Volunteer Guidelines
Thank you for your willingness to volunteer at The Community Café! Volunteers are an integral part of our
operation and help us live out our mission of providing nourishing meals at a fair price for anyone’s budget.
Founded four years ago, we would not still be here today without the generous support of our community
members. The Café runs 5 programs that are heavily dependent upon volunteer support and last year we had
roughly 1,900 volunteers for the whole year! So thank you for donating your time to The Community Café!
This document is meant to clearly lay out our expectations for volunteer service at the Café and explain some
general guidelines to keep in the back of your mind when you are here.
---------------------Frame of Mind: The Community Café exists to provide a safe, non-judgmental, respectful space for all who dine
with us. As a community space, we host a diversity of people from diverse backgrounds during our evening meal
service and other programs. It is our expectation that our Volunteers will be friendly, open-minded and
empathetic while volunteering for the Cafe. Please treat others (Café Staff, fellow volunteers, and our customers)
the way you would like to be treated. In addition, please be flexible and ready for anything during your shift. Our
volunteers help us in all tasks (washing dishes, taking out the trash, cleaning, etc). We will do our best to match
your interest and skill level with an open position, but we may also need to ask you to help us with other things
not immediately associated with your position.
Attire: When volunteering with the Café, please remember that this is a restaurant environment and as such, we
are guided by heath code regulations. All volunteers must wear closed toed shoes and should refrain from wearing
tank tops or other revealing clothing (i.e. leggings, short shorts or skirts, low cut shirts, etc). Per health code
requirements, clothing should be clean and without holes and please keep jewelry to a minimum. An apron and
hat (or hairnet) will be provided at the beginning of the shift for all in-house volunteers. Long hair must be pulled
back before interacting with food. Volunteers may come into contact with bleach water for sanitation purposes,
so please wear clothes that you are okay getting a little dirty in. We reserve the right to send volunteers home for
not being properly attired.
Food Safety: All volunteers will receive a thorough briefing on important food handling practices to be aware of
while volunteering. That being said, the following are so important to maintaining a safe environment for our
patrons, that they bear repeating:




Wash your hands BEFORE and AFTER every task. This greatly reduces cross contamination
Always wear gloves when working with food. NEVER handle food items with your bare hands!
Our gloves are disposable and are meant to be taken off and exchanged whenever you change tasks
or do anything besides the task at hand (i.e. touch your face, check your phone, scratch your clothes,
etc).
Remove your Café apron before using or cleaning the restroom, eating, handling trash, and
sweeping/mopping.
1

If you are sick, especially if you are coughing, sneezing, have had diarrhea or vomiting, please DO NOT
come to the Café to volunteer! Please wait until you are healthy to volunteer again.
Attendance: If you are unable to attend a scheduled volunteer shift, you must contact the Volunteer Coordinator
prior to the start of the shift either through email [email protected] or by calling the Café at (406) 5874225. Otherwise, you may not be eligible for future volunteer shifts. We ask for 48 hour notice if possible so we
have enough time to make arrangements for a replacement. Our Volunteer Coordinator works a part time
schedule from Tuesday – Saturday. If you have to cancel 3 times within a 6 month period, the Volunteer
Coordinator may need to reassign you into a role that better fits your schedule.
Parking: We have a limited number of parking spots in our lot which we’d like to reserve for our patrons –
especially during the dinner service. Therefore, we ask that our volunteers please park behind the Café on Beall
Street.
Tracking Hours: With the exception of the Evening Dinner Service Volunteers, ALL volunteers are expected to log
their hours on the clipboard in the kitchen near the walk-in freezer. This helps us keep track of our volunteer hours
throughout the year and submit accurate reporting.
Special Considerations for Dinner Service Volunteers: Volunteering with the dinner service provides a great
opportunity to literally serve others. It is very impactful and is often the most popular volunteering opportunity.
When volunteering for the dinner service, please ensure that every customer is treated with dignity and respect
and please do not make assumptions about who people are or what their life circumstances may be. Making eye
contact, smiling, telling jokes, and providing exceptional customer service are all great ways to make a small
impact. Please try to avoid touching any customers. If you have any questions, Café Staff are always available to
assist you.
Special Considerations for Community Service Volunteers: The Café is happy to help you complete your required
community service hours however, timing is key. If you have many hours to complete, please contact us early so
we can schedule you appropriately. We are unable to accommodate last minute requests. If you fail to show up
for your scheduled volunteer shift, you may not be eligible for future volunteer shifts.
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR WILLINGNESS TO VOLUNTEER! WITHOUT YOUR GENEROUS DONATIONS
OF TIME, WE WOULD BE BURIED UNDER A MOUNTAIN OF VEGETABLES!
More Info about The Community Café:
The Community Café is Montana’s only ‘pay what you can’ restaurant. Open 365 days per year, the Café offers dinner service
every day from 5-7pm. The pay what you can model allows guests to set a price fair to their budget, or pay it forward to cover
someone else’s meal. The Café was founded four years ago when there was a noticeable increase in visits at the Gallatin Valley
Food Bank. The Café and Food Bank are part of the HRDC’s Food and Nutrition program, striving to alleviate food insecurity
throughout SW Montana. Last year the Café served over 50,000 meals to our customers.
The Café is also an ongoing social enterprise project. In addition to our nightly service, the Café provides several Culinary Arts
training programs throughout the year, houses the healthy KidsPack and the Summer Lunch programs, and provides nutritious
meals to two local elementary schools as part of their lunch or dinner service. Additionally, we will launch the ‘Higher Ground’
coffee hut in the spring to generate a sustainable revenue stream to support the café. Higher Ground will expand on our
existing culinary arts workforce training by creating a barista training program.
2