Montgomery County
Volunteer News
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IN THIS ISSUE (please scroll down to "read all about it")
► Hear Ye! A Message from the Volunteer Center
► NEW! October is Community Service Month
► Congratulations 2023 Montgomery Serves Awards Honorees!
► Recognizing AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP Volunteers
PLUS
► Tune in and be inspired: See our Make A Difference cable TV series
► Find your volunteer niche (or help someone else find theirs)
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Our volunteer e-newsletter is back after a hiatus filled with many transitions. This newsletter is for all volunteers, volunteers-to-be, and the amazing organizations serving in Montgomery County. It seeks to highlight updates and activities, often (!) referring to the Montgomery Serves website which contains hundreds of volunteer opportunities complete with search filters to help you find opportunities that interest you the most. We want to make this newsletter as useful as possible and we want your ideas. Our suggestion box is always open—we hope to hear from you!
Montgomery County Volunteer Center Staff
Faith McNeill, Volunteer Center Manager
Lindsay Luhn, AmeriCorps Seniors/RSVP Manager
Sandy Smith, Outreach Manager & "Make a Difference" Host
Vivian Byrd, Agency Support Manager
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October is Community Service Month! |
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This October, we will celebrate community service county-wide! The County began celebrating community service in the 1980s and recognized the annual event until the pandemic paused so many activities. We are excited to bring back this celebration of service with the 34th Annual Community Service Month!
Please join us as we celebrate the people and organizations that promote community and civic engagement in our County. Browse our October Calendar or sort through the hundreds of volunteer opportunities at www.MontgomeryServes.org to find the volunteer activities that are most meaningful to you (see Quick Tips for Searching below).
The Volunteer Center encourages both individual and group volunteerism. Teams of two or more people volunteering together on the same project—such as scout troops, office teams, book clubs, or your family—are also encouraged to use the "Groups" filter to aid your search for opportunities.
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Quick Tips for Searching for Volunteer Opportunities on
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Congratulations 2023 Montgomery Serves Awards Honorees! |
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Montgomery County's annual event honoring our most exceptional volunteers was held at Imagination Stage in Bethesda on June 26. County Executive Mark Elrich and other County leaders were on hand to recognize this year's winners, each of whom has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to service and volunteerism in our community.
The Volunteer of the Year Award honors residents who demonstrate a commitment to volunteer service in the community. The 2023 honoree is Christine King, who co-founded the New Neighbors Interfaith Alliance in 2019 to bring together volunteers from Christian, Jewish, Unitarian, Bahai, and Muslim faith communities to work together to ease and facilitate the transition to American life for traumatized refugees of all ages from Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
The Youth Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes volunteers who are 18 years old or younger. The 2023 honoree is Viveka Sinha, a junior in the math, science, and computer science magnet program at Montgomery Blair High School. She is the catalyst behind the Asian American Mental Health Initiative (AAMHI), which aims to counter the harmful effects of the “model minority” myth among Asian American students, and founded Speak Up Debate, a program that teaches public speaking and debate to fourth to eighth-grade students during school breaks.
The Volunteer Group of the Year Award recognizes groups of two or more people. Congratulations to Xi Sigma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, this year's winner. In 2022, chapter members volunteered over 6500 hours of service in programs focused on health, education, financial stability, food insecurity, homelessness, the environment, and arts and culture.
The Volunteer Business of the Year is Gaithersburg-based Simply Fresh Events, a catering and event-planning business that is a key partner with Nourishing Bethesda in its mission to fight food insecurity. Simply Fresh has offered their time, expertise, equipment, supplies, and transportation support—all in addition to donating thousands of pounds of food.
The Neal Potter Path of Achievement Award recognizes two residents over the age of 60 for their lifetime of service. 2023 honorees are Carol Garvey, M.D. and Ulessly (Bernie) Relf, Jr. Dr. Garvey has dedicated her career and volunteer work to ensuring access to medical care, reducing inequity in health care and disparities in outcomes, and providing the best possible start in life. Mr. Relf has spent much of his retirement as a full-time volunteer for Meals on Wheels and the St. Camillus Food Pantry, retiring from the latter just shy of his 88th birthday.
Click here to learn more about this year's honorees.
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Recognizing RSVP Volunteers |
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Volunteers receiving recognition during An Evening of Appreciation. Certificates presented by Montgomery County's Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno, flower presented by AmeriCorps Seniors Program Manager, Lindsay Luhn (clockwise from upper-left corner): Anne Gavin, Molly Frantz, Robert Borochoff, Deborah Rogers, and Ginnie Kiesewetter. |
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In June, volunteers from our AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program gathered for "An Evening of Appreciation" to celebrate another year of huge successes! This past year, 140+ volunteers with the AARP Tax-Aide program prepared 3,779 federal tax returns at 19 different sites, 100 DHHS Bone Builders volunteers led 32 biweekly free exercise classes for over 800+ clients, and volunteers with the MCVC 50+ Volunteer Network successfully matched some 50 volunteers with partner organizations.
We were also able to recognize the exceptional contributions of eight volunteers, who were presented the County Executive's Certificates of Recognition and Appreciation by Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno. These volunteers have gone above and beyond for their programs in recent years:
Tax-Aide: Molly Frantz, Anne Gavin, and Robert Borochoff
Bone Builders: Belle Davis and Odessa Jones
Montgomery County Volunteer Center: Deborah Rogers, Carley Lee, and Tina Chang
A special tribute was made to thank Ginnie Kiesewetter, also from the Tax-Aide team, who faithfully served as the District Coordinator throughout the pandemic and in 2023 completed her last year leading the program.
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Speaking of AmeriCorps Seniors... |
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Be a Bone Builders Volunteer! If you are a compassionate and physically active older adult, leading group exercise classes for seniors in a community center setting might be the volunteer gig for you! These exercise classes promote osteo health and are a great way for volunteers to help others (and themselves) maintain and increase bone mass. We are especially looking for volunteers willing to lead classes in the Takoma Park and Silver Spring areas.
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New! AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program. The AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) is a recent addition to our volunteer community. The program provides social and academic support to elementary-aged children to promote school readiness. This program is open NOW with volunteers providing one-on-one support in local elementary schools and other host sites throughout the County. All FGP volunteers receive training, accident and liability insurance, meals on duty, transportation reimbursement, and a small hourly stipend. If you are interested, check the eligibility requirements and sign up by clicking here. To view the bilingual program flyer, click on the thumbnail picture above. If you have any questions, please contact Aliesha Morris at 301-225-4238 or amorris@accessjca.org.
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Did you know that our county has a cable channel that regularly features an interview series hosted by our own Sandy Smith to highlight some of the amazing volunteers and their inspiring efforts in our community? If you didn't before—you do now! Stream online or tune in to Comcast/RCN 6 HD 996/1056 Verizon 30 to view recent "Make a Difference" interviews. If you know a special volunteer whose story could be featured, please contact Sandy Smith at Cassandra.Smith@montgomerycountymd.gov.
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Find Your Volunteer Niche |
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As we wrap up this issue of the Volunteer News, we encourage you to peruse the Volunteer Center website—Montgomery Serves—as new opportunities are posted often. We hope the search filters are a great help to you. You can try different combinations of filters to find the best volunteer fit for you! And, please share interesting links and opportunities with others.
Here is a set of quick links for more information:
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Montgomery County Volunteer Center
240-777-2600
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Copyright © 2023. All Rights Reserved. |
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