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

A thank you from Lisa Quisenberry

Dear friends of Hands On Charlotte,


Hands On Charlotte Day is now behind us, and I want to send a very big thank you to everyone who participated and donated. With your help, we had an incredibly successful event. From everyone at Hands On Charlotte, thank you for joining us on this year's Hands On Charlotte Day.


We want to share with you some of the results. We sent teams to 19 sites - 10 of which were public schools. At this year's Hands On Charlotte Day, our volunteers:

• donated 1,540 hours of their time,
• cleared 30,315 square feet of land,
• spread 8,580 pounds of mulch,
• spread 6,766 pounds of topsoil,
• planted 369 flowers,
• collected 137 bags of trash,
• spread 117 bales of pine straw, and
• sorted 61 pallets of donations.

Come visit us on Facebook, where you can check out all the pictures from our projects!


The winner of the $1,000 gift card from US Airways is Ben Milam. Ben volunteered with a team from Manheim at Walter G. Byers Elementary School. Don't forget you can still win US Airways gift cards worth $250 each if you update your volunteer information on our Web site by November 10.


We also want to thank the sponsors who supported Hands On Charlotte Day. Charlotte Business Journal was the event's primary sponsor. We are also grateful for the support of The Home Depot, Newell Rubbermaid, UNC Charlotte and Elevation Church, as well as Anne L. Bradley (CPA, PA), Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting, Kola Construction and Rorick Construction.


We'll be sure to keep you updated, but in the meantime, let us know what's new with you! If you have ideas for service projects, we're always looking for ways to grow. You can keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter, but never hesitate to send me an email directly.


Again, thank you to everyone who supported Hands On Charlotte Day. If you weren't able to participate, but wanted to make a charitable donation, just visit our donation page. Until we reconnect, I hope you have an amazing holiday season.




Together in service,


Lisa Quisenberry
Co-founder and executive director
Hands On Charlotte

A New Journey for a New Beginning

As a 22-year-old recent graduate living 16 hours from my family in Vermont, I have found myself experiencing what some call a “post-college life crisis.” Immediately following graduation in May I gave into the dreaded nine hour-per-day desk job, and found myself completely unhappy. The fact that I moved to South Charlotte, a half an hour away from my university friends did not help. I decided to quit my job and search for a job and other things that would make me truly happy. Being unemployed has given me a great amount of time to figure out what I can do to fulfill my emptiness and bring me back to life other than moving back to Vermont (aka the North Pole!) to be with my family.


I did a lot of thinking over my first week of unemployment. I decided working to better lives of children would make me happier, as I was blessed with a great childhood. I decided working with animals would bring me joy, as I am vegan and always looking for ways to get involved. Making new friends in Charlotte would make me feel more at home. Spending time with the elderly would open my eyes to new things. One day as I was lying in bed it clicked; if I can’t find a job quickly doing any of these things, I need to volunteer. I immediately posted a status on my Facebook page asking where people volunteered their time. One response was “Register with Hands on Charlotte!” With no idea of what this organization was, I decided to check it out. WOW! One place I can go to work with kids, animals, the elderly, and meet new people. I was so excited that I actually got upset when the e-mail stated it could take up to 10 days to get my background check cleared. I wanted to start that afternoon!


I am glad to say it only took one day for my account to become active. I am so excited to start volunteering and giving back to Charlotte. I am hoping it broadens my circle of friends, and brings me a sense of fulfillment that I have been missing. I am starting with attending Game Night at the Laurels Tuesday evening. Going into this alone is a little nerve racking for me, because I am not one to go anywhere or try anything by myself. I am however, one to always try new things whether it is sky diving, bungee jumping, traveling to Australia for five months, or stepping out of my comfort zone and volunteering with people I’ve never met. I am confident that the HOC organization as well as everyone involved will be very welcoming and helpful. I am so excited to start this journey and can’t wait for the changes it will bring to my life!




Kailee Mahoney is a guest contributor to the Hands On Charlotte Blog.

Green thumbs at Shamrock Gardens Elementary School

Is it out of the question for me to enroll back in elementary school? I caught a crazy case of envy after visiting and viewing the grounds at Shamrock Gardens Elementary School. The Garden Project for Hands on Charlotte Day was a huge success. About 50 volunteers including parents, students, and other community members all chipped in to help keep the gardens on the right track. Shamrock Gardens is literally surrounded by organic gardens, which means no pesticides! There’s a wheat bed to make bread, compost pile, butterfly garden, and even a resident opossum that the volunteers had to be sure to not disturb.


Thanks to the volunteers, the students at the elementary school will now be able to watch an apple tree grow that was planted using the school’s own compost. Weeds were pulled, a whole bed of overgrown sunflowers were attended to, and the schools own collected rain water was used to water the beds. The volunteer project was certainly a group effort considering the number of gardens at the school. This was no small feat. Most everyone was still hard at work well after the project’s official time was over. One of the volunteers even brought some cookies for all of her fellow helpers. I had to try one and they were amazing. This group did a fantastic job and the students at Shamrock Gardens will be able to continue developing their green thumbs.


Katie Sherman is a guest contributor to the Hands On Charlotte Blog.

Schools: Look good, feel good

Hands on Charlotte Day was a huge day for our community and its schools! I saw firsthand how everyone from big corporate executives to elementary school students can collectively show the importance of the look of our schools by volunteering to help clean them up. It was mainly the latter group that surprised me the most though. Here were these cute, little, elementary school kids showing their love for their Briarwood Elementary School with each bag of weeds collected, handful of mulch spread, and tree branch pruned. Who knows if it was by prodding from their parents to get these kids out there or not, but these 15 children sure were throwing themselves into these tasks.

Admittedly, I don’t know if I would’ve been so “gung ho” sweeping my elementary school’s sidewalk at that age. I could easily imagine myself whining about missing my Saturday morning cartoons and my Fruit Loops. Maybe I’m admitting my childhood selfishness, but I couldn’t help but feel pride for these parents and their children doing such an admirable job on a beautiful Saturday morning. The students understood the thought that if they see nice and pretty surroundings every morning walking into school, then that’ll give them an extra positive boost to feel good about their schoolwork. It also gives them a sense of ownership. I hope that this one Saturday morning planted the seed for a lifetime of volunteering from these children.




Katie Sherman is a guest contributor to the Hands On Charlotte Blog.