Blake Island Volunteer Information

We will board at a prearranged place and time depending on tides and skipper of the boat that you are going on (VOLUNTEERS  SHOULD BE THERE EARLY TO PREPARE FOR OUR PARTICIPANTS ARRIVAL). The usual departure and arrival point is Elliot Bay Marina, 2601 West Marina Place, Seattle, WA, 98199 . We will be assigned which dock will be used for boarding by the marina manager. Watch for an email or phone call for which dock we will be assigned to. If your car will be parked in guest parking for two nights, you will need to go to the marina office to get a pass for two nights to put in your window when you get there, so that it will not be towed. They are doing us a favor to let us load and park there, so please be considerate of their needs. Once you’ve obtained your pass and unloaded, please park in guest parking as far away from the docks as possible.

Please arrange your own transportation to and from the event. Your transportation from Elliot Bay Marina to home on Tuesday should be available to you at a prearranged time again depending on tides and skipper of the boat that you are on. There should be ample time to load the boats on Blake, make the trip to Elliot Bay and unload the boats.

Volunteers are responsible for their own lunch Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and their own breakfast on Monday.

1.  When you arrive at the Elliot Bay Marina, please locate our Footloose dock master – coordinator for Blake Island and you will be told with what needs to be done. Volunteers will transport the gear to the boats, load the boats, and help load the people.  We have people assemble their gear in piles. Each person should have a daypack handy with food and water for the sail over and back. Everything else should go below. Once the boats are loaded with gear and skippers are ready for the Footloose sailors board, volunteers will be needed to help fit people for life jackets and escort people to the docks. REMEMBER FOOTLOOSE POLICY: NO ONE ON THE DOCKS WITHOUT A LIFE JACKET ON! You can mark your gear with name tags to help keep it from getting mixed up.

2. As soon as we arrive on Blake Island, volunteers will be needed to carry all the gear from the boats to the campsites, set up tents for participants, and help them to store food in the containers that will be at the campsites.  Both raccoons and crows are alert to anything that looks like food and very quick and bold. We don’t want our participants to go hungry! Help them secure their food and put up their tents. Natalie Willing will be the volunteer coordinator for setting up and breaking down tents, and for the campfire, and stove.

3. Volunteers will need to make sure everyone gets to the dinners. BE SURE TO ASK THEM IF THEY NEED HELP. SOME OF THEM DO QUITE WELL ON THEIR OWN. ASK AND THEY WILL LET YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. NEVER, NEVER JUST TAKE CONTROL. ALWAYS ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP IF ANYTHING.

4. After the dinner volunteers will be needed to help clean up and bring all our equipment back to the campsite. We will also need volunteers to help with hot drinks(hot chocolate, tea, coffee) and marshmallows later in the evening, both serving them and assisting as needed in skewering the marshmallows and getting them to participants, and in cleaning up afterwards. Volunteers will also be needed to gather the trash after dinner in industrial strength trash bags, and secure it against crows and raccoons. We will also serve hot drinks in the morning, and we will need a litter patrol then as well. Natalie Willing will be volunteer co-coordinator for this crew. Please ask her how you can help.

5. We will have people in wheelchairs who may need an assist now and then. We may have people who would like an escort to the bathrooms, or simply to go for a walk. Please ask our participants if you can help them in any way. Don’t just grab their wheelchair and push!

If Footloose members and volunteers want to go for a walk outside of the large camp and Tillicum Village area, please let Natalie Willing, know where you are going and when you expect to return. It is easy to get lost in the network of trails around Blake Island, and if we don’t know you are gone, no one will look for you. Please let me know when you return too.

In the morning if it is cold, volunteers will be needed to set up stoves and start hot water for tea, hot chocolate, and coffee. Help will be needed to take down their tents and pack up their gear. This means that volunteers will need to pack up their own gear, help pack up the gear of others, take down tents, do litter patrol, and get everyone and their gear over to the docks before departure time. Participants need to keep their food and water with them for the return trip to Elliot Bay.

Our skippers are in charge of their own boats and the people on them at sea. Follow their directions. Help them in any way you can. Pamper them. We could not do this trip without their generous donation of their boats, their knowledge and skills, and their time and money. Also, take a little time to pamper yourself. We could not do this trip without you either

Happy Camping!