Archive for the ‘Volunteerism’ Category

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It’s That Time of the Year to Celebrate Volunteers!

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Happy National Volunteer Week! Yesterday started the kickoff for the week. How will you celebrate the power of volunteerism? If you stick with HandsOn Network and our friends, you won’t be disappointed this week!

President Barack Obama officially proclaimed the week of April 15-21 to be National Volunteer Week April 9th. National Volunteer Week is a week long celebration of volunteer recognition and the power of service. It is the perfect time for beginner volunteers to start giving back, families to come together through volunteering, and organizations to recognize their volunteers and partners.

How can you celebrate this week with HandsOn Network, Points of Light, generationOn, and AmeriCorps Alums? The list below will make it easy for you to get involved!

  1. Learning time: Our partners have many volunteer learning resources happening this week. GenerationOn is hosting a free webinar on April 18 “With Honor! May Moments of Service.” This is a great opportunity for youth to learn about service projects or organizations and individuals who work with youth to participate, as well. AmeriCorps Alums will be hosting a webinar on “Resume Assistance” April 17. This webinar is a great tool for adding volunteer experience to your career resume. You can also find many webinar resources on our website! Register for the above webinars by clicking on the webinar titles.
  2. Reward volunteer hours: Cabot Creamery Cooperative, All for Good, Create the Good, and Points of Light have teamed together to make volunteer hours count for even more. Thanks to the “Reward Volunteers” mobile Smartphone application you can get prizes just for sharing your volunteer hours.
  3. Volunteer with our friends: HandsOn Network has over 250 action centers who are all hosting volunteer projects across the nation. Whether you are interested in the environment or you just want to play with some cute animals we know you will not have a problem finding something to do.
  4. Recognize volunteerism: There are so many ways that you can tell your volunteers “Thank-you” this week. From a simple thank-you card to a volunteer parade just show them that you care.
  5. Tell us what you do: Share your story of volunteerism with Points of Light this week. By sharing your story, you could have a chance to win one of five cruise tickets to Alaska for you and a guest thanks to Cabot Creamery Cooperative.
  6. Girl power: Do you know a woman who is making a big difference in the community through the power of volunteerism? Nominate her for the 2012 L’Oreal Paris USA’s Women of Worth contest. Your nomination could help her win money for her nonprofit!
  7. Feed the hungry: Join generationOn and No Kid Hungry as they team up for the Great American Bake Sale. All you have to do is register your bake sale and donate your profits to Share Our Strength who will put your donations toward the fight against hunger.
  8. Visit the Extra Mile Pathway: Want to be inspired by great acts of service? Visit the Points of Light Extra Mile Pathway, if you will be in the Washington DC area. There is a great bunch of dedicated volunteer stories just waiting to inspire you along the way.
  9. Join Clifford: Know someone who is making an impact this week and beyond? Whether they are young or old nominate them for Scholastic’s BE BIG Challenge today!

National Volunteer Week is going to be awesome! We hope that you will get out and celebrate people in action.

Got questions? Let us know in the comments section below, after all we are a fun bunch so don’t be scared to ask!

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Posted in Events, Family Volunteering, Mobilize, Volunteer Recognition, Volunteerism | 3 Comments »

I Give Time Because …

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Why do you volunteer? That’s the question we all want the answer to, as it varies so much from person to person. We collect stories, read studies, and browse charts & infographics in pursuit of the common theme. We love volunteers and never tire of hearing the inspiration behind the time and effort they give to the causes and organizations they are passionate about.

So why do you give your time?

I give time to your cause because it makes me feel generous.

…because I was asked.

…because I want to show support for a friend who is involved.

…because you asked me to, and it’s hard to say no to you.

…because I want to be recognized.

…because I want to keep busy.

…because I feel guilty.

…because I don’t want to seem apathetic.

…because it’s my duty.

…because you make me feel needed.

…because I have a personal connection or stake in the challenge you focus on and the solution your organization is working for.

…because its good for my health & perspective.

…because you inspire me.

…because I identify with your story.

…because my spouse volunteers with you or sits on your board of directors.

…because I want the t-shirt (mug, calendar, raffle prize).

…because I was in a giving mood.

…because it’s my job.

…because it’s an escape from my job.

…because it looks good on my resume.

…because it’s fun.

…because I want to pay the benefit I got from your organization forward.

…because your organization’s professional staff are so nice to me.

…because you’re changing the world somehow and I want you to keep on making changes.

…because volunteering makes me feel cool.

…because volunteering makes me feel happy.

…because volunteering makes me feel hopeful.

…because volunteering makes me feel part of a community.

 Why do you volunteer? Let us know in the comments below!

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Posted in Volunteer Reflection, Volunteerism | 2 Comments »

Volunteers, You’re Awesome Take a Bow

Monday, April 9th, 2012

We absolutely love volunteers! Not just because we are a nonprofit organization focused on volunteer listings and opportunities, but also because they are just plain awesome! Why?

Volunteers dedicate themselves to a cause or an issue in the community because they care and want to give back. They do not act for monetary rewards or even recognition. They volunteer their in many different ways from book drives to park clean up just to give back to their neighbors.

April is National Volunteer Month, so let’s celebrate the hard work volunteers are doing around the world by recognizing their efforts!

  • In 2012, 62.7 million people volunteered in America.
  • Thanks to those 62.7 million volunteers, 8.1 billion hours of service were logged for the United States. Imagine what the nation would look like without those 8.1 billion hours!
  • 26.5% of United States residents reported that they volunteered in some form over the past year in 2010. Those 26.5 percenters individually contributed 34.1 service hours in their communities.
  • The Independent Sector reports that those 8.1 billion hours of service were worth $178 billion in 2010. Each volunteer is worth $21.67 per hour, but they do the work for their love of the community, rather than salary.
  • 23.5% of volunteers are actively involved in food collection and distribution. How many residents would go hungry without these volunteers?
  • 26.7% of volunteers for education. How would our children succeed in school without the help of education volunteers?
  • 11.6 million Millennials volunteered 1.2 billion hours of community service to their community in the categories of fundraising, labor, mentoring, and food distribution. Do you still believe that young people cannot make a difference?
  • 9.2 million older Americans (65 years and older) donated 1.7 billion hours of hours to their communities. Older adults are able to find new meaning to their lives after retirement thanks to volunteer work.
  • Volunteers with HandsOn Network affiliates impacted the service economy by $546,638,278!

Are you still skeptical about the value of volunteer work? We hope not. Recognize the work being done in your community via volunteers. National Volunteer Week is just around the corner, April 15-21. Do something special for your volunteers! Whether you want to alert the media about your volunteer events and impact or you want to write personal thank you notes for your volunteers, make this a week of recognition for the unbelievable service work happening every day!

 

The statistics used in this report can be found in the 2010 Volunteering in America report conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

This infographic can be found via the Corporation for National and Community Service.

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Posted in Impact, Service, Volunteer Recognition, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

Helping Others Makes Us Happy

Thursday, April 5th, 2012

Volunteering and helping our fellow man has long been seen as an altruistic thing to do. But more selfish motives–pleasing friends, doing what you want–are more successful causes of effective volunteering! Regardless of motive, volunteering improves the health, happiness, and in some cases, the longevity of volunteers. Children who volunteer are more likely to grow up to be adults who volunteer. Even unwilling children who are forced to volunteer fare better than kids who don’t volunteer. Communities with lots of volunteers are more stable and better places to live, which in turn further boosts volunteerism.

“On one hand, it’s striking that volunteering even occurs,” says Mark Snyder, a psychologist and head of the Center for the Study of the Individual and Society at the University of Minnesota. “It seems to run against the strong dynamics of self-interest. There is simply nothing in society that says that someone is mandated to help anyone else.” Yet 1 in 3 adults do meaningful volunteer work on a sustained basis, he notes, and the United States has one of the world’s highest rates of volunteerism.

“People who volunteer tend to have higher self-esteem, psychological well-being, and happiness,” Snyder says. “All of these things go up as their feelings of social connectedness goes up, which in reality, it does. It also improves their health and even their longevity.”

Among teenagers, even at-risk children, who volunteer reap big benefits, according to research findings studied by Jane Allyn Piliavin, a retired University of Wisconsin sociologist. She cites a positive effect on grades, self-concept, and attitudes toward education. Volunteering also led to reduced drug use and huge declines in dropout rates and teen pregnancies.

Most people say they value volunteering because it’s “the right thing to do,” among other altruistic reasons. But the strongest drivers of successful volunteers are actually more self-focused. There are five main reasons people volunteer:

Understanding: the desire to learn new things and acquire knowledge.

Esteem enhancement: feeling better about yourself and finding greater stability in life.

Personal development: acquiring new skills, testing your capabilities, and stretching yourself.

Sense of community: making the world, or your piece of it, a better place.

Humanitarian values: serving and helping others, often with a strong religious component.

People often get into volunteer work because a friend asks them, and that can be a fine entry point. But people should also do some work to make sure the organization is a good fit for their interests and that the work they would be doing is also a good fit. Be sure to ask “what’s the optimal match for me?”

Further, if there is a jumble of factors motivating people to consider volunteering, they might want to reconsider. When people have multiple motivations, it is harder for them to be satisfied. Experts say it is easier to derive happiness when your goals are simpler.

Concern for others and concern for yourself can complement one another. Find a way to do good for others at the same time as you do good for yourself. Have you made volunteering a part of your social life? Let us know how in the comments below!

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Posted in Family Volunteering, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 8 Comments »

3 Ways to Use Your March Madness Bounty for Good!

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

Now that March Madness is over and the national championship has been decided, it’s time to celebrate all of the amazing things that are happening in April!

We at HandsOn Network are challenging you to give your March Madness bracket bounty to charities
April is National Volunteer Month, which means it’s a great time to honor the amazing service that volunteers have done in your community. One way to celebrate the awesomeness of volunteers is by sharing their story via  the Points of Light Facebook tab! Simply, go to facebook.com/pages/pointsoflight, click on the National Volunteer Week tab (located below our cover photo), complete the form. This should take up too much time of your day, but hey we’re sure that volunteer is well worth your time! that promote awesome causes, recognize volunteers during National Volunteer Week, share a story to win an Alaskan cruise, and just be awesome!

  1. Give your March Madness bracket bounty to a great cause! Every parent knows that a hungry child is a disadvantaged child. He can’t grow, develop and learn like other kids. She has trouble focusing and getting along. They complain often of headaches, stomachaches and other ailments. They fall behind in virtually every way. It doesn’t have to be this way. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry® strategy provides that access to families all across the nation, so that every child, regardless of circumstances, can get the healthy food they need to thrive. Help the fight against child hunger by donating to Share Our Strength.
  2. Host a bake sale! In addition to donating money to Share Our Strength’s mission to end child hunger, you can also participate in the Great American Bake Sale and help a youth host a bake sale or host your own! The Great American Bake Sale happens all across the country, all year long. Awesome youth and caring adults sign up to hold bake sales and send their profits to Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength uses that money to end childhood hunger. You can schedule your bake sale whenever you want, but the National Challenge is April 20-22. It would be sweet if your bake sale won! The first 300 bake sale hosts to submit $275 or more from bake sales held on National Challenge Weekend will receive a Jay at Play’s Little Miss Muffin Pop N Flip™ toy!

Whether you’re donating your money to an awesome organization or celebrating volunteers, we are grateful for all of the philanthropic contributions and hope that you have fun celebrating all of the great generous service of those around you!

 

 

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Posted in Economy, Family Volunteering, Fundraising & Development, Kids, Volunteerism | No Comments »

Clean Up on the Community Aisle

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

In case you have just awoken from winter hibernation, spring has finally arrived! From the high levels of pollen to the newborn animals running around spring is in full swing and will not be ignored. Since we cannot hide from it, it is time to celebrate the new spring season with volunteer work (we would not be HandsOn Network if we said otherwise)!

While April is a time for blossoming spring weather, it is also Keep America Beautiful Month! Keep America Beautiful is a time to focus on preserving our environment through recycling, reducing waste, and beautifying communities.

April is a great time to celebrate these values by starting your own volunteer project such as a community cleanup! Follow our steps below to get your project off the ground and help keep America beautiful!

Develop a plan:

  • Form a planning committee to organize the project and develop a strategy.
  • State the purpose of your project.
  • Assign specific role to participants
  • Create motivating letters to get the word out to the community about your project.
  • Contact your local media to recruit their participation.
  • Plan how you will recognize your volunteers and funders.

Build your teams:

  • Recruit a volunteer team of all ages from businesses to kids. All ages can participate in this project! The more people that you are able to recruit the more you can accomplish and clean up.

Set a location:

  • Identify an area in your neighborhood that needs to be cleaned up. Your location can be any area in your community, as long as you get permission to use it for your project. If you are using kids, make sure that your area has a place that will be safe for them.

Secure resources:

  • You will need different colored trash bags (recycling and trash), gloves, hand sanitizer, water bottles, etc.
  • Coordinate with your local recycling and trash units to make sure everything is cleaned up after the project is over.

Keep your fundraising goal in mind:

  • Develop a story about the purpose and history of your project, so that funders understand the philanthropy aspect.
  • Empower and equip your team members to fundraise and interact with funders to ensure a successful event.
  • Use online fundraising
  • Pass around donation jars at local events such as youth groups, school, the workplace, or town hall meetings.

Review last minute details and communicate with volunteers:

  • Make sure that everyone on your project team knows where the event is, the time it is happening, and is aware of the necessary supplies and work attire.

Recognize your volunteers:

  • Show your volunteers how much you appreciate their time verbally.
  • Take pictures of the event and post them on social media channels.
  • Post a sign recognizing your funders.
  • Outreach for media help with volunteer recognition.

Reflect and Learn:

  • After the project is done, ask someone to lead a reflection of the day for the group. It is important that everyone understand the effort they put in to complete the project and how their efforts will better the community.

Park cleanupKeeping your community beautiful is a great way to better your economy, environment and well-being. This month get out and take pride in your community’s appearance. Let’s clean up our neighborhoods and make every month Keep America Beautiful Month!

For more information on planning a neighborhood cleanup project, check out HandsOn University’s toolkit resource to get started today!

Have you planned a neighborhood cleanup in your community, have any suggestions? We would love for you to share in the comment section below!

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Posted in Environment, Family Volunteering, Neighboring, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Project Development, Volunteering, Volunteerism | No Comments »

Don’t Stress! 7 Reasons It Pays to Volunteer

Friday, March 30th, 2012

Why do you volunteer? Many volunteer for selfless reasons, but service can do so much good for the volunteer too! Consider volunteering more often to help others in your communities, social circles, and life, not only for all the wonderful benefits that come from spreading kindness, but also for the great benefits that people experience when they help others.

Research, observation, and possibly even your own experiences agree that helping others, altruism and finding meaning in life all have their hand in stress management. While donating your time or unneeded possessions doesn’t always solve your problems or ameliorate your stressors, acts of kindness and volunteer work can provide the following positive effects:

  • A good feeling about oneself. Having a positive sense of self can actually help you feel less reactive to stress, and bring more enjoyment to all of your activities.
  • A feeling of connection to others. Having a sense of community, a supportive circle of friends and other forms of social support can increase your resilience as well as your longevity and quality of life.
  • A sense of meaning and greater purpose in one’s life. Having a greater sense of meaning can help stressors seem more manageable, feel less threatening and be less likely to trigger your stress response.
  • Perspective about one’s stressors–others may have greater problems. Having a change of perspective can help your stressors seem much smaller to you, and may help you realize that you have more control in life and more options than you realized.
  • A reminder to feel gratitude. When you’re feeling more gratitude about what you do have, your whole life feels better, and those things that you lack seem less important, less stressful.
  • An opportunity to use one’s own unique gifts. Especially if you’re battling burnout or in a job that doesn’t thrill you, it’s important to have outside activities that ‘feed your soul’, that challenge you in ways that make you feel alive. Often, volunteer opportunities can provide that, while you provide others with gifts that they can really use as well.
  • Something to think about other than one’s stress! Distraction can be a beautiful thing, and distraction from stress can give your body a chance to recover from chronic stress and feel healthy and calm again.

All of these effects can help with stress management, and are reasons to continue to volunteer throughout the year! Consider starting with small things that will still make a big difference to someone in need; do to what you can, rather than thinking that you’re too busy to make a real difference! Are you a regular volunteer, or do you plan to do something to help others this weekend? Share your good deeds in the comments below.

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Posted in Volunteering, Volunteerism | 6 Comments »

10 Ways to Volunteer Your Spring Break

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

We found a pretty awesome blog post over at Parent Society with some great tips on how to make Spring Break a chance to bring volunteering to your kids’ break! Check out these 10 Ways to Volunteer Your Spring Break from our friend Carissa Rogers!


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5 Reasons you should support your local farmers

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

I don’t know about you but fresh locally grown food sounds super delicious and refreshing! The “local food” movement is characterized by citizens obtaining food from farmers in their local communities

Many Americans are accustomed to eating FDA-approved produce from across the globe, all year.  However, there is growing concern within the food industry that the rising costs of energy for transportation, unfair labor practices, and the negative impact of chemicals used to boost food production are becoming increasingly unsustainable.  One way that environmentally- and socially-conscious eaters are addressing these concerns is eating local produce or by becoming a “locavore.”

    1.  Buy from your local farmers’ market: Buying from your local farmers’ markets means that your food could costs less as a result of the farmers’ market buying locally or receiving direct shipments of fresh food without costly warehousing and distribution delays. The consumer ultimately receives the highest quality and largest variety of fresh and organic food products currently available.
    2. Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be “rugged” or to stand up to the rigors of shipping.  This means that you are going to be getting peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bits if they were sold using traditional methods, and melons that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute on the vine. Mmmmm, how yummy?
    3. Buying food locally supports local farmers! Why not support a local small business? When you buy local, you give those with local open space – farms and pastures – an economic reason to stay open. This keeps money in your community which stimulates your community’s economy. Since money remains in your community, your community becomes more desirable to potential residents and businesses.
    4.  Visiting a farm. Find a farm in your area and call to make an appointment to see the farm. The farmers are usually happy to show a family or a group around the farm. When you visit, ask the farmers what challenges they have had and why they choose to grow what they are growing. Be sure to take the kids along on this journey! This allows for great family bonding time and an awesome opportunity to learn about the hard work farmers put in to produce your food.
    5. Locally grown produce is fresher.  While produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmer’s market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase.  This freshness not only improves the taste of your food, but also improves the nutritional value which declines over time.

Purchasing local foods is beneficial to you, local businesses, your family, the environment, and of course your taste buds! (I’m already the deliciousness of a locally grown juicy tomato) Tell us how you and your family plan on participating in the local food movement in the comments!

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Posted in Economy, Environment, Volunteerism | No Comments »

World Water Day: Do Your Part!

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Happy World Water Day! It only makes sense that  element that we rely on for life itself should have its very own day. World Water Day was instituted by the United Nations to remind us that much of the world still faces a global water, sanitation and hygiene crisis, and that it is our urgent obligation to act.

This year the theme of World Water Day, March 22, is “Water for Food Security.” 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted or thrown away every year. Cutting that amount by 50% would save 1,350 cubic kilometers of water annually. Agriculture uses 85% to 95% of all water in many developing countries. While we can’t stop consuming food and water altogether, there are a few things we can do to conserve water and honor World Water Day this year.

Participate in one of the many worldwide events People across the globe are coming together tomorrow to recognize the importance of water for food security and educate themselves. Check out the UN’s World Water Day website to find an event near you.

Conserve water If you live in an area prone to droughts, you may already live by these tips! Turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth. Adjust your sprinklers so they don’t run in the middle of the day when the sun will simply absorb it. If you have a dishwasher, only run it when the machine is full. If you wash by hand, consider filling one side of the sink to wash in rather than leaving the faucet running. A few simple adjustments can make a world of different on your water footprint!

Conserve food Did you know that most of the water we “drink” is embedded in the food we eat? For example, the production of 1 kilo of beef consumes 15,000 litres of water, while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres. Reduce your food waste by paying close attention to the expiration dates on your food, and reducing your meat intake. In the United States, more than 25% of food goes wasted every single year!

Sponsor a water project If you’d like to make a global impact, consider sponsoring a water project. Charity: Water, Water.org, and the UNICEF Tap Project are just a few of the many organizations working to provide water to those without. With more than three times more people lacking water than those living the United States, water projects need our support.

Donate your voice Do you use social media? If you have friends and followers, consider loaning some of your social media updates to raise awareness of World Water Day. Social media is a powerful tool, and you may very well incite your friends to action!

Calculate your water footprint Calculate your water footprint with Water Footprint Network’s Quick Calculator; you may be shocked at what you find! Compare and contrast the water footprints of various countries to gain a better understanding of the shortage.

Get your kids involved If you’d like to get your kids involved, be sure to check out our friend, GenerationOn’s, Project of the Month. The cute animal pictures are just a bonus!

How will you act for World Water Day? Let us know in the comments below.

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