As Pancakes on the Plaza, other events return, volunteer response still flat

Jun. 21—It's one of those only-in-Santa Fe events that highlights the city's community spirit and says summer is here: Pancakes on the Plaza.

It's the Rotary Club of Santa Fe's annual fundraiser, which takes place on the Fourth of July. This will be the first year since 2019 organizers have mounted the breakfast due to the restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

But while thousands of people may be ready to show up to eat those pancakes and strawberries, will the volunteers return to serve the masses — and in essence, make the event run?

The question lingers beyond Pancakes on the Plaza and extends to the Barkin' Ball event in August and the burning of Zozobra in September.

The answer is yes, organizers of those events say — at least to some degree. And while they say the pandemic has taken a bite out of the volunteer cadre in town, the shows will still go on.

"We will make it happen," said Virginia Byrd, volunteer coordinator for the Pancakes on the Plaza event.

Byrd said between 400 and 500 people usually volunteer for the event, which will celebrate its 45th anniversary this year. But so far, she has signed up fewer than 200.

In the past, most volunteers have come from the businesses that give money to sponsor the popular pancake breakfast, which draws thousands to downtown.

But the pandemic, plus a recent rise in cases, has limited commitments.

"Employers are concerned about people going out and volunteering, getting sick and not being able to work," Byrd said, though she said the Rotary Club is drawing more volunteers from the community at large rather than depending so heavily on sponsors.

Other local nonprofits and community organizations also are grappling with a drop in volunteers. And the problem extends beyond Santa Fe and its cultural events. For example, a January Gallup poll said volunteering is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels for religious organizations.

Other reports indicate more people who volunteer are choosing to do so remotely, by phone or computer rather than risk in-person contacts.

The problem is the Barkin' Ball, Pancakes on the Plaza and Zozobra require bodies to make them happen.

Ray Sandoval, who organizes the Zozobra burning, said the event usually relies upon 600 volunteers. It is a fundraiser for the Santa Fe Kiwanis Club.

Last year, Sandoval said there were just 300 volunteers due to the pandemic, forcing him to fill the gaps with temporary hiring agencies. That was doubly challenging because more people than usual were needed to check visitors' vaccination cards and ensure they were wearing masks, he added.

He said he understands the reluctance to volunteer when COVID-19's trajectory remains difficult to predict.

"Everybody wanted to be safe," he said. "It's one thing to be in a large crowd outside in a field but another to deal with people, so COVID had a chilling effect on our ability to attract volunteers."

Sandoval said he thought he was in great shape with volunteers a year ago at this time until the delta variant hit the state and "threw us for a loop. Volunteers said, 'We want to help, but we'll come back later.' "

Are they coming back?

"It looks good," Sandoval replied. "It looks like we've returned to a 2019 era."

But if another variant shows up before September, that could change, he added.

Other community groups have had better luck bringing back volunteers. The Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society, which puts on the Barkin' Ball fundraiser in August, has about 300 volunteers on hand now, said shelter spokesman Murad Kirdar. It usually has about 350.

"We can't do these events. We can't run the shelter without volunteers," Kirdar said.

He said it was not difficult to bring volunteers back after the shelter temporarily disbanded the volunteer program for more than a year shortly after COVID-19 was reported in New Mexico in March 2020.

"Everyone was ready to come back. ... Volunteers were anxious to come back," he said. "They were antsy. They wanted to make a difference for animals."

Gina Woodson is one of those volunteers. Between organizing animal adoption packets and giving some of the shelter's dogs an afternoon walk, she said she loves volunteering because of the people — "the staff and the doctors, and I get to work with animals."

She kept busy as a volunteer during the pandemic, setting up an array of 12 separate animal murals that greet visitors outside the shelter on Caja Del Rio Road.

She said diehard shelter volunteers have been coming back and "we're still working on ways to bring the others back."

For Barkin' Ball and animal shelter volunteer Psara Rose, volunteering now brings a new satisfaction after being cloistered for so many months.

"I get to interact with people again," she said. "There's this sense of building community and knowing everybody there has a similar goal: to help others."