Role of Volunteers

The programs of VORP of Denver would not be possible without the skills, experience, and commitment of volunteers.  The staff organizes the programs, and the volunteers implement the principles of Restorative Justice.  The Board and Staff of VORP are always grateful to our volunteers. Some have been with us 15 years and some just a few months.  We welcome any and all community members to become volunteers for any of the roles described below.  Please contact our Program Manager Rose Romero to begin a discussion about joining our team. 

All Programs

Mediators:

Mediators bring their lifetime of experience from a variety of backgrounds and have a minimum of 40 hours of mediation training from a recognized mediation instruction program.  They also have added training specific to Restorative Justice.  Mediators work with victims and offenders, neighborhoods, schools, and the RESTORE Program.

RESTORE Program

Facilitators:

Facilitators have training specific to Restorative Justice.  They guide the dialogue when the youth, their families, and other community members are in a circle to discuss the specific shoplifting incidents that brought them to the RESTORE Program.

Contract Guides:

A Contract Guide assists the youth in creating a meaningful contract for restoring their place in the community.  A Contract Guide will also go over completed contracts when the youth returns to verify completion of all contract commitments.

Panel Members

• Police Officer – Denver police officers talk about their experience with shoplifters they have known, some who shoplift only one time, some who have gone on to felony-level crimes.
• Loss Prevention Representative – Dan Loeffert from King Soopers attends every monthly RESTORE session.  Dan talks about the technology for spotting shoplifters, the civil fines imposed, the result of shoplifting losses on prices, jobs, and stores that close because of accumulated losses.
• City Representative - Any city official, the Mayor, a judge from Denver County Court, the District Attorney, representatives from Safe City, Denver Probation, and others, may make an appearance to sit on the panel and participate in circle dialogue.  They talk about how the criminal justice system works in relation to shoplifting and other crime.
• Community Member – This representative can be any city resident who is concerned about shoplifting, the resulting higher prices, and lost sense of safety and balance within the community.
• Parents of Shoplifters – It is difficult for a parent to acknowledge that their child has shoplifted.  These volunteers give their heartfelt experience of the impact on their family when a son or daughter has been caught shoplifting.
• Prior Shoplifters – Sometimes prior shoplifters return, as part of their community service, to explain what they have learned from their shoplifting experience and going through the RESTORE Program.  Others return because of their wish to save youth from the consequences they have experienced when going on to other crime, often starting with shoplifting.

Volunteer Hours

Volunteer Activities

Restore Program Volunteer Activities:

• Setting up rooms and signs
• Bringing and setting out refreshments
• Checking in participants
• Having participants sign consent forms
• Administering pre-program surveys
• Facilitating and/or sitting in on circle dialogues with offenders and their families
• Assist offenders in writing up contracts to repair the harm
• Facilitate dialogue with returning offenders for Session 2 where the offender demonstrates completion of the contract
• Administering post-program surveys
• Debriefing each Saturday session and composing list of refinements to program
• Writing up notes from debriefing and sending to board, volunteers, staff
• Entering data into database
• Meeting shoplifting youth at Denver County Court and introducing them to the RESTORE Program
• Obtaining recidivism data from Denver County Court records
• Explaining program, distributing posters, and recruiting merchants to RESTORE program

Volunteer Application

Click here for a volunteer application. (Requires Adobe PDF Reader.)

Print the application, fill it out and mail it to us.

Thank you.