[Baltimore Sun] Volunteers ‘the No. 1 employee’ of this week’s CIAA basketball tournaments in Baltimore
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On any other Wednesday, Fred Taylor would probably be working in an office in Baltimore as managing director of an information technology company.
But last Wednesday, the 62-year-old West Baltimore native and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute graduate was folding a few hundred green Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts for distribution to volunteers such as himself who will help the league run the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments that begin this week in the city.
Isn’t folding clothes a step down for a company executive? “I fill in wherever I am needed,” he said with a smile.
Taylor is one of several hundred volunteers who play a critical role as the CIAA, the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference, and its member schools set up shop in CFG Bank Arena for the third consecutive year. For six days, 26 men’s and women’s teams will compete for coveted tournament championships that include automatic entries into next month’s NCAA Division II tournament. The games will be shown on ESPN platforms.
About 300 volunteers will assist the league in coordinating the tournaments to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Their contributions are invaluable, according to Dionne Waldron-McNeal, who chairs the CIAA’s volunteer committee.
“We couldn’t do it without the volunteers,” said Waldron-McNeal, who is taking time from her job as the director of community outreach at Fulton Bank to volunteer. “The support and help that is needed to make sure that every event is taking off without a hitch could only happen with the support of our volunteers and people giving their time because it’s many different duties that take place at different events. If anything, they are the No. 1 employee of this entire event.”
The number of volunteers for this week’s tournament is a small decrease from last year’s total of 341, who staffed 22 basketball games and 26 academic, educational and social events. But about 50 to 60 volunteers have offered this year to fill multiple shifts, making sure the 24 games and 32 events in 2024 are covered.
That show of generosity is welcomed by Waldron-McNeal, who isn’t surprised. After she opened the portal for volunteer registration on Jan. 9, 183 positions were filled within two weeks.
“They were waiting,” said McNeal, who has lived in Baltimore since she was 8 years old and graduated from Baltimore City College high school. “I was getting emails all last year. ‘When can I register? When will the portal be ready for me to register? I want to register.’”
From left, Dionne Waldron-McNeal, vice president and community outreach officer for Fulton Bank and CIAA basketball tournament volunteer committee chair, and Stephanie Huggins, volunteer committee member, work in the volunteer office Thursday in the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
Before fans, officials and dignitaries arrive at rooms for receptions and other social events, volunteers are usually setting up tables and chairs, installing the appropriate CIAA branding, and ensuring they have the equipment to register guests. April Reid, an operations supervisor for the tournament, said she would not be able to complete the tasks associated with her office without the 20 to 25 volunteers she will manage this week.
“People walk in and say, ‘Oh, this is amazing.’ But they don’t realize that it takes anywhere from two to five hours just to set up an event for people to appreciate the space,” said Reid, who is also an assistant athletic director for operations and equipment at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. “Without the volunteers, none of that would happen. Too many things would fall between the cracks.”
Some volunteers get the chance to represent the CIAA tournament as “ambassadors” They greet guests and visitors at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, Baltimore Penn Station and hotels with information on where to eat, how to get to their destinations, and when events begin. Other volunteers are more comfortable fading into the background and working quietly.
“It’s a heavy lift putting on a tournament like this, and I don’t mind being behind the scenes and rolling up my sleeves,” said Melvin Howard, a 56-year-old Overlea resident who grew up in Northeast Baltimore and graduated from Poly. “Any time you’re planning an event, there’s going to be some grunt work, and I’m just the type of person who is going to raise his hand for that.”
The CIAA offers stipends or meal vouchers to some volunteers, depending on how much time during the day they spend at the tournaments, Reid said. All receive a hooded sweatshirt, T-shirt and hat bearing the conference logo, and student volunteers can earn credit toward school.
The “swag” apparel was more than enough for Ra’Emaa Hill, a 40-year-old regional workforce director for Youth Advocate Programs Inc.
“I can take care of myself,” said Hill, a Baltimore native who graduated from Walbrook High School and Coppin State University and lives in Northeast Baltimore. “I don’t want to seem like I’m sitting there begging for something or anything like that.”
From left, Dionne Waldron-McNeal, Kim Maynard-Winder and Stephanie Huggins work in the volunteer office in the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
Some volunteers said sacrificing their time and effort for the CIAA tournament is their way of giving back to the community. Others said they want to help dispel a narrative that Baltimore is a dangerous city.
And some such as Kim Maynard-Winder, a 56-year-old native of Northwest Baltimore who graduated from Poly and from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, hope their charitable work sends a message to younger generations. She noted that her daughter Eryca, a junior at Lincoln, will volunteer this week because the university schedules its spring break at the same time as the tournament to give students an opportunity to attend and help out.
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“We have to make that connection,” said Maynard-Winder, who is a case management specialist for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. “As she grows and gets older, she will understand how important it is to be a volunteer.”
Sacrificing time and effort for the tournament can be a delicate situation for those with families, intensive jobs or other life duties that demand attention. For Eric Brooks, a 50-year-old financial center manager of Fulton Bank’s branch in North Baltimore, the difficulty of spending time away from his family to volunteer has been alleviated by his son going to college and by the fact that he and his wife, Andrea Wilson, graduated from Lincoln.
“She supports me going out and helping out,” said Brooks, who grew up in Columbia and graduated from Oakland Mills High School. “Time is a little more fluid than when you do have kids in the house.”
Many volunteers know their assignments for the week. Taylor, the company executive, will help at a reception Monday morning for presidents of the member schools and at an information desk at a hotel. After that, his schedule is open, he said.
“Wherever they need me, I’ll be there,” he said.
CIAA Tournament opening night
CFG Bank Arena
Women’s tip-off: 7 p.m. Monday
Men’s tip-off: 9 p.m. Monday
Stream: ESPN+
More info: ciaatournament.org
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