CLEVELAND, Ohio–Three thousand unpaid volunteers are helping the thousands of GOP delegates, alternate delegates and members of the media who are attending the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loan Arena.
From the airport, to the fifty plus hotels in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, the suburbs, and nearby Akron, it is impossible not to encounter a smiling volunteer clad in a red, white, and blue t-shirt that says “Cleveland 2016 Volunteer.”
The well-planned effort has been organized by the Cleveland 2016 Republican National Convention Host Committee, which began recruiting and training local volunteers back in 2015.
One volunteer, Kip Tobin of Fairlawn, Ohio, tells Breitbart News he went through a three hour training session and a Secret Service background check before he was approved as a volunteer.
“They told us not to talk about politics,” Tobin says with a smile.
Tobin, who owns a local franchise of a staffing company, and Monica Galang, a middle school computer science teacher, were working a two and a half hour shift on Monday morning at the Residence Inn in Akron-Fairlawn, thirty miles from the convention, when they went the extra mile to help out several stranded journalists.
The scheduled shuttle failed to show up at 11 am.
Half an hour later, Tobin solved the problem by driving the journalists to the convention center in his own car while Galang held down the welcoming duties back at the hotel.
Other examples of friendly volunteers offering directions or other aid to the visitors attending the Republican National Convention abound.
With the Cleveland Cavaliers winning the NBA championship and the Cleveland Indians in first place in their division of the American League, it’s been a good month for Cleveland.
So far, the volunteers at the Republican National Convention have added to the city’s winning way.