The news — that the director of volunteers for the Democratic National Convention in Denver has resigned — comes a week after the Colorado Independent reported that many of 26,000 people who signed up to volunteer for the convention are wondering when — or if — their services will be needed.
According to the Associated Press, Sondra Williams actually stepped down from the role overseeing thousands of volunteers on June 7, saying only that she wasn’t “empowered” to do her job.
Last week the Colorado Independent’s J.C. O’Connell noted that Denver will use only a fraction of the 26,000 people who have signed up to volunteer to do everything from helping to direct convention-goers, to talking up the convention’s environmentally friendly theme, to assisting with transportation and answering phones.
Many are still wondering what they’ll be doing, if they’ll be doing anything
“I haven’t heard anything yet, but I doubt I’m the only one,” said Linda Pohle, who signed up as a convention volunteer last year and was one of about 100 people who attended the Democratic National Convention Committee’s last “convention conversations” session on June 11.
The convention is Aug. 25-28 at the Pepsi Center. Reports of Williams’ departure as the volunteer coordinator comes the same week as the convention’s planning committee reported it is $11.6 million short of its $40.6 million fund-raising goal.
