Three kinds of people make a Friends of The Jones Falls work party happen. Most of what connects them is automatic. This page says who gets which email, when, and what is theirs to do.
Would rather go slowly? Step by step, with pictures walks through signing up, reporting and hosting one tap at a time, and prints.
If you're coming along
No account and no password: your email is how we know it is you. You get three emails per party you sign up for, and nothing else unless the plan changes.
When you sign upYours
Name and email, nothing else to create. Signing up twice is harmless: you are told you are already on the list.
Email: "Confirmation: …", with a link to cancel if plans change.
Early that morning, about 6–7am
The plan, where to meet, who the host is, what to bring, and a phone number. If the host posted a note (a later start, deep mud) it is in here too.
Email: "Reminder: … is today!"
If you're running the morning
A host is a volunteer who has said yes to one particular party. They check people in, give the safety word, decide what the group works on once they see the site, and send the city its numbers afterwards. No account: everything is on one private link.
How you're asked. About 14 days before each party, everyone on the hosting list gets one email. The first to tap yes hosts, and that yes is what puts the party on the website. The next yes becomes the backup. “Not this time” costs nothing.
How you get on the list. Tick “willing to lead” when you sign up as a certified Weed Warrior, or use the one-tap link in the thank-you email after a party the host checked you in at. The coordinator confirms your certification once. Parties that aren't removals on city land, such as litter pickups and planting, don't need it, so if that is what you would like to host, just ask the coordinator.
The host guide has every email you will get and when, what to tap, and the morning step by step. It prints.
If you organise
Coordinators set up the repeating schedules, write the notes for each site, keep the hosting list, and decide what each party goes after. A normal party then runs with no coordinator involved. They hear about the exceptions by email: straight away when a host drops out, calls a party off or goes quiet, and in a Thursday round-up that only arrives when something needs a hand, like a party with no host or a city report nobody filed.
The coordinator's handbook needs a coordinator sign-in.
The people on the ground know things the coordinator doesn't. Here is how it gets back to them:
The coordinator uses it to change the next party's plan, fix the notes for that site, and choose what to go after next month.
If anything changes
If the host or coordinator calls it off or changes the plan, you get a short email saying so. This is the only time you hear from us outside the three.
Email: "Update: …"
At the start timeYours
Find the host, get ticked off, listen to the two-minute safety word. If nobody is hosting by the start time the morning becomes an identification walk: look, learn, pull nothing.
A couple of hours afterYours
A thank-you with a link to the impact form. Two minutes on a phone: which plants you worked on, rough numbers, photos if you took any, and a note if something is worth knowing.
Email: "Thank you for joining …!"