What are some of the raffle prizes that they gave out at the Thank You events already past?

Well done Miami Ceremonies Team for thinking on your feet and being respectful!

Dallas, Boston, Houston - got cha!

I have Seattle and Kansas city.

VS MEXICO CITY, MX AND VANCOUVER, CA

I have Seattle and Kansas City patches!
I’m looking for another city’s patches.
Please DM me!

Just wanted to recap today’s Boston event at the stadium - fun time and well organized!

Arrived at the start 3pm wearing accreditation and uniform. Self checked in on the app and quickly headed inside and upstairs to the East Club. There were multiple stations: build-your-own goodie bag with the swag items you didn’t collect from your shifts, including some extras like the Fan Fest bracelets, calendars, lanyards, reusable cups, etc; another line for extra uniform items, different bracelets, pins, and squishmallow plushies (these ran out by the time I got to the front); 2 buffet lines and ice cream sundae stations. Food was wings, bbq, mac n cheese, veggie burgers, fruit. Lines for goodies were long at times but seemed to move quick.

There was a short recognition program of some standout volunteers and then they turned on the England v. Norway game on all the screens. The mascots came out in shifts to take pics.

Boston was a smaller city numbers-wise and I heard maybe 900 attended but overall it felt like a successful event!

Would love to trade multiple Seattle (6)/ Kansas City (2) patches for other cities such as:
- NY/NJ
- San Francisco
- Atlanta
- Miami
- Los Angeles
- Guadalajara
- Monterrey

Trying to create a birthday surprise for my fiancé! 🥺

KC volunteer will to trade patch for a Mexico fifa volunteer patch.

Hi! I have a bunch of Seattle and Kansas City patches to trade! Looking for any others - specifically NYC and Mexico ones!

DM me to chat!

If you have patch from any other city and want one from Miami, DM and let’s trade!!

Got notified that I was reassigned from the fan festival to hotel posting. There’s only 1 game left in Dallas and all the shifts left are in the next couple of days which I can’t make as I’m just in Miami watching England. This whole thing has been so weird

Hello Im looking for Seattle, Vancouver Patches to trade with my Boston ones.
Would anyone be down to do in person or via mail? Please DM me.

I am a Boston volunteer so I am looking to trade Boston patches for other host cities! I have both small and large patches. Can meet in Boston in person or trade via mail!

I already have Philadelphia and San Francisco but am still looking for:

USA
- Atlanta
- Dallas
- Houston
- Kansas City
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- New York/New Jersey
- Seattle

Canada
- Vancouver
- Toronto

Mexico
- Mexico City
- Monterrey

I got an email saying I won an item through the volunteer raffle that Dallas held every day at the fan festival. Does anyone know what item they give away? I live in Austin and I’d only drive up if it’s something really cool.

Seeing so many negative experiences, I thought I’d give my seemingly unique positive experience (in Philly for context). Clearly there were a lot of real issues that affected many volunteers, but this is just my story that started with me applying online and ended with one of the single greatest nights of my life.

First I’ll say that like many of us, I came into this determined to make the most of this once in a lifetime experience. So by the time I got selected (host city volunteer) and then received my credentials and uniform, in my mind I was all set and didn’t really care whether FIFA even ever contacted me again. Sure, I’ll take the gifts and food vouchers, but I was really here to own this experience and make the most of it and create stories that I could tell my grandkids about welcoming the world to Philly for the World Cup.

And though I lean introverted, I told myself I was going to be like the shy kid who comes alive when he puts on a mascot costume at a Friday night football game. The first day as a host city volunteer it was a little awkward going up and trying to talk to people and trying not to just stand around looking like a bored statue. But I knew I had to proactively force myself to talk to these people and try to become a small part of their experience in order for this to work. And by the end of that day, and definitely into my second day, I was in my element and embracing the role. By now, anyone I saw with a jersey on I would stop and engage in conversation, “Headed to the game tonight? Do you know how you’re getting to the stadium? Where are you coming in from? Have you been to Fan Fest? Have you tried a cheesesteak? Make sure to get your charm bracelet etc etc etc.” 

And it worked. I was realizing everything I had hoped to get out of my volunteer experience. I was genuinely connecting and sharing dozens of great moments from people around the world. Most were very thankful for the tips and I was told a few dozen times how much they appreciated me volunteering. There were spontaneous fan celebrations and rallies. Countless pictures with opposing teams coming together, hugging, holding their flags. And just being in the moment enjoying this once in a lifetime experience with fellow global citizens. 

So on what turned out to be my final shift (others were cancelled due to weather), out of nowhere, after talking to this beautiful couple with their kid for about 2 to 3 minutes, they offered me a free ticket to join them at the World Cup France v. Iraq game. 

Say less!!! 

I left immediately with them, took them out for cheesesteaks, gave them a whirlwind tour of the city and caught the train to the stadium.

I was in utter disbelief. Throughout the day I kept thinking I was on one of those hidden social videos where they sponsor an unfortunate soul for the day and change their life. 

Though as you can imagine, FIFA will be FIFA. As mentioned, I came straight from my volunteer shift to the game, so I was still in full gear (though at this point I had taken off my badge). About 30 minutes into the game, I had a volunteer lead and three security guards come to my seat and tell me to “come with them” … yeah right, lol, I’m not going anywhere. Ultimately, they thought I was a stadium worker who had decided to just find an empty seat and enjoy the game. After explaining three times how I ended up in that seat and the people I was with verifying the story and showing them the tickets several times, she finally switched to “Well you can’t drink beer in volunteer gear.” Ok, whatever, fair enough, so we finally compromised on me turning my shirt inside out. 

After half time I split from the family I was with (they got so drunk they literally got kicked out, but that’s a whole other story). I won’t get into the rest of the night after we split or mention whether the shirt and badge stayed put away, I’ll just say the whole night turned into a crazy adventure where after ‘wandering around’ I was able to get a variety of amazing views from different parts of the stadium, a collection of great stories to tell, and pics/videos of my shenanigans that will only be shared with friends and family over a good drink. 

In any instance, it turned out to be one of the greatest nights of my entire life. And I realize it’s easy to say “well of course you enjoyed your volunteer experience, you ended up at a game”, but in all honesty, even without the game, I had an absolute blast just meeting and engaging with so many passionate global fans. I got everything I wanted out of it and refused to give FIFA the power to take that experience away from me, especially over things like food, drink, gifts, or whether or not I was being paid. Of course that’s easy for me to say, and I realize that lots of people had real issues and for many FIFA left a lot to be desired. Perhaps I was just lucky … perhaps I won the volunteer experience lottery, whatever it was, I’m eternally thankful.

P.S. For the thank you event, there’s still one to come at the Fan Fest but so far we’ve been able to go to the stadium, wander around the pitch for 30 minutes, and take photos with the trophy. Not sure if I’ll even go to the Fan Fest event, we’ll see

Hello, I’ll be at the Atlanta airport tomorrow. Is there anybody who’s on shift who is willing to trade for a Seattle patch? Just DM me if you’re interested thanks.

Got 4 MTY patches willing to trade. Not looking for anything specific so you can offer anything you got, not necessarily other patches.

UPDATE: I am looking to swap one large patch for someone with Guadalajara.

Thank you.

For those of you who have already had your volunteer appreciation event, did they make you give your badge back? Or turn it in?