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March 2018 - Twin Cities |
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Minnesota FoodShare
March Campaign Drive
Date/Time: Bring your food and/or cash donations to your local food shelf by April 8
Location: Your local food shelf
March is Minnesota Food Share month. Each March since 1982, Minnesota FoodShare has directed the March Campaign, the largest food drive in the state. Join people across the state in a concerted effort to stock food shelves during March Food Drive, a month-long campaign with yearlong benefits for food shelves and hungry families in Minnesota. This campaign recruits thousands of congregations, companies, schools and civic groups to run local food and fund drives to aid in the effort and it is the largest food and fund drive for food shelves in the state of Minnesota. Every dollar donated to Minnesota FoodShare during the March Campaign goes directly to food shelves to purchase food for the hungry. You can collect food or cash donations as a family and donate them to your local food shelf or you can recruit family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, or individuals from your faith community or civic group to help organize a larger food and/or donation drive. Want to enrich your food drive with age-appropriate lessons on the complex issue of hunger? Try
DGT's unique book-based Hunger Curriculum. Ideal for small group discussions, for children ages 4-10 years old.
Ages: Your entire family can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
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Style Show: Embrace Your Style
Arc's Value Village
Date/Time: Saturday, March 10, 9am - noon
Location: Arc's Value Village, 10546 France Avenue South, Bloomington
Join us for a Style Show in support of World Down Syndrome Awareness Day. 3/21 signifies the 3rd copy of the 21st chromosome in people with Down Syndrome. Volunteers are needed to help us greet, cheer, and facilitate a great fashion show. When you shop at Arc's Value Village, your dollars support The Arc Minnesota, making life better for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This style show will be emceed by our in-house stylist Michelle Raven along with event correspondent Anahita Champion. Our models will be styled by local stylists and their fashions will represent the individuality of each model.
Ages: Families with children age eight and older are welcome to volunteer. A parent or guardian will need to accompany a youth volunteer who is not in high school.
Time Commitment: Three hours
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Buckthorn Removal
Acorn Park
Date/Time: Saturday, March 17, 10am - noon
Location: Acorn Park, 286 County Road C West
Roseville Parks and Recreation is in the midst of an aggressive eco-restoration project to remove invasive/non-native plant species from City parks. In order to eradicate the abundant invasive/non-native plant growth, such as buckthorn, garlic mustard, and Tatarian honeysuckle, significant woodland cutting is required. Native shrubs and hardwood, however, will be left undisturbed. Once the removal of the invasive/non-native growth is completed, native plant material will be reintroduced. The long-term goal is to improve the overall wildlife habitat and native cover in City parks. This restoration work to remove invasive trees and shrubs and restore more native vegetation will result in changes to the visual character of each park, yielding a woodland understory and shrub layer that is more open and appropriate for our region. Volunteers should bring gloves and water bottles and dress for the weather that day as this is an outside event.
Ages: Families with children ages 10 and older are welcome to volunteer
Time Commitment: Two hours
Contact:
Rachel Boggs, [email protected], 651.792.7028. Interested volunteers can email Rachel to register or can just show up.
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Baby Shower for The Link's Young Families
The Link
Date/Time: Tuesday, March 20, 5 - 7pm
Location: Shepherd of The Lake Lutheran Church, 3611 N Berens Rd NW, Prior Lake
The Link will be hosting a Baby Shower to celebrate and support young families in our programs. Join us to design onesies, prepare dry soup mixes, assemble diaper bags full of much needed items for a new parent, and learn more about the work being done at The Link. There are many ways to participate with The Link's Baby Shower including attendance, donation drives, registry gifts, and sponsorship. Click
here to learn more.
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Two hours
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Frozen Meal Prep for Youth Experiencing Food Insecurity
The Link
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 28, noon - 1:45pm
Location: Grace Lutheran Church, 7800 W County Road 42, Apple Valley
All too often youth and families in our programs go without food. We'd like to change that. Join us to prep frozen meals that will be distributed to youth and families when they need them. This is a great opportunity if you are an individual, group or family! Volunteers bring the ingredients to make a large scale collective impact for youth experiencing food insecurity.
Ages: Families with children ages ten and older are welcome to participate
Time Commitment: One and three-quarter hours
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Family Volunteering
Presbyterian Homes and Services of Bloomington
Date/Time: Flexible scheduling; ongoing opportunity
Location: 9889 Penn Ave. S., Bloomington
Presbyterian Homes and Services enriches the lives of older adults through services and communities. Parent/child volunteer teams are needed to visit residents. Volunteer teams can play cards, read, watch television, play board games, do a craft, or just talk!
Ages: Families with children of all ages are welcome to volunteer. Minors cannot visit with residents in their room or apartment without an adult present. Youth 14 and older can assist with activities and events without parent or chaperone.
Time Commitment: One to five hours per month.
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Spring Break Volunteers
Arc's Value Village Thrift Stores
Date/Time: Volunteer shifts are available days, evenings & weekends:
- Monday-Friday: 9am - noon, 1 - 4pm, 4 - 6pm, 6 - 8pm
- Saturday-Sunday: 10am - noon, 1 - 4pm, 4 - 6pm
Location: Arc's Value Village has
locations in Bloomington, Brooklyn Center, New Hope, Richfield & St. Paul
Make a difference in your community by volunteering at Arc's Value Village. Volunteers help unpack, sort, tag/sticker donations; hang and tag clothing; put price stickers on books, dishes and other hard goods; test small appliances to make sure they work; stock the sales floor and more. You will also learn how your efforts will support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families in our community!
Ages: Families with children eight and older are welcome to volunteer.
Time Commitment: Volunteer shifts are two or three hours. You can volunteer one-time or on an ongoing basis
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Start a Bake Sale to Benefit No Kid Hungry
No Kid Hungry - Share Our Strength
Date/Time: Flexible to fit your schedule
Location: You choose! Simply find a local business, school, place of worship, community center or neighborhood that will allow you to hold your bake sale. It's that simple. We have more ideas for good locations in our
Location Guide.
Funds raised through Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry support Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign to end childhood hunger in America. Nationally, the campaign provides leadership, raises awareness and advocates for change that will make sure no kid in America ever goes hungry. Locally, Share Our Strength funds the most effective anti-hunger organizations and builds partnerships that bring together public officials, nonprofits, community groups, private funders and businesses to end childhood hunger in a particular state or city.
Click here to learn more about the work being done through No Kid Hungry. To start your own Bake Sale simply
click here. Our online
Bakers' Resources is the place to find lots of how-to tips, signage and much more.
Ages: All ages are welcome to participate.
Time Commitment: Varies
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Puppy Raisers & Long-term Foster Homes
Can Do Canines
Date/Time: Ongoing need, as puppies need homes at various times throughout the year.
Location: 9440 Science Center Drive, New Hope
Raise and train a future service dog! Volunteer puppy raisers and fosters are needed to teach our curious canines good house manners and how to behave well in public places. As a puppy raiser or long-term foster, you would attend a minimum of two training meetings each month and provide a home, food, basic veterinary care and lots of love! This is a great opportunity to spend quality time as a family, and pass on the values of commitment, compassion, and civic responsibility by helping people with disabilities in your community.
Ages: This is a great family project. Children under age 12 can take part in obedience training, feeding and helping to work on good house manners, and those between 12 -16 can receive approval by training staff to handle dogs in class and in public places under adult supervision.
Time Commitment: Varies depending on age of dog when placed. Could range from 6 to 16 months.
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Delivering Beds to Kids
My Very Own Bed
Date/Time: Deliveries are made on Thursdays from 10am - 1pm and Saturdays from 9am - noon; other opportunities are flexible
Location: 34 - 13th Ave NE Minneapolis, (located in the Keg Arts building)
The mission of My Very Own Bed is to provide children who have experienced homelessness a comfortable, safe place to sleep. In doing so, children and families will experience the benefits of sleep which can include improved attendance and increased performance at school, and the ability to maintain attention and emotional stability. Homelessness and housing instability negatively affects a child's health, development and education. Stable housing and a restorative night's rest in a bed can give kids the boost they need to catch up to their peers in school and achieve their personal potential. My Very Own Bed has several volunteer opportunities available:
- Delivery Volunteer - This is a wonderful opportunity for families with kids, individuals, teams, youth groups and work groups, to deliver beds and Dream Kits. This is a hands-on, life-changing, outreach opportunity that allows volunteers to meet and directly impact families who have experienced homelessness. Volunteers will assemble Dream Kits and then deliver beds and Dream Kits to the families. You do not need to provide a truck.
- Donation Drive Volunteer - Organize a donation drive in your church community or work. Collect sheets and pillows for Dream Kits.
- Blanket-Making Volunteer - Youth groups could make tie-blankets together as an outreach activity. Groups and individuals could make quilts, knit or crochet blankets, and put together blankets for children.
Ages: Families with children of all ages are welcome to volunteer
Time Commitment: Two to three hours or variable, depending on opportunity
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Prevent Hunger Campaign
Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners (IOCP)
Date/Time: Monday-Saturday 10am - 5pm
Location: Your neighborhood and community. Deliver food donations to IOCP, 1605 County Road 101 N, Plymouth
You and your family can help prevent hunger in your community by engaging your family in a neighborhood food drive to support the IOCP food shelf! Design a flyer listing the food shelf's
most needed Food Shelf items, attach it to a grocery bag, drop the bags off with your neighbors and let them know when you'll be back to pick it up. With their help, you'll be able to supply the food shelf with much more than you could on your own.
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
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Empty Bowls
Community Fundraisers to Benefit Local Food Shelves
Date/Time: Variety of different days & times in March
Since its small beginnings in 1990 at Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Empty Bowls has become an international grassroots project to raise funds for local food shelves. Many metro-area events feature handmade soup bowls created by community members in partnership with local schools, community education departments, businesses and other community members. Local restaurants and businesses donate soup and other items. At most Empty Bowl events attendees make a free will donation, chose a bowl, enjoy some soup, and keep their bowl to remind them of all the empty bowls in their communities and beyond. Many events feature a silent auction, entertainment or other activities. Empty Bowl fundraiser proceeds are used to help families in their local communities with basic needs like food and housing. Local Empty Bowls events are held throughout the year-- here's a list of events happening in March. If your local community is not on this list, contact your local food shelf or school district to find out if there's an Empty Bowls event held in your community.
- CROSS Food Shelf, Thursday, March 8, 3 - 7:30pm. Maple Grove Community Center, 12951 Weaver Lake Rd, Maple Grove
- The Open Door, Thursday, March 8, 11am - 2 pm & 4:30 - 7:30pm. St. John Neumann Church, 4030 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan
- North Anoka County Community Foodshelf (NACE), Thursday, March 15, 5 -7:30pm. St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 19921 Nightingale St NW, Oak Grove
- STEP, Thursday, March 15, 11:30am - 1:30 pm & 5 - 7:30pm. Westwood Lutheran Church, 9001 Cedar Lake Road, St. Louis Park
- United Way of Washington County-East, Thursday March 8, 5 - 7pm. Stillwater Area High School, 5701 Stillwater Blvd. N, Stillwater.
- Hopkins Empty Bowls supporting ICA Food Shelf and ResourceWest, Tuesday, March 13, 11am - 7pm. Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins
- Robbinsdale School District supporting PRISM Food Shelf & Near Food Shelf, Tuesday, March 6, 4 - 7pm. Robbinsdale Cooper High School, 8230 47th Avenue North, New Hope
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Become a Senior Angel
Doing Good Together
Date/Time: Once a week
Location: A senior in your community
You can help create a more age-integrated society and instill positive attitudes toward aging by providing your child with positive contacts with seniors. By becoming a Senior Angel your family will let a senior know they are remembered and loved through an ongoing weekly correspondence. Seniors who may be home-bound, confined to nursing homes, or in convalescent hospitals will look forward to your weekly greetings! You can reach out to a relative, neighbor or senior you know in your community
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What you'll need:
- Stationery, greeting cards, pens, drawing or art supplies
- Occasional small, inexpensive, gifts ($2-$5), such as a box of tea or bar of scented soap
- Postage
Ages: Your whole family can participate!
Time Commitment: Varies, but please plan on making an ongoing, long-term commitment to your senior.
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Reading together is a research-proven, amazingly simple way to practice empathy and support your child's learning on every level. But that isn't why we love it. Story time is the most intimate, thoughtful, tender way to connect with a child. Check out Doing Good Together's awesome collection of favorite picture and chapter books focused on a variety of critical topics, including Kindness, Creativity, Gratitude, Mindfulness, Bullying, Death & Grief, and more
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| This list was compiled by Doing Good Together™ (www.doinggoodtogether.org)
When calling to volunteer for any of the opportunities listed above, please let the coordinator know you found it through this listing. You are encouraged to ask any questions you may have of the sponsoring organization before committing to a project.
Disclaimer: This list is provided as a service to families. Inclusion of organizations in this listing does not imply affiliation, endorsement or quality assurance on the part of Doing Good Together.™ Doing Good Together™ bears no responsibility whatsoever for the activities and actions of the listed organizations.
© 2018 Doing Good Together™
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