The Volunteer Connection
Fall 2019
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Dear Friends,
We are so excited to begin offering this quarterly e-newsletter specifically designed for the volunteers and volunteer managers in our service area. You will see that it highlights a nonprofit organization and several hardworking volunteers that deserve to be recognized, along with several other topics of interest. With the recent launch of our new volunteer portal,
GetConnected
, you will definitely want to take advantage of
the upcoming training sessions
with
Julia Ough
, our AmeriCorps VISTA member. We are also thrilled to share the official
2020 Governor's Volunteer Service Awards nomination form
, along with upcoming
training sessions
regarding the nomination process with
Brittney Albert
, our Community Engagement Coordinator. Community volunteers will want to check out our recommendations for DIY holiday projects, group service opportunities, and time-sensitive projects!
Whether you are a volunteer, a manager, or BOTH, thank you so much for all you do to make Winston-Salem and all six counties in our service area great places to live, work, play and SERVE!
Yours in service,
Amy, Kathy, Brittney and Julia
The HandsOn NWNC Team
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Sunnyside Ministry
was founded in 1978 by the Moravian Church Southern Province and housed at Trinity Moravian Church. Quickly, the ministry grew and, subsequently, moved out of the Trinity Moravian Church into a space of its own. For 41 years, volunteers have been helping the less fortunate with food from the Food Pantry, clothing and light household items from the Clothing Center and financial assistance for basic needs like rent/mortgage and utilities. Along the way, Sunnyside Ministry has launched other programs designed to empower their clients to be self-sufficient. They provide a Scholarship program for High School Seniors to go to college, as well as a financial literacy program called Gaining Control to provide their clients a chance to break the cycle of crisis living.
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As many nonprofits can relate, fall is a critical time for fundraising, and this year,
Jimmy Wills volunteered at the perfect time. Right before a/perture began their annual Fall Fund Drive, Jimmy reached out to ask if he could help in their office, and he quickly became an essential part of their mailing campaign. While managing stacks of envelopes, inserts, and spreadsheets may not be the most glamorous tasks, Jimmy was positive and professional, keeping them organized (and sane) as they launched their most ambitious fundraiser yet!
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Beth Ann Keeton has 45 years of dedicated service to the Red Cross starting with supporting members of the military and their families in Germany. Her stateside service has taken her around the US and currently in the Triad where she supports disaster clients, members of the military, volunteer services and many leadership activities. These include being a master instructor to train others to work with volunteers and serving on the Board of Directors. Her impeccable leadership, customer service, and dedication is remarkable and much appreciated! Want to be like Beth Ann? GetConnected to Red Cross volunteer opportunities today!
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Kathy Pounds won Bookmarks' 2019 Volunteer of the Year Award, as she has helped extensively with Book Build and with their community events. Whether by covering, processing, or delivering, Kathy has touched almost every book that has been processed through the Book Build initiative, which is placing 25,000 new books into WS/FC Schools by Fall 2020. She is an absolute joy to work with and an incredible part of their team who is always willing to step up and help!
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We’re excited that our new online volunteer platform,
GetConnected
, has been live for nearly two months!
GetConnected is an intuitive, user-friendly platform where organizations from all over the community are able to post their volunteer needs and upcoming service events, and volunteers are able to find places to serve that connect to their passions, interests, and schedules.
The launch of this new platform is part of our continued partnership with
Love Out Loud
. Like many of you, we recognize the value of collaboration and alignment to strengthen our efforts and impact. (Love Out Loud is calling the new platform BASE, but it is the same platform.)
Going forward, whether you login through
HandsOn's GetConnected
or through
Love Out Loud’s BASE,
your organization’s volunteer opportunities will automatically post to both sites– giving more volunteers access to your information and increasing your visibility.
But, as mentioned above, you will only be able to edit opportunities by logging in through the “door” where the opportunity was originally created.
Any agency who updates their HandsOn GetConnected profile will see their information automatically synchronized on BASE, and vice versa. We are hopeful that our reciprocal relationship will increase volunteerism in our community.
All user and agency accounts were automatically transferred from our old site, so all of your old information is usable and accessible on the new site. Please reach out to our AmeriCorps VISTA member,
Julia Ough,
with any questions about your HandsOn GetConnected volunteer or agency profile. She is happy to schedule time to speak with you over the phone or to meet in-person.
Julia is hosting
GetConnected training and networking meetings at the Winston-Salem Foundation on 11/5 from 5PM-6PM, and 11/6 from 12PM-1PM.
At these meetings, she will answer any questions you might have and share her thoughts on how to get the most out of the site. This will be a great opportunity to meet other volunteers and volunteer coordinators in our region. Can't make either of these two sessions? No worries--more sessions will be offered in the coming months;
follow our Facebook page
for when they are announced. Please register for the sessions below or just come!
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Forsyth County Governor's
Volunteer Service Awards
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Tuesday, April 28th, 2020
8:00 am
Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center Conference Center
3333 Silas Creek Parkway
Winston-Salem, NC 27103
Don't miss the most inspirational, feel-good event of the year in a brand new venue!
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Sponsorship Opportunities & Nominations Are Now Open!
We hope to see you at our largest event of the year, the
Forsyth County Governor's Volunteer Service Awards breakfast.
Bringing together approximately 300 diverse members of our network, from community volunteers, their families, nonprofit and business partners, to local officials and representatives of the NC Governor's office, the breakfast gives us the opportunity to highlight the amazing work of more than 50 outstanding volunteers, with winners in 17 categories. BUT-- we can't do that without your help! Please
nominate
an outstanding volunteer that you know before the
January 31st
deadline!
While individual tickets for the breakfast will go on sale later this year, we're currently accepting event and table sponsorships from those companies and nonprofits that understand what a rare opportunity the breakfast is-- a chance to support dozens and dozens of diverse organizations and their volunteers, all with a single gift! You can learn more about the breakfast on our
website
, which includes links to the sponsorship form and the online nomination form. Have questions? Plan to attend one of our upcoming information sessions about the Governor's Awards, or
send us an email.
We'd love to hear from you!
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DIY Holiday Service Opportunities
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We all know that this time of year causes folks to get into the spirit of giving-- both of their treasure as well as their time. Many, many folks decide to celebrate Thanksgiving, for example, by serving together with their family. Indeed, the Saturday before Thanksgiving--
November 23rd in 2019--is marked as
National Family Volunteer Day, and there are great resources,
including DIY projects for younger families, available for those interested in getting involved.
Here in Winston-Salem, the few formal volunteer opportunities available on Thanksgiving tend to book up quickly, usually a full year in advance. Instead, we recommend the following DIY service activities for your family on Thanksgiving:
HOST A NEIGHBORHOOD FOOD DRIVE Encourage your neighbors to put out a few canned goods on their porch, which you and your family can collect on Thanksgiving and then deliver to
Second Harvest Food Bank or
Crisis Control Ministry the Monday after the holiday. This gives you a chance to meet and visit with your neighbors, too-- always a great benefit of service! Sites like NextDoor can make organizing this kind of event easier than ever.
BAKE COOKIES OR MAKE SNACK MIX Some nonprofits never close-- even on Thanksgiving! Organizations like the
Ronald McDonald House,
SECU Family House, and the
Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home appreciate volunteers that bake homemade cookies or put together their own snack and trail mix bags that they can share with the families they serve-- families that are often exhausted, overwhelmed, and grateful for a quick, homemade bite from folks that care. Individually packaged cookie or snack bags can be dropped off on Thanksgiving, or anytime over the holiday weekend. (But please call first!)
SHARE A MEAL WITH A RESIDENT OF A LOCAL NURSING HOME Chances are you've passed a local skilled-nursing facility in your neighborhood every day without really noticing it. Unfortunately, too many residents of these facilities won't have local family or friends with which to share their holiday meal. Many of these nursing homes would welcome friendly faces to share a meal with some of their residents, play games, or otherwise just chat and visit. Plan to call a few days in advance to schedule an appropriate time and to ensure you have time to follow any safety or security protocols the facility may have.
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TIME-SENSITIVE AND
GROUP OPPORTUNITIES!
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Beyond Thanksgiving weekend, however, there are dozens and dozens of ways to get involved between now and the end of the year! You can find hundreds of local organizations, most with current volunteer opportunities, on
GetConnected.
Looking to engage your staff, employee team, or civic or church group in a shared service activity before the end of the year? Whether it is a group of 10 or 100, HandsOn can help make it happen!
Contact us and we can help you source, plan, and manage the event from start to finish!
For small groups and individuals, here are just a few of our current listings to help get your started:
Help Decorate a Gingerbread House
On December 6th and 7th,
The Parenting PATH
is teaming up with Mrs. Pumpkins to put on this amazing two-day fundraiser event for the greater community. We would love volunteers help families decorate the gingerbread houses with candy and decorate gingerbread houses with icing so families can place candy on the icing.
Become an Afternoon Food Pantry Assistant
Crisis Control Ministry is looking for volunteers available on weekday afternoons to help
clients pick out their groceries, as well as load the groceries into their vehicles; replenish their client choice store by stocking shelves, doing quality control on fresh vegetables, bread, and other perishables; organize and stock received items into the warehouse; and perform light housekeeping to assure their store and warehouse is clean and tidy for their clients. This can be a great service activity for a small employee group or team!
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HandsOnNWNC.org
| phone: 336.724.2866 | fax: 336.724.4467 |
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