What would you do? Summer 2024

Monday, July 22nd, 2024

An incident has happened at your organization between a volunteer and a young child. You don’t know the details, but you have heard some people speculating about it. Your organization has not said anything official about it that you know of. As you are leaving your volunteer shift one day, a member of the media approaches you and asks for information about the incident. You aren’t sure what to do, so you say, “No comment” and move toward your vehicle.

If this were you, are you prepared for the situation? What would you do?

It sounds like your organization is not prepared for this type of situation, and that is the first consideration. Of course, no organization wants to have this type of situation happen, but it is worse if they do not equip their staff and volunteers with the information necessary to deal with it. If this situation does happen, politely tell the media person that you can take their name and contact information, and direct them to someone who can help. Then, give the information to your supervisor and let them handle it. To be fair, “no comment” is a truthful answer, but it may imply that you know something and refuse to comment. It is better to be helpful and transfer the situation to someone who can give a more informed answer.