Meet some of the volunteers who helped the RNC hit its goal of 4,000 helpers
Arrie Larson Manti and Thomas Manti are one of the “rare husband-wife teams” that volunteer together, they said.
The Mantis are two of the thousands volunteers that are needed by the Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee, a nonpartisan entity that is working with the Republican National Convention to run the massive event that will take over Milwaukee in the middle of July.
"You meet a lot of fun people, whether it's the people from out of town, whether it's the volunteers that you're working with, the politicians that you meet, the city people that run Milwaukee," Arrie Manti said. "It's just been fun. It's been very interesting and we've learned a lot."
The Host Committee estimates the convention will need about 4,000 volunteers, and the application closed June 5. Alec Zimmerman, the spokesman for the Host Committee, said the committee hit its goal for volunteers.
All volunteers have to complete a background check and training sessions, and shifts will be available throughout southeast Wisconsin in communities that will host convention delegates.
Volunteers will help the convention with operations, transportation, wayfinding and airport and hotel greeters, among other activities. The convention expects 50,000 of visitors in Milwaukee between July 14 to 19.
Mary Jo Thompson said she has volunteered at multiple events already to prepare for the RNC, such as the media walkthroughs in the fall and some Milwaukee Brewers games to recruit other volunteers.
Thompson also said she enjoys meeting people while she volunteers, including state representatives and senators and people running the RNC.
“I may or may not be in the Fiserv Forum during the convention, that depends on the volunteer opportunities that are available, but I also look at it as being a part of history,” Thompson said.
RNC LATEST: Milwaukee council committee rejects effort to ban guns in Republican Convention security area
The RNC is closed to the general public, but some volunteers will be allowed inside the venue at Fiserv Forum that will be filled with delegates from the states, media from around the world and RNC staff.
Volunteers do not need to be available for the whole week, though that is an option. Average volunteering shifts are four to six hours, and will take place in downtown Milwaukee as well as locations throughout the state.
Lynne Sobczak, another volunteer who has worked with the Host Committee this past year, said she hopes to inform visitors to Milwaukee about the city and create a good impression that will get people to come back.
Sobczak also said she gets to learn more about the city if she’s in a location she has not been to or when she meets other volunteers.
“I know how it makes a much better impression on our visitors when we have smiling faces greeting them and giving them directions to get around town,” Sobczak said. “So I'm happy to have this opportunity to do it myself, and I'm partial of course to the Republican Party, so I wanted to be involved in that way as well.”
CONVENTION SECURITY: What to know about Secret Service's final planning for the RNC in Milwaukee
Larson Manti said volunteering on the Host Committee was not a political gig, and that even though the convention is focused on Republicans, volunteering was bipartisan.
The Mantis, Sobczak and Thompson said they did not volunteer for the Host Committee for political reasons, but to help the city of Milwaukee.
"If you love the city of Milwaukee and you want to see it thrive and see these kinds of people come back here again on their own with their families or score another big convention, you got to get out here and help and you got to make people feel like they're welcomed in Milwaukee," Larson Manti said.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: RNC reaches its goal of 4,000 volunteers for Milwaukee convention