows a thing or two about volunteering, which is really a commitment of service to your sisters and brothers, cause 13 years ago Four Quarters was one abandoned farm house and 180 acres of raw land. Commitments of service from their Members have built everything else. And that's what's building Wicker Man!

    Four Quarters has live in staff, and they will be a part of Wicker Man, because we took the car keys and there's nowhere to hide! They will be available to help newbies to the world of staffing events, will size your special volunteer tee-shirt that has the bulls-eye on the back, and will offer themselves as fonts of wisdom, should you be thirsty (Probably best to ignore them completely).

    That said, we have a few major areas where your excellent human cluefullness skills, insightful situational awareness, sparkling personality and awesome creative abilities can be put to good use:
      * Greeters and Registration
      * Rangers
      * Build and Burn Team

Greeters and Registration

     Greeters are the first face of Wicker Man, the first "official" that anyone meets. Infectious, outrageous, informative; ready to answer questions that have not been asked and question answers that ask not. Taker carer of pre-reg paperwork too. As a Greeter you will have an open invitation to make your volunteer work both play and performance theater.

     It would be good to have a clue of course, because first time attendees are likely to have a lot of questions, some of which will require real answers. The degree to which you can sort fact from friction will have a lot to do with how smooth the attendees setup and first experience will be. So Greeters are ambassadors, help desk, performance art, psychotherapists and ushers; all rolled into one. If you like to perform, like people, disseminate info crisply when required, and can think on your feet; consider being a greeter.

     As for registration, this is the grunt work of handling computer systems, money and lots and lots of paper, under the tender tutelage of Weird Mike, the office guy. It is traditional that registration staff accept bribes, so there are benefits to slaving away over a hot keyboard, not the least of which is endless gaming on our workstations during slack times. If you like people, but like computers better, are slightly anal retentive and can count to five, consider registration.

Rangers

     Ah, the few, the proud, the insane. That would be the The Prone Rangers! Who are those un-masked minions with the leaf rakes?
     Ranging is not for the faint of heart because it is all about people. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. Rangers are the folks on the spot when chaos rules, when the SHTF, when the hard question meets the harder answer. When the lost are found and the MOOP materializes in front of a welcoming and open tent flap. Yes, Ranging requires a broad skill set.    For more on MOOP see Ethics and Policy.
     The mission of the Ranger is to help people whenever required, spot cluelessness just before it emerges from it's vortex, and wage never ending war on MOOP, escorting MOOP to the nearest container; be that tent, car door or trash bag.
     The staff of office for the Wicker Man Rangers is the leaf rake, to which they attach their totems and battle ribbons. This all important tool serves many functions, first and foremost as a portable antennae for receiving answers from the Mother Ship to bad questions. Secondly, for gathering together bad-vibe ju-ju for disposal in our karmic landfill. And lastly, and prosaically, for sweeping MOOP into available storage vessels, as outlined above.
     The single most important qualification for Rangerdom is a deep and abiding love of people, even if that is made difficult. The ability the think on your feet and understanding the value of humor will help a lot. Working with Four Quarters staff to understand the inner workings of the site and taking pleasure in long strolls through it. Wanting to find solutions for problems is a big plus, we are not the cops here you know. Sound like a fun challenge? It is, consider the Rangers.

Build It and Burn It

     Ah, the joys of hard work, the smell of saw dust, hanging from a joist 30 feet in the air... and then to burn that sucker to the ground. Build it and burn it. If you are a hands on gal, and guys too, we really, really want you to get involved in building and burning. Frankly, if you are all thumbs but want to learn, we have a place for you too.
      We have a lot of heavy equipment and tools, plenty of wood and timber from the site and a plan. Maybe two plans, depending. We will begin building the Wicker Man the weekend of Saturday, May the 10th. The following weekend is setup weekend, and we hope to have the full structure in place by Sunday the 18th. The weekend of the Burn we will finish with his decoration and the final technical details. That's the time line. If you can be here for both prep weekends that would be great. But the setup weekend it when we will be under pressure, your being here then will really make a difference for The Wicker Man.
     What kind of work is involved? Tractor schlepping of big logs, chainsaws and hoists. Lots of basic carpentry and the high wire act of getting it in place. Moving of large stacks of firewood. Metal fabrication for articulated arms, welding, cutting and the like. Electrical and sound perhaps, we have a few surprises. Plumbing of propane lines and perhaps fabrication of propane controls. Pyrotechnic setup, fabrication and wiring of mortar launch tubes with their associated controls. Lots of nailing and stapling of fabric and green bough decorations; the creation of the Temple. Of course you are needed!

Burning the Man? It seems to us that the folks who build the Wicker Man are responsible for designing him to burn safely, and that includes safety on the night of the burn. So the build team is the burn team. They will be responsible for water line setup, perimeter control and the maintenance of cluefull behavior during the burn. Best of all, they get to throw the switch!


Stuff we haven't figured out yet

     And there is a lot of that. Fire Tenders in the Fire Circle. Parking Nazis, Toilet Paper Patrol. We invent this stuff as we go along, but chances are that you will do a better job of the inventing. So if you think you know something that you can do, that we have overlooked, invent your staff position.


Read the Details section for more info on taking the Red Pill.


Read the Volunteering thread on the discussion forum