By Amelia Reyes-Crozier, Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator for Tucson Meet Yourself

I first experienced the Tucson Meet Yourself festival as a child in the 1970s and for many years attended the festival as a spectator. Several years ago, I was asked to present a booth introducing a foreign exchange student program. A year later, I found myself volunteering alongside students from France, Germany and South Korea. These foreign exchange students agreed that volunteering at the festival was one of the best experiences they’d had while living in Tucson. This feeling is shared by many of our volunteers and my family too.

TucsonMeetYourself

The influence of the extraordinary “melting pot” in Downtown Tucson provides my husband and me with an avenue to teach our boys the importance of community involvement. Tucson Meet Yourself also provides us the opportunity to show our boys proud examples of their Mexican, Filipino and Ulster-Scots cultures.

Our non-profit 501(c)3 organizes a three-day festival with over 50 food vendors, more than 100 performers, 30+ folk artists, 30 community groups and over 100,000 visitors. Volunteers are essential to the festival success. We seek 500+ volunteers to help manage this event. Four-hour shifts for a variety of volunteer activities, such as beverage sales assistant, sustainability/green team, set up and tear down crew and stage assistant. Visit our website to see the entire list.

Join us as we present Tucson’s Premier Festival from Friday, October 10 through to Sunday, October 12, 2014. Volunteer opportunities can be found at www.tucsonmeetyourself.org/volunteer or call 520-268-1295 for more information. Thank you in advance for participating in this cultural showcase. We look forward to another successful Tucson Meet Yourself.