Get involved in your community!

Top needs (skills and experience required):

Attorneys for pro bono advice, bookkeepers, accountants, salespeople, event planners, project managers, marketing, advertising, and public relations professionals

 

Top needs (skills and experience optional)

Salespeople, data entry people, event planners, project managers, volunteer recruiters, volunteer coordinators

 

 

 

...but we also need many other interests, skills, and experience!

 

Why volunteer?

 

Volunteering...

• improves our community's safety

• helps give us a powerful voice in getting and improving government services

• helps improve property values

• is an avenue for leadership development

• is a way to help control the destiny of our community

• is a way to get new business contacts

• is a way to make new friends in our community

• is great for personal growth

• gives one a sense of accomplishment

• gives one a sense of community pride

• increases one's feeling of community belonging

• helps make Burlingame Hills a better place in which to live

Click here to volunteer where needed

 

 

 

We have all sorts of volunteer projects and leadership opportunities:

 

Annexation Study

* Learn about consequences of being annexed by Burlingame: financial as well as regulatory

* Develop chart of advantages and disadvantages of annexation

Volunteer for the Annexation study ad hoc Committee!

 

Budget

* How can we improve our budget and budget-making process?

* How can we improve our financial policies and procedures?

Volunteer for the Budget Committee!

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Business networking

* Develop a program to network business people in the hills

Volunteer for the Business networking committee!

 

Bylaws

* We may be due for an overhaul; what improvements can we make?

Volunteer for the Bylaws Committee!

 

Communications/public relations/marketing

* How can we better communicate with our members and the community at large?

* Work on annual meeting announcement including notification of bylaws amendments

* Work on fall newsletter that will go to all residents

* How do we best promote our accomplishments to our members and prospective members?

Volunteer for the Communications/Public Relations Committee!

 

Community Festival

* Start planning for the Festival to help make it the best ever

* Study notes from past years to learn about what we can do better

* Volunteer to set up and/or tear down on the day of the Festival

* Join a Festival planning team:

• • Children’s activities

  • Entertainment

  • Food

  • Beverage

  • Greeting and hospitality (AKA "Welcoming")

  • Operations and logistics

  • Communications and publicity

  • Decorations

  • Silent auction

  • Registration

  • Ticketing

  • Local Business Relations (vendor booths, silent auction items, in-kind donations, and sponsorships)

  • We also need young people to help with moving tables and canopies on the morning and afternoon of the event

Volunteer for the Community Festival!

 

 

 

Crime safety and security

* Safety and security

Become a neighborhood representative (see below for details): be the eyes and ears of the neighborhood--2-6 people per neighborhood (or 1-3 couples), depending on the layout of the neighborhood

Organize a neighborhood watch meeting to educate people about crime safety

Get “Neighborhood Watch” signs for each of our seven community entrances

Develop a program to keep residents informed about crimes in our community and how residents can protect themselves

Develop a rapport with CHP and get them to patrol our streets and use radar to track speeding cars

Develop a rapport with Sheriff and get them to monitor cars running stop signs (such as at Hillside and Adeline)

Develop an area representative plan, similar to what San Mateo Highlands has

Volunteer for the Crime safety and security committee!

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Emergency preparedness

The possibilities are endless!

* Promote and organize spring neighborhood parties for each neighborhood

* Will a wired home phone connection help homeowners during a disaster?

* Neighborhood directory creation, distribution, and updating

* Work with Cal Fire to get someone trained to teach CPR/AED and basic first aid for no charge to residents

* Plan a “Get Ready” basic emergency preparedness class and invite residents to attend

* Encourage residents to sign up for CPR/AED, basic first aid, “Get Ready” (basic emergency preparedness) and CERT classes

* Develop a training program to teach specific jobs that need to be done (and cross—train between jobs) during a disaster (light search and rescue, children and special needs (such as elderly), communications, safety and security, damage assessment, and first aid)

* Organize and coordinate disaster drills to practice skills

* Develop an ongoing program to educate residents about basic emergency preparedness techniques

* Organize and coordinate the purchase of canisters to hold medical supplies and search and rescue tools for each neighborhood

* Organize and coordinate the development of a communications plan for each neighborhood and for our community as a whole (including neighborhood and community-wide rally points)

* Work with Cal Fire to clear public paths (La Canada Path, Fern Path, and others)

* Develop plan to recognize and show appreciation for our emergency service providers (such as with BBQs for law enforcement, firefighters)

Volunteer for the Emergency Preparedness Committee!

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Garden club

* Develop year-round programming (speakers, field trips, demonstrations, gardening projects, etc) that is related to the time of year

* Invite guest speakers to talk on topics of interest to our residents

* Organize “neighborhood pride” cleanups

Volunteer for the Garden Club

 

 

 

 

 

Healthy forest

* How can we keep track of and increase the number of oaks that are treated each year?

* How can we promote our Group-rate Oak tree treatment program so we can get more residents involved?

* Work with arborists to anticipate future tree diseases

* Work with Burlingame Parks Dept to improve Mills Canyon Park

Volunteer for the Healthy Forest Committee!

 

Hoover School

* Work cooperatively on projects of concern to Burlingame Hills residents

* Maintain good working relationship with principal, teachers, Father’s Club, and PTO

Volunteer for the Hoover School committee!

 

Membership and New Neighbor Welcoming

* How do we increase membership beyond 70% of the unincorporated area? Do we want to call or visit those who have not renewed or joined after many attempts to remind them by email and/or snail mail?

* Do we want to promote membership outside of the unincorporated area?

* What incentives should we offer to promote and encourage new membership and renewals?

* Work on membership reminder emails and snail mailings

* Develop a plan to welcome each new neighbor (eg: a welcome packet?) 

* Put together gift baskets for new neighbors

* Announce free one-year membership in community association

Volunteer for the Membership Committee!

 

Mercy High School

* Work cooperatively on projects of concern to Burlingame Hills residents

Volunteer for the Mercy High School Committee!

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Parent networking and Youth activities

* Youth activities

How can we leverage our list of well over 300 children in our community?

Can we work with Hoover School to provide a location (amphitheater?) for these activities?

* Develop a program to network parents and children in the hills

Volunteer for the Parent networking and Youth activities Committee!

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Service provider appreciation

*  Develop a plan to recognize and show appreciation for our services providers (Public works, planning, building, councilors, supervisors, and their staffs)

Volunteer for the Service Provider Appreciation Committee!

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Social

* Nextdoor.com

How do we continue to grow this great website?

What concerns about this service can we address?

* Pet parade

Plan to re-start this fun activity

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Volunteer for the Social Committee!

 

 

 

 

Utility relations

* AT&T telephone

* Burlingame Water

Develop rapport and keep up with testing of our hydrant pressure

Keep our water rate increases as small as possible

* Cable providers

Woo ATT U-verse and Comcast Fiber to Burlingame Hills

Learn about where our government fee goes

How can we make the cables less unsightly?

* PG&E

Work to understand electric grid and pending upgrades

Work to understand gas pipelines and pending upgrades

* Peninsula Clean Energy

Is their program lower costs sustainable?

How does their program work?

* Public works roads division

Work on traffic calming efforts

Learn about what road improvements are planned

Work on improving signage, including “narrow bridge” signs for lower Canyon Road

Look into “sign toppers”; signs that go on top of street signs to indicate that the street is in Burlingame Hills

*Public works storm water management (including Easton Creek and tributaries)

How clean are out creeks?

What can we do to remove and keep debris (including dead tree limbs) from our creeks to help prevent a flood?

Assess water in streets during heavy rains, identify problem areas (including the corner of Valdeflores and Canyon and corner of Newton and Hillside at the fire station)

* Public works sewer division

* Office of Sustainability’s solid waste management (including Recology)

Learn what happens to our compost, recycling, and garbage

Learn how we can help control costs

Keep our Recology rate increases as small as possible

Work with the County on selecting a solid waste contractor in advance of the 2020 end of Recology’s current contract

Volunteer for our Utility Relations Committee!

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Website maintenance

a Take lots of photos of people and scenery in Burlingame Hills

b Upgrade our website to 2.0 with lots of photos and a way for members to access and update their contact and emergency preparedness information

Volunteer for the Website Maintenance Committee!

 

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Do you have other ideas for volunteering in our community? Let us know!

 

Neighborhood representatives:

• Each of our 14 neighborhoods has an average of 30 homes

• 2-year overlapping terms

• 2-4 reps per neighborhood (or 1-2 couples)

• Larger neighborhoods will have an additional pair of reps

Volunteer to be a Neighborhood Representative

 

Responsibilities of a neighborhood representative:

• Be the eyes and ears of the neighborhood

• Introduce yourself to new neighbors and give them the welcome packet and a one-year membership gift, both provided by our Community Association

• Gather updates for the neighborhood directory

   

  • current names

  • addresses

  • e-mail addresses (for Urgent Announcements and quarterly e-newsletters)

  • phone numbers

  • emergency contact information

  • special needs/medical conditions, etc.

• Keep up with occasional urgent announcements and newsletters from our Community Association

• Report to the President of the Community Association any neighborhood information needing attention by the Association

• Encourage social activities for your neighborhood by asking others to host a get-together; some ideas:

  • spring party (sponsored biennially by our Community Association; however, annual parties are encouraged!)

  • summer (pool) party

  • winter (hygge) party

  • fall (back-to-school) party

• Encourage residents to attend our biennial community party at Kohl Mansion on Sunday, September 16, 2018

• Hold periodic neighborhood meetings to discuss issues relating to your neighborhood (Our Community Association is here to assist!)

• Receive a list of Community Association officers and directors with their contact information

• Receive a list of Community Association "non-renewals" in May and encourage them to renew their memberships

• Receive a list of Community Association "non-members" in May and encourage them to join

• Identify a willing neighbor to take your place when your term as neighborhood rep is over

• Identify willing neighbors to volunteer to learn an emergency preparedness role (with training by local fire fighters and our Community Association

  • light search and rescue

  • children and special needs (such as elderly)

  • communications

  • safety and security

  • damage assessment

  • basic first aid

• Report code violations to an officer of the Community Association