Friday Roundup: The “Wait, It’s June Already?” Edition

So wait, it’s June? It seems like March was just last week. OK, calendar, you win. You always do. Exciting things are on the docket for Hands On Charlotte in June. The team is heading to New Orleans this weekend for a four-day conference. Stay tuned to the blog, Twitter and Facebook for updates. A summer intern will start at some point. And at the end of the month, we’re launching our new website.

And as usual, we have a long list of fun projects where you can volunteer in Charlotte. This weekend, we’re all set on Sunday, but we need you out volunteering tomorrow. Here are some open volunteer projects in Charlotte tomorrow:

• Mountain Biking with Kids: It’s that easy. You get to teach kids about bike safety and to go for a bike ride. If you’re a bike enthusiast, this project is for you.
• Assistance League Thrift Store: Sort through donations and prepare them for sale at the Assistance League Thrift Store. Fun-loving project for an amazing organization.
• Little Sugar Creek Community Garden: Have a green thumb? Do you wish you had a green thumb but you don’t have the space for a garden? Come help this awesome community garden near Uptown. The best part: you can take what you grow, and it’s free!

With a week left in school, we’re officially on summer watch. Amidst the vacations, pool visits and cookouts, don’t forget to keep volunteering throughout the summer. We’ll be here at Hands On Charlotte to keep the projects posted! Happy June, everyone!

Friday Roundup: AmeriCorps Week edition

AmeriCorps Week is coming to an end here at Hands On Charlotte. Janelle, Marcel, Sarah, Shari and I have bounced around town, chatting with people about AmeriCorps.

Here are the main points: AmeriCorps provides opportunities for people of all backgrounds to roll up their sleeves for one year to work in the trenches on some of our country’s most dire environmental, economic, educational and social issues. No matter what issue area you care about, there is likely an AmeriCorps assignment somewhere in the country to foster your interests and skills. AmeriCorps is urban, and it’s rural. Members are on the east coast, the west coast and everywhere between. To learn more, visit AmeriCorps website.

While not everyone has an entire year to commit to public service, almost everyone can spare a few hours on a Saturday once a month. This weekend, we have 14 projects that still need volunteers. Here are some highlights:

• Saturday – Mountain Bike Riding with Kids – Join Trips for Kids on a short bike ride with teenagers. We can even supply you with a bike!
• Saturday – Adaptive Baseball – Come out and play baseball with kids and teens with disabilities. Adaptive Baseball is part of the Therapeutic Recreation Division of Mecklenburg County Parks and Rec.
• Saturday – Animal Care & Control – Love animals? Come help the staff at Animal Care & Control play with and take care of some cats and dogs.
• Sunday – Pet Therapy at Summit Place – Bring your dog or cat to Summit Place and spend an hour visiting with residents at this retirement community.

Everyone’s availabilities and desires to serve are different, but everyone can serve to some degree. Hands On Charlotte and AmeriCorps help you find opportunities that meet your interests. We hope to see you at projects soon!

Friday Roundup – 12.17.10 – The Holiday Party Edition

Is anyone going to a holiday party this weekend? Apparently there are a few of those around town this weekend. I’ve posted a poll over to the left, below the logo.

We’ve cemented our plans for MLK Week, and we hope you’ll join us next month. To find out more, visit the special events section of our website. If you have any questions about how to get involved on MLK Day in Charlotte, please email me.

One final note: tune into WSOC TV tonight between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. One of our AmeriCorps members, Shari Lerline Williams, and her Hands On Charlotte project at KIPP Charter School will be on the news!

Have a great weekend, and enjoy your parties!

Friday Roundup – 12.10.10

The office renovation project is in its final stages. We will come back Monday to some repaired walls and fresh paint. Perhaps it’s not as riveting of a story for everyone in the blogosphere, but for us at Hands On Charlotte, it’s a big, big deal.

Through all the excitement, we’ve been working on two fronts. For one, our holiday donation campaign is in full swing. Have you considered making a charitable donation to Hands On Charlotte this holiday season? If you want to donate this weekend, amid all the holiday shopping, please visit our main website.

In addition to working on the holiday campaign, we are in the thick of planning for our MLK Week of Service, which we will kick off in mid January. News of our big plans broke on WSOC earlier this week. I promise to keep you updated on here over the next five weeks. Hands On Charlotte’s MLK Week of Service is going to be fantastic! Stay tuned.

Of course, you don’t have to wait until January to volunteer in Charlotte! Here are a couple opportunities to volunteer through Hands On Charlotte:

• Saturday – Thunder Road Marathon: Charlotte is buzzing about tomorrow’s marathon. Here is you chance to watch the event while helping make it a success.
• Saturday – Metal Recycling at Habitat ReStore: One of our favorite projects, come join Habitat for Humanity’s efforts on a different level. By sorting through donated materials, volunteers help make Habitat’s process more efficient and impactful.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Thanks for reading, and we’ll be back to the blog next week!


Tanner

Friday Roundup: The Office Renovation Edition

We are t-minus 2.5 hours away from a minor office renovation. That means office clean-up. Floors debris free? Check. Desks cleared of all loose items? Check. Computers stowed away? (Almost) check. In a little more than a week, Hands On Charlotte’s office will have a slightly fresher look. Drop by and check it out.

While the renovation gets started this weekend, there are plenty of opportunities for you to volunteer in Charlotte.

• Saturday – Assistance League Thrift Store: Help organize clothes for the AL Thrift Store. Proceeds from the store benefit local youth and low-income communities.
• Saturday – Panthers Recycling Program: Yes, you read correctly. While there isn’t a Panthers game Saturday, the ACC Championship football game is at the stadium Saturday night, and we need your help with our recycling program.
• Saturday – Pet Therapy at White Oak Manor: Bring your pet (with updated vet records) to this senior home in the Cotswold neighborhood. Be sure to read the description for pet specifics before you sign up!

As the holiday season shifts into overdrive, we know many of you won’t be able to make it to a project until next year. However, we hope you will support Hands On Charlotte by making a charitable donation on our website. Without your financial support, we would not be able to offer the volunteer opportunities that you love. Thank you for donating to Hands On Charlotte!

OK, Shari is telling me to turn off my computer and to put it under my desk. That means I need to run. Have a great weekend!


Tanner

Friday Roundup 11.19.10 - The Let's Have a Discussion Edition

Slow down, life! I am trying to enjoy the next six weeks. Christmas carols are on the radio. People are cooking delicious food. Colored leaves are falling from the trees. It’s just a great time of year, and I need life to shift down a couple gears. Who is with me?

Busy week at Hands On Charlotte. My fellow AmeriCorps members and I played catch up after being away at the conference. We are in full swing planning service projects for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so be sure to check back here for details as we move into 2011.

At the core of MLK Day and most of our programming is the idea of civic engagement. Hands On Charlotte exists, in large part, to facilitate opportunities for Charlotteans to connect with their community. So when I read a recent article explaining how North Carolinians are participating below most national averages for civic engagement, I took a step back. How can Hands On Charlotte better engage YOU?

Look, I have access to readership statistics, and something like 30 people read this blog. So let’s have a little discussion here. How can Hands On Charlotte better reach out to you, your neighbors, your friends and your family? How can we compel you further to join us at our projects? What is it going to take to get 3,000 new volunteers to join us for MLK Day? Post a comment or send me an email. We would love to hear from you!

Normally on the Friday Roundup, I list a number of weekend projects for you to consider. This week, I’m highlighting only one. Tomorrow’s BIG Project is at Hawthorne High School, where our volunteers will join students and faculty in building a peace garden in memorial of Tiffany Wright, the pregnant teenage student who was gunned down over a year ago while waiting for the bus. We need 80 volunteers, and we currently have 50 signed up. Can you join us tomorrow from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.?

Thanks for reading! Check back next week as we kick off the holiday season in style!


Tanner

Friday Roundup: the Halloween Edition

It’s the Friday before Halloween weekend. Fall finally feels like it’s creeping in, and to me, that is wonderful. Hands On Charlotte Day was a great success, and now we are focusing on all the other projects that sustain us throughout the year.


Rob and I put out our first partner newsletter this week. Are you a local non-profit organization interested in learning what Hands On Charlotte can do for you? Let us know and we’ll set up a meeting! Of course, for everyone else, Bob sends out a bi-monthly newsletter, which will catch you up on the ins-and-outs of Hands On Charlotte.


A few weeks ago, I mentioned Kerry McCray, a super-volunteer who leads our Panthers Recycling Program. Well, guess whom the county featured this week on its Web site? Thank you to Kerry and all our volunteers who help with this fantastic program! Do you want to help out with this project or something similar this weekend? Here are just a few of your options:

• Saturday – New Green Acres Project: Come work on the farm! Shining Hopes Farms provides therapeutic services to individuals with disabilities. They need volunteers to do general farm labor, which, if you haven’t had the opportunity, is a lot of fun. Just wear some older clothes! Children ages 10+ may attend if accompanied by an adult.
• Saturday – Animal Care and Control: Come play with the animals, clean their living spaces! Volunteers must be at least 18 years old.
• Sunday – Bingo at White Oak Manor: Sunday night bingo with senior citizens! Some residents need assistance hearing and placing the pieces on the board and some residents are looking for more competition! It’s easy and fun for volunteers and residents! Children ages 6+ may attend if accompanied by an adult.
  

Well, by the time I next post, it will be November 2010. Time is flying! I hope you have a great weekend and a very spooky (and safe) Halloween.




Tanner

Friday Roundup 10.1.10

I sense this week was the (relative) calm before the storm. We’ve all spent the week trying to steady our ongoing projects before turning to “Hands On Charlotte Day,” which, if you haven’t heard, is October 16. Have you signed up yet?


In the media, the Charlotte Business Journal mentioned one of our super-volunteers last Friday. Mary Forgach serves as our liaison with Transamerica Reinsurance and with the Forgach family. Over the years, Transamerica Reinsurance has volunteered with Hands On Charlotte at W.G. Byers Elementary School. Mary has routinely served as team captain. In addition, she has organized family teams for other projects, volunteering last at our Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event this year at the Tyvola Senior Center. We wouldn’t be able to operate without volunteers like Mary, who mobilize not only themselves, but also their co-workers, family and friends. Thank you to Mary and everyone else who have helped Charlotte’s non-profit community through Hands On Charlotte.


With that said, here are opportunities this weekend to volunteer in Charlotte!

• Saturday & Sunday – U.S. Kayak Polo Nationals: Volunteer outside on a beautiful day by timing and recording trials at McDowell Park. Drinks provided to volunteers. You don’t need to have gone through orientation to volunteer at this project. Sign up on the Web site. Click for Saturday. Click for Sunday.


• Saturday – Challenger Football: Play therapeutic football with young people with special needs. Sign up on the Web site.


• Saturday – Special Rollers: Come out to this widely popular event and bowl with adults and teens with developmental disabilities. There are only a small number of spots available. Sign up on the Web site.

Back to “Hands On Charlotte Day” on October 16. If you haven’t signed up yet, but you’re planning to do so, why wait? Maybe you’re thinking of putting a team together? Well, send out that email to your friends and family this weekend! Let us know if you have any questions or if you’re having trouble convincing your neighbor to join us on October 16. We’re here to help however we can!

Friday Roundup 9.24.10

This was a great week! We had all hands on deck preparing for this year’s “Hands On Charlotte Day,” which will be on October 16. We’re still looking for individual and team volunteers, so let us know if you’re interested!

In the media, Patricia Smith Michaels called Hands On Charlotte “one of the top five environment-related volunteer opportunities in Charlotte.” And the Observer’s David Perimutt recommended us as place to come if you want to start volunteering in Charlotte.

Looking for an opportunity to volunteer in Charlotte this weekend?

• Saturday - BIG Project at Collinswood Language Academy: Spruce up the grounds and help paint a new soccer field. You don’t have to go through orientation to attend this project. Sign up on the Web site.
• Saturday – Challenger Football: Play therapeutic football with young people with special needs. Sign up on the Web site.
• Sunday – Recycling Program during Panthers Home Games: Hand out Bojangles’ recycling bags to fans around Bank of America Stadium. You must be at least 18 years old. You don’t have to go through orientation. Sign up on the Web site.
• Visit our calendar for many more Charlotte volunteer opportunities this weekend!
  

Next week on the blog: Meet the AmeriCorps! Hands On Charlotte relies heavily on AmeriCorps volunteers who each commit a year of service. Check back next week, and we’ll tell you all about the program and introduce you to A.M., Bryan, Janelle, Shari and Tanner!