Vacations are for relaxation, rejuvenation and fun. Why not add gratification to that mix? Get out and volunteer in a new community, bring your own rejuvenated brand of creativity and give back.

Where are you headed this summer?

Yellowstone Park

Making a trip out to Yellowstone National Park? This park is served by hundreds of volunteers throughout the year. While exploring the park, why not share your service to help protect and preserve park resources? Visit this website to learn more.

New York City

Remember that catchy tune? “It’s up to you, New York, New York!” Get out there and change the world. Visit NewYorkCares.org to search for volunteer opportunities in the big city. Projects like Game Time at Page Turners where volunteers participate in activities like relay races, hula hoop activities and jump roping or sorting at Bread of Life Food Pantry where volunteers sort and pack groceries for disadvantaged families. There are so many opportunities available through New York Cares it will be hard to choose!

Washington D.C.

Visiting D.C. means sight-seeing! The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian museums. While you’re out and about, spend some time volunteering! The Smithsonian offers fun and easy volunteer opportunities. It’s a great way to learn more about the area, to learn more about our nation’s history and to meet new people. Service and fun, what more do you need?

Chicago

Enjoy the city, enjoy the sights! Before your visit, be sure to check out Chicago Cares for volunteer opportunities and special events happening in the windy city. You’ll find health and hunger programs, environmental programs, programs benefiting children and many more. There is something for everyone! Why not add some volunteering to your vacation itinerary?

San Diego

San Diego is known for its outdoor sights and spots. Go visit Balboa Park or the San Diego Zoo or Mission beach. While you’re enjoying these outdoor attractions, give back to maintain their beauty! Check out Volunteer Match when planning your vacation to incorporate these service and fun opportunities!

No matter what your plans this summer, be it vacation or relaxing at home, there are so many ways to incorporate volunteerism into your plans. Be the change, volunteer!

Share your ideas below: how do you give back while on vacation?

It’s been a long year. Kids are home for the summer, things are slowing down, and it’s time to relax and create those fun family memories that come with the summer heat.

Volunteering at home is a great way to create those memories together! You can relax at home with the family while still giving back to your community. It’s a great way to bond with busy kids and it’s easy!

Here are a few ideas for family bonding now that kids are home from school:

1). Kits, Care Packages and Bags, galore!

Sit down with the family and create a few Hygiene kits to be donated at your local homeless shelter or food bank. Make as many as you’d like! And be sure to include the essentials like: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, bar soap, band aids, razors, shaving cream, shampoo, etc. What else would you like to add? There are so many possibilities. Visit volunteermatch.org to find out where you can donate the supplies.

Or why not create a chemo care package to send along to your local hospital? These are a great tool and an awesome gift for those enduring Chemotherapy treatment. Include things like: lemon drops and disposable tooth brushes to help their taste buds; a water bottle to help flush the drugs through their system; lotion and hand sanitizer to help their immune systems; a journal to write in (you could even leave encouraging notes or inspirational phrases inside!); and some chocolate, too. A special treat can go a long way! Check out thepamperedpatient.com for more ideas.

Making wish list bags for the Ronald McDonald house is also a great family activity. Visit their website here and look through the Ronald McDonald House- Upper Midwest wish list. Get your family together and go through your pantry; visit the store and put together a bag for the families that stay at the RM House. With volunteers like you taking care of the little things, families there can focus on the big things- like the health of their child.

2). Write something!

Words are a powerful thing. Sit down with your family and write a card to a soldier serving overseas. (Check out this website for directions). Why not join a pen pal program? Or send a few cards to children with life threatening illnesses? It’s a fun, easy way to lift their spirits and help them through their tough time. You can decorate them, send small gifts, include pictures, etc. It’s a great opportunity to get creative and make a difference!

3). Sew it up.

Become a “blanketeer” with an organization like Project Linus. Get together with the family to make a new, handmade, washable blanket to be given as a gift to seriously ill and traumatized children, ages 0-18. They accept blankets of all styles and sizes, including quilts, tied comforters, fleece blankets, crocheted or knitted afghans, and receiving blankets in child-friendly colors. To get started, visit their “Patterns” page. It’s easy, fun and incredibly heart-warming to provide security to these kids as a family.

Want more? Check out the HandsOn Twin Cities Pinterest page for more crafty, family-friendly ways to volunteer from home this season.

Happy Summer!

Today’s post is the second installment of a two-part guest post by Jenny Friedman, founder and executive director of Doing Good Together, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that empowers families to raise children who care and contribute. 

The Twin Cities is enviable for its lakes, bike paths – and the vast number of parents who are eager to teach their children about caring, compassion and contribution. You can tap into this resource by developing a vibrant family volunteer program. It not only can support the work your organization does right now, but also help you recruit your next generation of volunteers and supporters.

Families are realizing that volunteering provides an oasis of meaningful time together to live out their values. Your organization, meanwhile, will benefit from improved productivity, public image and fundraising potential. Plus, when people volunteer with family members, they’re likely to volunteer more often and enjoy it more.

Equally important, family service inspires young people to keep making a positive difference as adults, continuing the pattern of philanthropy imbedded in them as children.

Your first step is to determine what opportunities you can offer. Think about ideas that are safe and appropriate for kids. Remember that families need flexible schedules and that younger children won’t have the attention span of teenagers. Then start small.

Consider a one-time project (perhaps at the holidays) that includes families, or invite two or three parent-child volunteer teams on board for a few months to determine whether such teams suit your organization.  You can also get started by having families with children gather (at your office, an off-site location or someone’s home) to create blankets, decorate cards, stuff teddy bears or put together kits for you. These “kitchen table” projects can lead to further volunteering commitments.

Think about modifying existing volunteer opportunities to include families. If you already use volunteers to serve meals, visit clients or run events, perhaps you could have whole families get involved. Keep an open mind. Families with children are often capable of much more than we imagine.

Your best bet for recruiting family volunteers – both for existing or newly developed opportunities – is to make projects creative and appealing. For example, Dorot, a New York agency that serves older adults, has a “Family Circle Program” for families with children ages 4 to 12. The families gather to make gifts for a senior, then stay for a 45-minute visit when they deliver the gifts.

Although families are often looking for something beyond holding a drive or fundraiser, you can attract interest in these ideas if you frame them the right way. First, think about what might be exciting for families to collect — say, cereal, socks, pajamas or craft supplies. Then at the drop-off area have the collection displayed in a creative way. One group clipped donated socks to a long clothesline. Another parked a large van in front of their agency and used the donations to “stuff” the van. (You could take guesses on how long it will take to fill it up.) Also use the occasion to offer tours of your facility.

Or take a cue from organizations with their own signature fundraisers, such as Alex’s Lemonade Stand and the Great American Bake Sale, and create your own event. For example, if your group serves families in poverty, you can give donor families a 30-day “calendar” and suggest an “activity” they complete each day (e.g., counting how many stuffed animals they have, counting how many closets are in their home, etc. ). They then place that number of pennies (or dimes or quarters) in a jar. At month’s end, they’ve had important discussions about wants and needs, and have raised money for your cause.

As you expand your program, you’ll become skilled at matching individual families with the right tasks.

These days, agencies are also increasing their appeal by offering parents an education and reflection component, such as journals, handbooks, child-friendly evaluations and booklists. These help children and adults better understand the impact of their volunteerism and help cement service as a lifelong value. (Check out the parent handbook that Doing Good Together created for Metro Meals on Wheels.)

If you want to build your agency’s capacity to better engage families in service through creative yet rewarding opportunities, Doing Good Together can look at your specific work and challenges, and suggest solutions tailored to your goals.

Today’s guest post comes from Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota. Thanks for telling us about your volunteer programs, and for recognizing the wonderful volunteers that work to make your programs such a success!

With the tantalizing thoughts of spring right around the corner, many people are itching to get outdoors and enjoy the milder weather. For Habitat for Humanity volunteers, this means dusting off their hammers, putting on their painting clothes, and volunteering at build sites and in offices.  Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit Christian housing organization, builds and repairs simple, decent, and affordable homes with those who lack adequate shelter. The 32 Habitat affiliates in Minnesota work closely with volunteers of all ages to support and serve low-income families throughout their communities. Through the dedication and persistent work of volunteers, this organization has served over 2,000 families in Minnesota who now live in healthier and safer homes. (To read more about Habitat for Humanity and its programs, read our fact sheet.)

The scope of a volunteer’s work is varied, but the results are the same. Regardless of a volunteer painting, hanging dry wall, or helping with an affiliate’s fundraising campaign, each volunteer is contributing to the elimination of poverty housing. Each year, over 30,000 volunteers contribute to Habitat for Humanity’s mission statewide, with an average 2,015 volunteer hours being spent on building a Habitat home. Habitat volunteers make their mark on more than just the four walls of a new home; the long-term impact of having a stable place to live is astonishing! After Habitat partner families move into their home, they experience improved health, greater educational attainment and job prospects, decreased dependency on welfare programs, and an increased personal sense of connectedness to their family and community. (To read more about how Habitat homeownership is changing lives, read our full Homeowner Impact Study report.)

In addition to the hardworking volunteers who log long hours on build sites constructing Habitat homes, there are also volunteers who work behind the scenes to build organizational capacity and resources at Habitat for Humanity affiliates. This extraordinary group of people, known as Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), commit to a year of service and provide help in several areas to ensure the longevity of Habitat programs. VISTAs increase the affiliate capacity to build community involvement by recruiting and retaining more volunteers, assisting with family selection and support programs, spreading awareness through advanced communications efforts, and developing new programs. VISTAs leverage and grow resources so Habitat for Humanity affiliates can serve more families and strengthen more communities.   

So as the temperature steadily rises and the days become longer, Habitat for Humanity affiliates across Minnesota are gearing up for busy construction days. With the continuous help from volunteers, both onsite and behind the scenes, poverty housing is being eliminated. For more information on Habitat for Humanity affiliates across Minnesota and to find your local affiliate to volunteer, visit www.hfhmn.org.

VISTA SPOTLIGHT

AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers create materials and programs that Habitat affiliates can repurpose and reuse to build even more capacity. Amanda Mangan, a 2011-2012 VISTA, spent her year focusing on volunteer coordination. Habitat for Humanity is a heavily volunteer-centered organization; recruitment and retention of volunteers is essential to our success. Amanda implemented new ways of interacting with potential and current volunteers by creating a weekly e-newsletter blast with photos, construction updates, and upcoming volunteer opportunities. This tool allowed volunteers to stay involved with a project and see progress being made. The results were immediate. The Habitat affiliate saw an increase in volunteer retention, because their volunteers felt valued, proud, and more connected to their work. Amanda also created a volunteer database to better track the number of volunteers and hours spent on the build sites. The database allowed her to connect regularly with even more people, as she collected and updated the database with volunteers’ emails.

Learn more about being a Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps*VISTA.

Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota
Jenni Ebert, Communications and Development Director
Roxy Helmeid, Communcations VISTA

As supervisors, we are trained to provide volunteers:

• a sense of being needed and valued
• opportunities for personal growth
• meaningful work
• recognition for work well done

If we adhere to the above mentioned provisions, we, as supervisors, benefit from volunteers who:

• stay with the organization
• become advocates for the work we do
• lend their skills to drive the mission of the organization
• become an extension of staff

There is a frequent phrase heard when volunteers talk about their community engagement – “I personally gain so much more by volunteering than what I feel I give to the organization.” If this is the case, and if this seems to be a predominant outcome of volunteering, then how can we, as volunteer supervisors, and we, as willing volunteers, leverage these experiences even more?

Recently, we have seen skills based volunteering as a great way to encourage positive volunteer experiences for both the organizations and for the volunteers themselves.

At HandsOn Twin Cities, skills based volunteers are a driving force behind our success and programming.

• Internal volunteers work to leverage our technology and program offerings so that what we do at HandsOn is viable for our nonprofit affiliates and community members.
• Many of our nonprofit affiliates are trainers who share their expertise and knowledge base through workshops and Leadershops held at HandsOn offices.
• Skills based volunteers worked with us in November to hold focus groups, and then strategic planning sessions again this winter with board and staff members to define where we need to focus as an organization.
• Dozens of other skills based volunteers engaged in presentations and consultations at our first annual Skills Based Summit held at the Mall of America.
• HandsOn also has a board of directors who challenges us to stay current, flexible, and entrepreneurial in our approach in working with our many constituents.

During National Volunteer Week, we want to recognize our volunteers who inspire the HandsOn Twin Cities staff to strive for excellence in our every endeavor.  To all volunteers, thank you for making a commitment to engaging through service.  Your contributions are noted, valued, and appreciated.