1. Identify a need:

• Do you know of people who suffer in silence Are they too busy taking care of everyone else that their basic needs are being neglected?

• Do you wish that you could just run in and rescue them?

2. Do you have the bandwidth to take on a Hot Mess Express group as a coordinator?

Expectations of a chaos coordinator include:

• recruiting fellow caregivers who want to help

• creating a facebook group (or similar) to communicate with those in your group

• reviewing nominations of moms in your area who need help

• planning and implementing Hot Mess Express Missions (usually monthly but may be done more or less often depending on the need)

• interviewing the chosen mom to make sure that Hot Mess will be able to fulfill her needs (some jobs are beyond the scope of hot mess)

• connecting with community resources to help with the missions and more!

3. Find your team:

• I went into local facebook moms groups to find moms who would be interested in getting together to help local moms

• Create a Facebook group (Hot Mess Express-INSERT AREA NAME HERE)

  • this is where you can get everyone together and communicate easily

  • it doesn't have to be a facebook group, this is just how I did things

• Link the nomination form in your group

• Talk to moms in your area--whether it is in local mom groups, preschool drop off line, or just in line at Target.  You'll find all kinds of people who want to be involved with helping others.

• The first ladies who attended the very first mission became my "board of directors".  We now meet monthly over zoom to go over nominations, debrief the last mission, create new rules or ideas for the next missions based of past experiences.

4. Find community sponsors:

Think about what a Hot Mess Express recipient might need and talk to local businesses to see if they might be willing to donate a service or product to help with the mission.

• Possible community partnerships:

  • salons (send the mom out to get her hair done while you're working in her home)

  • restaurants (to give gift cards to the mom or even to feed volunteers while they are working)

  • carpet cleaning

  • laundry service

  • grocery stores

  • landscapers

  • etc

• Even reach out to your friends and family (or to social media) who may be able to help meet a specific need

5. Plan a mission:

• We suggest choosing 2 nominees as "finalists".  Then make contact with her to get a little more information.  We highly suggest a facetime call or video tour of the space to allow you the opportunity to see what you need to do in the space (how many volunteers will you need, what supplies should be brought, any specific items need to be purchased, do you see any health or environmental hazards that are outside the scope of HME).  Face to face meeting is ideal but should always be done with another person for safety.  Do this at your own discretion.  Keep track of items you will need for this mission.

• After talking with the finalist moms and after receiving more information, choose one mom and decide on a date for the mission.  

  • When you are just starting out, choose the least complicated mission.  Don't get overcommitted right off the bat. 

• I highly suggest making the mission AT LEAST 2 weeks in advance.  This will allow you the time to get everything planned

6. Prepare for the mission:

• Decide how many moms you will need for this job (usually 4-10 depending on the severity of the need)

• create an amazon wish list of items that you need for the mission and share it on your personal facebook page, in the hot mess express group, with family and friends, etc.  This allows people who aren't able to participate in the mission a way to contribute.  You'll be surprised how many people will respond to specific needs like this.  The amazon wishlist items should be shipped to your house so you can bring them with you on the day of.

• Also put out into the universe maybe super specific needs of this particular mom.  For instance, we had a mom who was in need of a king sized bed so that she could again share a bed with her husband (she had lots of medical equipment that caused him to have to move out of the bed).  I shared the need on facebook and 2 days later, I had a king sized bed for her.

• Create an event in your facebook group or a sign up genius (website for sign ups) and advertise it to your group. Encourage them to come.  We have found that a good time frame is about 9am-1pm.  

  • In the sign up for your event, choose a location near the client's house so that you aren't giving out any personal information of the mom being helped

  • Like meeting at a Burger King 3 miles away and carpooling there

7. Mission

Remind volunteers the night before via text. Remind where you are meeting.

• Be prepared for a few of your volunteers to drop out last minute.  So it's always better to get a few more volunteers signed up than you actually need

• Meet at the decided upon location and try to carpool as much as possible as to make the most of the space available for parking at the location

• We suggest following CDC guidelines at the time of the mission when it comes to wearing masks in the home.  Our current rule is that we wear masks inside unless the client has approved their removal.

• Divide volunteers into zones and coordinate any changes of plan when you get there

• Bring cleaning supplies with you:

  • paper towels

  • trash bags

  • magic erasers

  • scrub daddy

  • cleaning sprays

8. Debrief and start planning your next mission!

• Talk with the volunteers about what you all learned!  What could you do differently next time?

• What unexpected challenges did you have?