Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Flint Hills Volunteer Center on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 313
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We welcome Brent Sigman as the new executive director of the Flint Hills Volunteer Center and hear why he’s bringing a boots on the ground mindset to volunteer coordination. We talk through where the biggest needs are right now, how we build stronger community partnerships, and how we can bring more young people into volunteerism.
• Brent’s local background and the path from public service and theatre to nonprofit leadership
• A hands-on approach to storm cleanup and showing up early for community needs
• Building and rebuilding partnerships with local organizations across Manhattan
• How we connect volunteers with opportunities and why education improves retention
• Why the mall location helps visibility and makes it easier to walk in and ask
• Youth outreach through a K-State football camp and early volunteer education
• Current volunteer gaps including medical transportation drivers and lawn care help
• Festival of Trees planning and the need for a strong committee
Flint Hillsvolunteer Center.com is uh the website. Our phone number is 785-776-7787. Mine is director.fvc at gmail.com.
Sponsor And Segment Setup
SPEAKER_00Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on news radio KMAN. We continue with a new dude that is uh stepped into a new role. You know the role, the executive director of the Flint Hills Volunteer Center, which was uh a lifetime of Laurie Bishop in that capacity, and they had the big welcome to the family gathering Friday at the Flint Hills Volunteer
Meet Brent Sigman
SPEAKER_00Center. His name is Brent Sigman. Congratulations and welcome to the show. Thank you, sir. Much appreciated. You and I have known each other for a long time. We sure have. And uh, you know, we've had a lot of talks over the years and uh great customer service, which is a hallmark of the treasurer's office. Absolutely. And then you got involved in theater, which is just like your first love. And you've been over in Wamigo at the theater there at the Columbia and heading that up, and and now we have a new opportunity for you. So so I you know, uh let you talk about you. Sure. Tell me about Brent Sigmas.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So I've I've been in Manhattan since I was a teenager. Um and where'd you grow up? I uh so I lived in Emporia beforehand, and then um my mom got a job up here uh when I was a teenager, moved up here and uh graduated from Manhattan High, and um and then yeah, went and uh uh worked for Cox Communications for a number of years, and then uh went to the treasurer's office right after that, worked worked there for quite a long time, um, and then worked for Civic Plus for a little bit, and then uh yeah, had the opportunity to um go become the artistic director of the Columbian Theater, which is what I've been doing for the past several years. I've been doing theater in the community though for over 15 years, both kind of as an actor and a director um at Mac and Colombian, JCLT, um, just to name a few. And
A Boots On The Ground Vision
SPEAKER_01uh so yeah, then when this opportunity came up, I saw this position was open. Um, I've always been very community-minded and always wanted to to do something with purpose for the community. And so uh I saw this as a great fit and a great opportunity to do just that. You know you got some big shoes to fill. Uh absolutely I do, yeah, absolutely. I mean, she she did a wonderful job for the past 40 years. She was a one-woman show for a lot of it. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So yeah, I'm uh I'm I'm definitely um excited to fill those shoes. Um, but I I know that there are some big shoes to fill.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, you know, and knowing what I know about you, I've you know, when I heard that you were hired, I just really was very excited. I was not excited just for the volunteer center, but I was excited for you. Oh, thank you. Because I thought, yeah, it's just like, yeah, this kid's got it. He understands, you know, he's uh gonna come in and he's just gonna, you know, get to work.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's really what the I've I've been in the role for two weeks now, and um uh I've been you know hitting the ground running, meeting with our community partners. Um uh after the storm last week, we got out there and started doing some cleanup in the neighborhoods that were uh pretty badly affected. And um, that's that's one of my things with this role is um I I'm gonna be out there with my staff uh volunteering at different places because as the volunteer center, we should be the first ones on the ground to be helping out. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00You know, in the past, you know, the the volunteer center has been involved in so many different activities, community things. There are things that uh you know that that had been maybe outside the volunteer aspect, but still very everything's community-minded. Absolutely. But do you have a new vision for what you look to to um put in place for the Flint Hills Volunteer Center? Maybe some things that you want to continue to do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh again, kind of boots on the ground approach is is kind of what what I'm I'm really wanting to to focus on right now, um, to you know, to get those partnerships that uh that we've had for a while continue to foster and grow those relationships, uh, to re-partner with with ones that maybe we haven't had a partnership with in a while, and even partner with ones that we've never had a relationship with, right? Um, and then from there, um really educating our volunteers on who our community partners are, what they do, why they do what they do, and how they utilize volunteers so that our volunteers can better understand what the needs of our community are, and from there grow that volunteer base as well.
SPEAKER_00Just within the 45 minutes that we've had of this show this morning. Vern talked about you know how the community is gonna have, you know, more needs to be fulfilled with kids in the the schedule for for for classes now that they're getting out earlier. Deb Klutz, you and you the two of you said, Hey, I can help. Yeah. You know, there these are some things that I can do.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00There really is no shortage of need for volunteers. Correct, yeah. There are plenty of opportunities. I remember seeing somebody uh post on Facebook on the, you know, you're one of the Manhattan sites. It's just like, I just moved to town. What are some things I can do? Right. Yeah. It's just like boom, here, you can find a place because you're so entwined with so many different organizations and efforts. We are, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and that's and that's that's why we do what we do, because you know, there there are plenty of organizations that are out there that have the
Connecting People To Meaningful Service
SPEAKER_01need. There are folks out there that are looking for those opportunities, and we're kind of it's funny, one of my friends called it the marriage broker. Yeah, right. You know, uh, you know, bridging the gap between uh those and and helping the organizations find the people and helping the people find the organizations.
SPEAKER_00Now, you have your offices in the Manhattan Towns Center just there by Dillards, in case anybody um is not familiar with the the location. How has that location benefited the volunteer center? Yeah. I would think visibility is something that's been really, really um a bonus.
SPEAKER_01100%. Yeah, the visibility for it allows people to uh feel like that they can come in and see us whenever they want to, and they don't have to go searching for where we're located, right? Um, and then you know, I uh one one of the things that uh uh I I I feel is really great is you know the mall walkers. Yeah. Uh it's a great opportunity to to reach out to those folks that we see walking around every morning and let them. You know, we probably should. We probably should, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, let's have a cup, let's have a water cooler conversation. Right, right. I hadn't thought about the walkers, but yeah, absolutely. So Friday, you had um um come meet the new guy session. What was that like?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was great to get to see some of the uh regular cake on your first day. I know, I know. It's you know, there's a a great cookie spread there and uh some some goodies, but no, it was really great to meet some of the folks whose names that I had heard repeatedly already in my two weeks uh that really give a lot of their time uh and resources to the organization. So it's a great way to meet them in person, get to thank them from
Youth Volunteerism And Football Camp
SPEAKER_01the get-go, uh, and start establishing that those relationships.
SPEAKER_00I'm looking down here and I'm like going, what is football camp? I'm like, this these are two words that don't belong on my question list. It doesn't seem to be, but this is a a unique opportunity for for for some players up at K-State to get to know the community and vice versa.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, this was something that uh one of our employees, uh Linda, uh, had started kind of diving into before uh I was uh brought on. Uh and basically it's an opportunity uh for our youth to connect with the K-State football players, uh, get to learn some drills and whatnot, but also for the K-State's uh players to talk about how they give back to the community and what they do to give back to the community so that we can start educating the youth at a younger age about the importance of volunteerism and the importance of giving back.
SPEAKER_00That sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah. But it sounds like little organized chaos.
SPEAKER_01It it is. It is. We're still we're still working out some of the finer details right now, but uh right now we're looking at uh July 31st to put this on. Um there's gonna be more information to come once we kind of uh you know tighten those screws a little bit and get some things nailed down. Uh, but so uh be on the lookout for some more information about this. How long is the camp? Uh it'll be uh kind of a half day camp. Uh the first two hours will be for the kind of elementary school kids, and then the last few hours are gonna be for the middle school and high school kids.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. And you'll have more information uh with the details as you know, you're flying the plane and building it at the same time. Pretty much, right. Flint Hillsvolunteer Center.com is uh the website. Now let's talk a bit about you know the volunteer center
Small Staff And Big Community Needs
SPEAKER_00uh itself. You have a small staff. Yeah. A very small staff.
SPEAKER_01Very it's it's myself and and uh one full-time, one part-time.
SPEAKER_00That's a very small staff. Yes. Will you consider how many volunteers you work with on a regular basis? I know uh it's hundreds.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I mean we're we're we're uh at over a thousand volunteers.
SPEAKER_00Over a thousand now. Right. Wow. Yeah, that's a lot of coordination. It is, it is. So you um also have committees, you know, there's uh there's a board of directors, you know, there's all kinds of things. What are some holes that need to be filled at the Flint Hills Volunteer Center?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So um medical transportation uh is a big one that we are in need of right now. Um what we do is for uh folks that are 55 and older that aren't able to take themselves to um their medical appointments or struggle to get themselves to their medical appointments, uh, we have drivers that will help take them to those. Um and we we have a a great little small army uh of those drivers, but we could definitely utilize more of those. Um we also have a neighbors to neighbors program, which helps uh again, folks 55 and older uh that need help with their lawn care. Um, and especially uh with you know what's recently happened with the weather and whatnot, um, you know, there's there's been more uh folks that are in need uh of that sort of assistance. Um and then we are uh starting to gear up for our upcoming festival of trees, and so we are needing a committee to help us put that together uh for our annual fundraiser.
SPEAKER_00That's a big thing that you've had over the years. Absolutely. Yeah. And uh, you know, still you're two weeks into the gig. There's a lot of things that you have done at the Volunteer Center historically. Do you have other things that you're looking to continue for sure?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, uh all of these programs that we've we've currently that we've had for a number of years, um, we're gonna continue to do. We want to start engaging more of the youth in the community um and uh really show them the ropes of volunteerism. Um I feel like we've been doing a great job with our senior community and um helping them and providing volunteer opportunities for them. We're gonna continue that, we're gonna expand that. Um, but we also want to make this a holistic volunteer center where everyone's welcome, where everyone can come and help out. Uh, because as as we mentioned before, there are several organizations in this town that could use the community support and the community's help. And we want to do just that.
How To Get Involved Locally
SPEAKER_01How do people get a hold of you? Uh they can uh go walk around the mall. Yeah, walk around the mall. That's always a good thing. Uh our phone number is 785-776-7787.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it is. I know that.
SPEAKER_01I know I just I just had to rattle that off in my head for a second. Um, they could also reach out to us through our our many uh emails. Mine is director.fvc at gmail.com. Uh or yeah, they can just swing by and say hello. We're uh we're open in the mall uh Monday through Friday.
SPEAKER_00We get everything covered.
SPEAKER_01I think most everything. Um I am gonna be representing the Volunteer Center at the Juneteenth celebration this Saturday. So if people are gonna be at that uh festival, uh we'll have a tent set up and I love to meet some of our community members.
SPEAKER_00I am looking forward to I I can only be there Friday, but but boy, I'm looking forward to party training. Absolutely. I'm gonna love the thing. Right, right. I know, right? It's always good. Yeah. Hey, congratulations. Thank you. Good to see you again. I'm excited for you, and I'm excited for the Volunteer Center.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00Brent Sigman is his name, the new executive director for the Flint Hills Volunteer Center. Flint Hills Volunteer Center.com is their website. Jaina, or as I come to know her yesterday as Hope, is going to be stepping in next, and we'll talk about some of the things, including Juneteenth and other activities that are scheduled in the near future and give you a preview of next week's show on the GMCF Community Hour that we do every Monday morning at nine here on News Radio K M A N.