The Volunteer Connection
Spring 2023
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Hello Friends!
The clocks have advanced forward and it is almost officially spring! Spring is a season of renewal and growth, a time when the world awakens from its winter slumber and bursts forth with new life. It's also an excellent time to get involved in volunteering and make a positive impact on your community. As the weather gets warmer and people start spending more time outside, there are numerous opportunities to get involved in environmental conservation efforts or community clean-up projects. Additionally, many organizations that rely on volunteer support, such as animal shelters and food banks, are in particular need of help during the spring months. Volunteering not only allows you to give back to those in need but also provides a sense of purpose and connection to your community, making it a fulfilling and rewarding experience. So why not make this spring a season of giving and lend a helping hand to those who could use it?
Continue reading to learn more about volunteer opportunities in your community! Please reach out to me if you have any volunteering questions.
Yours in service,
Shivani
Shivani Patel
VISTA Member
HandsOn NWNC
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Project Blueprint
Applications due TODAY!!
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Our Project Blueprint Board Leadership Program is designed to prepare people of color to serve on local nonprofit boards and committees. For decades, nonprofit boards have not reflected the diversity of the communities they serve. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, approximately 60% of all nonprofits report serving Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC,) yet 84% of board members identify as White and 27% of boards had no BIPOC leaders at all.
The goal of the program is to increase board diversity by providing a pool of qualified volunteer leaders who are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively serve on nonprofit boards or board committees. The curriculum closely follows the book, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, published by BoardSource, a nationally recognized organization dedicated to increasing nonprofit board governance. The capstone of the program is a nonprofit speed dating event, designed to match participants with local board opportunities. Cohort participants will meet virtually one morning each week for six weeks and will receive a stipend to help them implement a personalized, professional development action plan once the program concludes.
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Legal Aid of North Carolina
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Help fight housing discrimination- the Fair Housing Project needs your help!
Do you have a flexible schedule, a commitment to civil rights, and an interest in playing a vital role in assuring equal housing opportunities are provided to all? If so, you may be interested in becoming a tester for the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina.
What is fair housing testing?
Testing is the process for and method of ascertaining and measuring the difference in quality, content, and quantity of information and service given to home seekers by housing providers.
How do you test housing discrimination?
Fair housing testers typically pretend to be looking for an apartment or buying a house. They may call and/or go in person to see about a vacancy. Then, they fill out a detailed report on exactly how they were treated. For many years now, fair housing programs around the country have used testers to investigate cases of discrimination.
A successful testing program requires diversity. We need people comprising the full spectrum of society, including race, color, national origin, ability, age, and gender.
Why should you be a tester?
You will get to help fight housing discrimination. You will be helping people to live wherever they so choose, free from discrimination and hatred. We are also able to pay a small stipend and mileage roundtrip for each assignment.
How to get involved:
Testers only need to attend one training class; registration is required.
If you are interested in becoming a tester or would like more information, please contact the Testing Coordinator at 919-590-5711
or by email at Testing@FairHousingNC.org.
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2022-2023 Nonprofit Essentials |
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Collaboration
Is your nonprofit interested in doing true, deep collaborative work with other organizations? The kind that moves from talk to action, to measurable results? Then this session is for you! In this highly interactive, energetic, and--dare we say--FUN workshop, you will get the opportunity to explore specific skills and tools that will help you create and sustain powerful, effective partnerships.
Wednesday, March 22nd from 1-4 pm.
Find more information and register here.
Program Evaluation
The nonprofit sector is increasingly under pressure to show meaningful results. This class will explore different evaluation models and lead you through the process of designing an approach to measure programs, create meaningful measures, collect and analyze data, generate a report, and communicate results to document impact, improve services, and support fundraising efforts.
Thursday, April 20th from 1-4 pm.
Find more information and register here.
Advocacy and Communication
Nonprofits play an active role in shaping public policy. Learn successful advocacy strategies used to advance an organization’s mission for the public good, how to measure the success of your advocacy, and how to address related legal, ethical, and tax issues.
Thursday, May 18th from 1-4 pm.
Find more information and register here.
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HandsOn Board:
Leadership Development
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Join one of our most seasoned and beloved trainers in this session designed for board members who are in leadership positions or who are moving towards leadership roles on nonprofit boards as officers or committee chairs. Topics include a review of board officer roles and responsibilities, committee chair accountability, attributes of effective board and committee leaders, board policies, executive committee structure, and responsibilities, key benchmarks for effective boards, a self-assessment leadership instrument, planning processes, and tools, leading and conducting effective meetings, group communications, appraising board, and committee effectiveness, and other topics of interest as identified by workshop participants.
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Celebrate 60 years with Southwest Athletics by serving 60 minutes on April 6! Serve for one hour with your family around the Little League complex. The projects will be family-friendly. Please dress appropriately for serving outside through landscaping, cleaning up around the dugouts and fields, etc.
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Every Thursday morning a team of Second Harvest Food Bank's staff and volunteers host a community distribution in Winston Salem. This is a drive-thru event where load the vehicles of our neighbor's facing hunger with enough food to feed a family of four for about one week. We are looking for volunteers to serve with us either one time or on a regular basis. This is great for those who enjoy being outside, are ok being on their feet and lifting up to 25 lbs repetitively, and enjoy being friendly with their neighbors.
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Looking for a fun volunteer opportunity? Sign up for a shift at the Piedmont Earth Day Fair on Saturday, April 22 at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.
Volunteers will have fun setting up exhibits, selling popcorn, handing out programs, helping clean up and everything in-between. Shifts last a couple of hours and all volunteers get a cool T-shirt to keep!
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Community Care Center, the largest and most comprehensive free center in North Carolina, is in need of volunteer medical interpreters to assist Spanish-speaking patients!
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Looking for volunteer interviewers to help gather client information. The interviewer should be respectful, compassionate, understanding of the client needs. Crisis Control offers both in person interviews or phone interviews. As an interviewer, you will hear first hand from neighbors going through a crisis. You will listen to their story and ask them for confidential information. You will also discuss the client's crisis with a staff member to determine if Crisis Control Ministry can assist the neighbor through their crisis.
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The Parenting Path follows the National Exchange Foundation's model of using parent aides (then known as lay therapists) to work in homes with families. The mission is to strengthen families, support parents and to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect. Volunteers are needed to prepare lunch or dinner for parent education groups (on average, 5-20 people). Meals may be prepared at The Parenting PATH or come from a commercially licensed kitchen. Volunteers must be at least 10, and all under 15 must be accompanied by an adult.
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Stay Connected with HandsOn |
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HandsOnNWNC.org
| phone: 336.724.2866 | fax: 336.724.4467 |
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