Plant Sale Volunteer

We need help from more than 1,000 people to help run the plant sale! We have 1400 shifts we need to fill. Volunteers for these shifts sign up to cover a specific job for approximately 4 hours. There are plenty of shifts open and we need your help!

How To Sign Up

Click here to sign up to volunteer.

General questions about the plant sale or volunteer shifts, email Steve at stevem@fsmn.org

We will also put a computer in the front lobby of the school so you can sign up that way too.

Cashier Shifts

There are all sorts of jobs and shifts to sign up for, but we always need parents, grandparents, and alums to sign up for cashier shifts.
To sign up for a cashier shift, you’ll need to enter the password: “cashier” into the online sign-up system. 

Key Roles – You Can Help

Right now, we are looking to recruit people to fill key roles to help coordinate the plant sale. People in key roles generally do the following (but it varies by area). They

  • help coordinate that area and usually manage and/or train people who volunteer on specific shifts.
  • do NOT need to fill regular shifts themselves, except as a manager of other volunteers.
  • meet at least once with the full plant sale committee or a few people from the committee to plan and coordinate.
  • are welcome to participate in the full committee meeting more often (routinely or even just a few meetings when convenient). The full committee creates the “collective brain” of the sale. Attending the full committee meetings gives volunteers a fuller sense of what goes into running the sale.

To be really clear, we are not asking you to recreate the wheel. In most cases a new key role person will join a handful of other key volunteers who have years of experience coordinating that specific area of the sale. In every case, new key role volunteers will have the support and guidance of the people on the plant sale committee. 

We need people to serve in key roles in each of the following areas:

Vaccination Check Station: 2-3 people to share coordination of our COVID vaccination screening process. This is a new role. We are requiring all volunteers and customers to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test result at this year’s sale. Coordinators will work with volunteers to greet each customer and check their proof of vaccination or covid test results, along with photo ID. Volunteers will work outdoors under a large tent. We need coordinators to cover all sale hours.

Greeters (morning shifts): Coordinate teams of greeters who work at the entrance to the sale.  Welcome customers to the sale, help maintain social distancing and mask-wearing, verify handstamp and wristband status as shoppers enter the sale. Standing is required throughout the shift. Volunteers will work outdoors at the entrance to the sale. We need one or two coordinators to share this responsibility with alum parent Lydia Maza. In particular, we are looking for coordinators to cover the morning hours of the sale on Friday and Saturday.

Plant Labeling: Coordinate one shift of 16 volunteers. Volunteers will be placing plant label sticks one per plant in flats as directed. Standing, lifting, and walking throughout the shift. Ideally, these volunteers are detail oriented. Able to lift 20 pounds. This work usually takes place inside the Grandstand. The one shift this year is scheduled for Thursday 8am – noon.

Tidying: 

  • Coordinate teams of volunteers as they consolidate partial flats of plants into fewer flats. 
  • Raise plants from lower or upper shelves to the middle shelf as needed.
  • Locate stray plants and bring to the information desk. 
  • Reshelve stray plants. 
  • Make sure sections are generally cleaned up and organized. 
  • Ability to lift 15 pounds; lifting and bending. 
  • Note: This is an active role (volunteers are on their feet for the entire shift) which takes place inside and outside the Grandstand.  We have tidyers scheduled to work 9 different shifts over Th, F, Sat, and Sun.  We are looking for one or two coordinators to share this responsibility with alum parent Christina Boyd-Smith. 

Watering Coordinator/Trainer: 
One or two people to train and coordinate the volunteers signed up for watering. All of those thousands of plants need water! Use of the watering carts requires training and some supervision. Volunteers working while the sale is open need to work around customers. Must be physically present Wednesday through Saturday (before, during, and after sale hours). We’re looking for one or two people to share the coordination of this role with alum parent Kath Ouska – in particular, Kath would love to have someone cover the morning shifts.

Zero Waste: 
1 person who is passionate about making the plant sale a zero-waste event.  This coordinator will work with volunteers stationed around the Garden Fair and a few other locations.  Each of these volunteers will be stationed near a cluster of waste and recycling containers. We need coverage for 4 shifts on Friday and Saturday.

Plant Sale: Newspaper Bag Donations

We Need Thousands of ‘Em

Every year we sell bulbs as part of the plant sale. We receive all of our bulbs in bulk and then our volunteers divide these up and bag them using your donated newspaper bags (Newspaper bags only please – we can’t use plastic grocery or other bags).

There is a basket in the front entrance of the school where you can drop your newspaper bags.  

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