Follow Up: Fort Belvoir Collaborative (Feb 20) & Reminder for Next Meeting (April 16)

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Fort Belvoir Collaborative

Mark your calendar for the next

Fort Belvoir Collaborative Meeting

Thursday, April 16

12:00 - 2:00 pm

We'll be meeting virtually using Zoom

First off, Mary and I hope you are all safe and healthy during this extraordinary time in our world.

We want to thank all that attended our last meeting in February and provided a wonderful discussion on Volunteer Management, specifically serving our military and veteran populations.

I have recapped below highlights from that discussion.

For our next meeting, we hope you'll join us virtually on Zoom to hear updates from our presenters.

April 16 Speakers:

Operation Deploy Your Dress

Robin Powers, DC Representative for Operation Deploy Your Dress will be providing an overview and update on their DC Pop Up event. They will be rescheduling the event to September 12.

She has let me know that all that were interested in donating formal wear are encouraged to hang on to their dresses and items you are interested in donating until closer to the new date. This is a great time to do some extensive Spring Cleaning and sort through formal wear and accessories that can be donated.

Blue Star Families

Julie Riggs, DC Chapter Director for Blue Star Families will be joining us to present the results of the 2019 Military Family Lifestyle Survey. She will also share updates on Blue Star Families, including activities and events they are providing virtually to provide connection for our military and veteran families in the region.

Meeting Notes from February 20:

Click here to download the Sign-In Sheet

This meeting provided a great opportunity to learn from various organizations that recruit, manage and show appreciation for volunteers supporting the military and veteran space. We learned about each organization's opportunities and how they find volunteers, manage them and ultimately motivate them to stay engaged. Each organization was a little different which provided us an opportunity to compare and contrast various ways to support the work we each are doing within our organizations. Thanks to our presenters for sharing their knowledge and experience.

American Red Cross

Pikkwan Boston and Navneet Prasad joined us to discuss American Red Cross' Volunteer Recruitment and opportunities in the NCR, and as they expand to Baltimore/Delaware soon. You can see a listing of their various volunteer opportunities listed here: https://www.redcross.org/local/washington-dc/volunteer.html

Disaster Response – The largest percentage of our volunteers work on a Disaster Action Team where they help people affected by disasters ranging from home fires to hurricanes by providing food, shelter, essential relief supplies, and comfort and hope.
Preparedness Education – Volunteers teach families, classroom groups, organizations, and corporations how to “Be Red Cross Ready” for disasters and emergencies.
Health and Safety Training – Volunteers enrich and protect our community by teaching the vital lifesaving skills of First Aid, CPR and the use of an AED, Babysitting, Water Safety, and Pet First Aid.
Service to the Armed Forces – The Red Cross has supported our men and women serving in the military for more than 100 years. Volunteers connect families and veterans with resources to respond to emergencies, teach coping and resilience skills, and provide recreational and therapeutic support at local military hospitals.International
Humanitarian Services – Volunteers coordinate fundraising for measles vaccines, educate youth about the Geneva Conventions, and provide international tracing and messaging.
Fundraising – Volunteers make it financially possible for the Red Cross to deliver its lifesaving services. The Red Cross relies on volunteers and the generosity of the American public.
Leadership – Volunteers serve on the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region Board of Directors, local leadership councils, and other decision-making committees, manage programs, and chair activities.
Blood Services – Volunteers coordinate blood drives and serve as blood drive volunteers to register blood donors and staff the refreshment area.

In the National Capital Region, volunteers ensure that the Red Cross can provide:

Services for people affected by fire and other disasters
Speakers and presenters for community programs
Coordinators for Red Cross Clubs in middle and high schools
CPR and First Aid instructors
Services to the military and their families
Office and administrative support
Public Affairs support

If you want to talk to someone about volunteering, please leave a message at 703-584-8444 or email NCRVolunteerServices@redcross.org .

Serve Our Willing Warriors

We were excited to have Sarah Ford, Chris Wrinkle and Larry Zilliox join us to share more on their volunteer program and how they engage and motivate volunteers.

They operate 2 retreat homes in Haymarket, VA that invites medically stable wounded warriors and their family, friends or battle buddies to stay for 5 days in a nice homeaway-from-home environment away from treatment setting to provide rest, relaxation and re-connection.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of their organization and have several ways volunteers can support their amazing work:

Food Program Team
House Guest Team
Grounds Team
House Maintenance Team
Guest Coordinators Team

The largest need they have is the house has to be cleaned each Wednesday following when a guest leaves and before the new guest arrives on Friday. They need 14 people in the larger house and 9 people in the smaller house to thoroughly clean the home. They also have 3-4 volunteers maintaining the grounds, including mowing, weeding, etc.

They also have several opportunities for support in fundraising, coordinating events, and their beautification days.

You can learn more about their Volunteer Opportunities and how to submit your interest, by visiting: https://www.willingwarriors.org/volunteer-opportunities.

USO Warrior & Family Center Fort Belvoir

Sheila Hutchinson has worked at the USO Warrior & Family Center at Fort Belvoir for several years and is their internal volunteer expert. She shared more about how she manages the volunteers at the Fort Belvoir Center.

Sheila manages over 300 volunteers at Fort Belvoir, and recruitment isn't really a challenge for her, as there are many military families on the installation and local retired veterans that request to volunteer. 99% of her recruitment comes through their website looking to volunteer:

https://metro.uso.org/support/volunteer

Her biggest challenge is the center is open 365 days per year, 7 days per week. They rely on having 4 volunteers every shift that she has to manage and ensure shifts are covered. This can especially be challenging from December thru May when many retirees travel to warmer climates for extended periods of time.

Many want to volunteer to support the various events they offer, but to give them those opportunities they do have to work 2 shifts per month to be able to support volunteering at special events.

They use a volunteer management database called Digital Cheetah to have volunteers sign up for shifts and it also calculates service hours and more.

Collectively, some of the resources shared for Volunteer Recruitment included:

Volunteer Match

Indeed

RSVP - retired senior volunteer programs

Volunteer Prince William , Fairfax, Arlington, etc.

Posting on your website

Share on your organization's newsletter

Posting on the Volunteer Page in your local newspaper

Getting out to resource tables or community events

Sharing at Churches, Veterans Groups, or Colleges

Sharing to Military Spouse Groups and other Veteran related Facebook Groups

Hold a quarterly orientation

Here are websites that can help with Volunteer Tracking:

Track it Forward

Digital Cheetah

And don't forget to offer ways to appreciate your volunteers and thank them. Serve Our Willing Warriors shared a few ideas, including creating a Volunteer of the Year Award - they are naming "Willing Heart Award". They will also be doing a Commemorative Brick Campaign that will be creating a viewing area with the bricks.

Collaborative Member Updates:

USO-Metro

USO-Metro held their Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for their new location at MCB Quantico. Like their Facebook Page for more updates .

Upcoming Events:

-April is Month of the Military Child

-May has Military Spouse Appreciation Day

April Virtual Coffee Connections:

Maryland Wednesday, April 22, 2020 10am

https://zoom.us/j/645725524

Virginia Thursday, April 23,2020 10am

https://zoom.us/j/233214655

Kicking off April 6 ^th –will be doing a series of Education workshops

Online Education Information Session Tuesday, April 6, 2020 6:00pm – 8:00pm

https://zoom.us/j/737934197

Online Introduction to Starting a Nonprofit Thursday, April 16, 2020 6:00pm – 8:00pm

https://zoom.us/j/112422418

Online College Financial Aid Information Session Thursday, April 21, 2020 6:00pm – 8:00pm

https://zoom.us/j/206323162

USO continues to reach out to provide info on Facebook for military families

A few upcoming cancellations:

Tonight – FEMA Corps – Facilitator – putting it on hold because FEMA Corps are now on hold for hiring

Supermarket Sweeps – not happening in April – because food bank is using food for underserved community

USO Pathfinder

Welcomed two new Scouts - Jessica Riggs and Jenn Bedard!

They are currently hiring for Ellen’s replacement.

Upcoming events:

Thurs. April 9 ^th from 9am – 10:30am EST – Your Strengths, Your Career virtual workshop to register – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pathfinder-workshop-your-strengths-your-career-april-9-tickets-92359165751

Thurs. April 9 ^th from 1-3pm EST Troops to Trainers https://webcasts.td.org/webinar/3716

Thurs. April 2nd from 7 to 9pm - Mastering LinkedIn with the "Ask Mike" Edition. https://bit.ly/02AprilUSO

Coffee Connection Live:

April 3- Coffee Connection Live with Maria Reed: DIY Craft

9:00am-10:00am ET http://bit.ly/usomariareed

April 8- Discover ing Your Spark Virtual Workshop with Brittany Boccher

9:00am-12:00pm ET https://bit.ly/usodysapril8

April 10- Coffee Connection Live with Molly Bennett: Art for Family

11:00am-12:00pm ET http://bit.ly/usomollybennett

April 16- Coffee Connection Live with Corie Weathers: Marriage

8:00pm-9:00pm ET Link coming soon!

April 29 Discover ing Your Spark Virtual Workshop with Brittany Boccher

1:00pm-4:00pm ET https://bit.ly/usodysapril29

Bravo Zulu Outdoors

Their website is updated and live! Check it out here .

NOVA Vets

Forrest handles the Volunteer and Recruitment for Missing in America Project whose purpose is to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans through the joint efforts of private, state and federal organizations. To provide honor and respect to those who have served this country by securing a final resting place for these forgotten heroes. They are seeking volunteers that are interested in going to funeral homes, morgues, etc. to help identify unclaimed remains to help submit to their project. If interested, contact Forrest at forrest-mcliaison@novavets.org .

Blue Star Families

BSF has launched a Caregiver Connect monthly meeting for Caregivers to provide Connection and Focus Group like Discussions. These will be held monthly at the America Red Cross house on Fort Belvoir. They have a broad-definition of Caregiver and invite all those who may be care-giving in some way to attend. For more information on these, please contact Aimee Stoddard .

They are moving all their Coffee Connection events online, you can see them here: April 14; April 16; April 20 – all held virtually https://www.facebook.com/pg/DCCBSF/events/?ref=page_internal

They are also offering online virtual programs they are sharing on social media, including Virtual Show Me the Money workshop – w/ MSEC – April 2 from 3-4 pm https://www.facebook.com/events/208077390482639/

Defense & Veterans Brain Injury Center

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. DVBIC provides an extensive amount of resources to share about brain injuries, along with a blog that has videos and more called A Head for the Future . Click here to download their resource sheet.

DAV

DAV has a van that can provide transportation to the DC VA Medical Center for veterans that have appointments. But haven't had any volunteer drivers in quite some time, thus have not been able to offer that service. They are seeking connection to Volunteer Drivers that have a Drivers License, can pass a background check and are not accident prone. For more information contact Bob Bent .

ServingTogether

ServingTogether has two new team members! Melissa Barber has joined our team as the Western Maryland Program Manager and Erica Fatal is one of our Peer Navigators helping to connect our military, veterans and their families to resources in the National Capital Region.

Regional Community of Practice event on Minority Veterans & Sub-Populations - watch the recorded webinars:

Engaging Minority and Underrepresented Veteran Communities

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/3446867103831352579

Presented by: Robert A. White, Minority Veterans of America

Uncovering Areas of Stigma and Identifying Best Practices in Support Underrepresented Veterans

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/4704153152636599298

Moderated by: Aryanna Hunter, University of Pittsburgh.

Featuring: Patti Gerhauser, Veterans Leadership Program

Timothy M. Jones, Veterans Leadership Program

Robert A. White, Minority Veterans of America

Mental Health First Aid: Military/Veterans scheduled for April 1 in Fairfax has been Postponed. More details on rescheduling to be announced as we know more in the coming weeks on COVID-19.

All our collaboratives have moved virtually, see the full list here - https://servingtogetherproject.org/collaboratives/

Upcoming in Northern Virginia:

April 7 – Fairfax County https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrdOivqzMrCpSIuAbQJZVQbWPQX4Lc1w

April 14 – Loudoun CVEB https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvcOipqjsqeFmBHF_BbXCl82uAdW7lHA

April 20 – Fort Belvoir https://zoom.us/meeting/register/v5Evc-Cprz4v8OVnNVALtu_d3vmTeEcVkA

Other Updates:

National Museum of the United States Army opening June 4

June 4 & 5 Loudoun County Veteran Experience Action Center - this event has been postponed due to COVID-19.

June 6: Honor Flight for WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam Veterans (departs from Ashburn)

Look forward to seeing you virtually soon!

Thank you from your Fort Belvoir Collaborative Co-Chairs,

Christy Kenady

Northern Virginia Program Manager

ServingTogether

703-288-5355

ckenady@every-mind.org

Mary Santini

Regional Manager

American Red Cross, Fort Belvoir & Quantico

571-231-4160

mary.santini@redcross.org

** Fort Belvoir Collaborative 2020 Schedule **

April 16; June 18; August 20; October 15; December 17

Please continue to share information, services & events with the Veterans Collaborative through this email. We appreciate your partnership and continued support of the Collaborative.

ServingTogether | servingtogetherproject.org