Relays

A relay is a message left with VOICE for someone who does not have reliable access to a phone or email, together with the record volunteers keep of each step taken to deliver it. Anyone can leave one, whether a relative, a friend, a caseworker, or someone who also lacks reliable access. A message can also be for an organization, or for someone within one, such as a caseworker or an office whose number you do not have. Questions about VOICE itself should go to info@voicestl.org, because relays are meant for messages to people and organizations.

Details to Include

A message is easiest to deliver when it includes these details.

• Its intended recipient, and anything that would help volunteers find them, such as where they are likely to be or the last phone number you had for them.
• What you would like them to know, including any appointment or deadline.
• Your name, or the name you would like volunteers to use.
• How you can be reached, or when you plan to come to an in-person session.

Only the message itself is required, although each of the other details makes it easier to deliver.

Leaving a Message

By Phone

Call VOICE's message line at (314) 246-0395 and leave your message after the tone, including the details listed above. Every call goes to voicemail, so that each message is recorded where volunteers can work on it. Voicemails are transcribed automatically, so it helps to say names and phone numbers slowly and to repeat them. A message in another language is recorded in full, and a volunteer will listen to it and try to arrange interpretation.

If you are Deaf or hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, you can dial 711 to reach a telecommunications relay service, whose operator can leave the message for you.

In Writing

Write your message in the Relay a Message box, found on every page of this site, name the person it is for, and choose Send Message. Under Add Details, you can also give your name, a phone number or email address, and your preferred language, and you can mark the message as urgent. After you send it, a page shows its relay number, such as R7K2Q. If you mention that number in a later message or at an in-person session, a volunteer can find your message quickly.

Receiving Messages

Anyone who needs to reach you can leave a message for you in the same way. Give them the message line's number, (314) 246-0395, and ask them to say your name, or the name you use with VOICE, in their message.

When a message arrives for you, volunteers work to reach you in whatever way your situation allows, such as through a caseworker who knows you, at an email address you check, or in person at a session. It helps to let the people who may leave you messages know where you are likely to be. If volunteers have no way to reach you, the message is kept, and you can ask a volunteer at an in-person session whether anything is waiting for you. A message with no activity closes after 30 days, and everything in it that could identify anyone is deleted 30 days after that.

Delivering a Message

1. The message reaches the Switchboard, the shared system volunteers use to keep track of every message VOICE receives. A voicemail arrives as its recording and transcript, and a written message arrives as its sender wrote it.
2. The message becomes a relay with its own number, and a volunteer or a workgroup takes responsibility for it.
3. The volunteer works to deliver the message by whatever means reaches the person, such as a phone call, a text message, an email, a caseworker who knows them, or a private conversation at an in-person session.
4. Each step the volunteer takes is written into the relay, so any other volunteer working on it can see what has been done and continue the work.
5. Once the message is delivered, the volunteer closes the relay. If the sender left a way to be reached, they are told that a volunteer worked on their message. To protect the privacy of the person it was for, the sender is told nothing more, such as whether the message was delivered, unless that person agrees.

Volunteers come from several organizations, so a message has more than one possible path to its intended recipient. How soon it is delivered depends on volunteers' capacity, and volunteers are not available at all hours.

A message marked urgent is shown as Urgent to every volunteer working on it, and the workgroups chosen for urgent relays are notified at once. When a message depends on a date, such as an appointment, a volunteer can record that date as its Needed By date, and everyone working on the relay is reminded the day before.

Example

Marcus's sister needs to tell him about their mother's appointment on Friday, and his phone stopped working last month. She calls the message line and leaves a message saying that it is for Marcus, that it concerns Friday's appointment, and that she can be reached at her own number. The transcript reaches the Switchboard, where a volunteer records Friday as the message's Needed By date. Marcus's caseworker, who also volunteers with VOICE, sees the relay and tells him about the message when she meets with him on Wednesday. He calls his sister from the caseworker's office, and the caseworker records in the relay that the message was delivered and closes it.

Showing a Message on Beacon

A message can also be shown on a Beacon screen or sheet, which can help when there is no other way to reach its intended recipient. A note might say, for example, that mail has arrived for D. M. If you would like your message shown, say so in the message. Anyone near a screen or sheet can read it, and many screens can also be viewed online, so include only what you would be comfortable with anyone reading. Beacons explains how a volunteer prepares the note and how long it stays up.

Keeping and Deleting Relays

A relay closes automatically after 30 days without activity, such as a reply or a note from a volunteer. Everything in a relay that could identify anyone is deleted 30 days after the relay closes, unless a volunteer keeps it for another 30 days at a time because it is still needed. Privacy explains what remains afterward.