How this works
Help
The short versions first — most questions end there. Open any line for the longer answer.
For families
signing in, signing up, stepping backEverything on the board is a real, current need. Tap anything to read more; one more tap signs you up. We'll remind you the night before, and if life happens, stepping back takes one tap and no explanation. Nobody here is counting favors — hours are counted quietly, and only your family sees your own.
Signing in
Enter the email address the school has on file for your family — the one school emails arrive at — and we send you a sign-in link. It works once and it's good for 15 minutes. No password to remember, no account to create: if your family is on the school roster, you're already in. Prefer a password? Set one any time from My account and the login page will take either.
Not sure which address the school has? It's wherever school emails reach you — and the front office can check or change it in a minute.
Finding something to help with
Around the school is the next two weeks; Planning ahead is further out, no rush. If you have children here, their classes' sign-up sheets sit in the right-hand column. Big occasions (the Winter Faire) group their asks into one card with its own shareable page. Anyone can browse the board without signing in — signing up is when you'll be asked to sign in.
Signing up, and what happens after
Tap a row, read the sheet, tap Count me in. That's the whole thing. You'll get a reminder the night before with where to meet, and the morning after we'll ask — once, gently — how it went. If a request is already full, you can join the standby list and we'll email you as soon as a spot opens.
Class sheets and weekly rotations
Class sheets (laundry fairy, flower fairy, and friends) work week by week: tap an open week to claim it. Claim as many weeks as you like — each of your weeks gets its own quiet release button, so giving one back never gives back the others. Some jobs take two people each time; those weeks show a spot for each. Class sheets are visible only to that class's families and the folks running them — never the whole school.
Stepping back
Open the sheet and tap Step back. One tap, no explanation needed, and truly no one thinks twice — the spot reopens for someone else, and if anyone was on standby they're invited automatically. Life happens; the board bends.
The emails we send (and don't)
- The Friday note — one email a week with everything open.
- A reminder the night before anything you signed up for.
- An occasional nudge when something's still short — never twice about the same request, and never more than a few nudges a month, whatever's on the board.
- One check-in the morning after you help (more below).
Replying to any email about a request goes straight to the person who posted it — a real inbox, not a system.
The after-event check-in
The morning after you help, we ask three things, all optional past the first tap: did you make it, about how long did it take, and how did it go. Thirty seconds, and it genuinely helps — your real hours become next time's honest estimate, and your notes go straight to the organizer. If you don't answer, no matter: we assume you were there and count the estimated hours. Silence never costs you anything here.
Too many emails? Every check-in has a "switch these off for good" link, and the switch also lives on My account. Opted out, you're simply counted — attended, estimated hours — automatically.
Your hours, and what's private
Your family's hours are yours to see on My sign-ups — they're never shown to anyone else, and there are no leaderboards, ever. Our community shows only the school-wide picture. About children we store first name and class, nothing more. The board itself is readable without signing in, but who's coming, class sheets, and anything about people stays behind sign-in.
Something not answered here? Replies to any Many Hands email reach a real person — or ask at the front office.