volunteering

Guards Rodney Stockney and Joe Young teamed up to move compost and prepare planting beds.

We found 66 ways to share time, money, or belongings. The only skills you really need are generosity and all-around swellness. And who knows? You might even have fun doing it.

Whenever I took walks in the park with my own dog, Puppy would run out of an alley or from between two houses to meet us. I liked to believe that when it got dark and the night turned cold, he went back to wherever he was supposed to be, and someone there let him inside.

Name: Ben Snyder

Tony Dungy had 1,000 volunteers and 7,000 empty baskets greet him when he arrived at Bankers Life Fieldhouse yesterday morning. When he exited, the baskets had been filled and shipped by United Parcel Service to America’s 32 NFL cities for distribution. 

Name: John Dedman

You know Hoosiers—we’re a friendly lot. So Super Bowl volunteers probably won’t mind if you ask to check out their official volunteer jacket. And you should. The black Gore-Tex coat is a thing of beauty, sporting a subtle tone-on-tone pattern that’s almost like houndstooth. It’s warm and substantial without being bulky. Even prettier are the arctic-white parkas that some volunteers get to wear. Underneath the jacket, most volunteers will be wearing a long-sleeved Dri-Fit shirt with a zipper at the collar. And yes, volunteers get to keep the swag.

Today staff and volunteers careened down the Super Bowl Village ZipLine, which will open to the public tomorrow after the Super Bowl Village opening ceremony at 3 p.m.

Name: Allison Melangton

Rare birds among Super Bowl volunteers, those called “quarterbacks” will be in full flight on downtown streets sporting giant orange tail feathers with question marks on them. Think of these vols as roaming concierges. Each will carry a tablet, which they’ll use to answer visitors’ questions. They’ll communicate with teammates, unseen, at a downtown command center, who will be looking up answers as questions come in. “Play-calling,” as the process is known around the office of the Super Bowl Host Committee.

Name: Jill Henry

Last week, the Super Bowl Stage Crew hosted an orientation for those who signed up to volunteer for the Halftime Show, which involves assembling and tearing down Madonna’s stage in about eight minutes. Run by Cap Spence, the staging supervisor for the Halftime Show for the past 11 years, the meeting served as a reality check for some volunteers who expected some nice perks. Here’s the real deal: