START Caroling/Kettling for the Salvation Army

Diana, Suzzy, Kathy, Rachael, & Ann

"Doing the Most Good"

12/12/2009

College Mall: Bloomington, IN

Fa la la la la...la la la la!

Join us Saturday, December 12th from 5-8pm at the Macy's Entrance to College Mall for caroling, "kettling," and eventually hot chocolate!

For information on carpooling, please email speastart@gmail.com.

Coming soon to the ATRIUM...

Stop by our table starting Monday, December 7 through Thursday, December 10 to pick up a paper angel tree tag and make a child's Christmas "wish" come true!

Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week Results

TOTAL ITEM COUNT: 252

TOTAL MONETARY DONATIONS: $224.55

All donations will benefit Area 10 Agency on Aging.

THANKS FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS!

Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week

To correspond with the annual campaign by the National Coalition for the Homeless, START and many local nonprofits and businesses take part in a nationwide effort to bring greater awareness to the problems of hunger and homelessness. This year we will be collecting non-perishable food items and money to benefit Area 10 Agency on Aging. Stop by our table in the atrium sometime this week to drop off your donations. There are many other community awareness activities taking place, and we'll also be selling tickets to "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader," a fundraising event taking place at Bloomington H.S. South this Thursday night.

SPECIFICS once again...

When: Beginning TOMORROW (Monday the 16th) through Friday the 20th

Who: All students vs. faculty and staff

Where: SPEA Atrium

Why: SPEA's all about improving communities, remember?!

What: We are specifically looking for protein items (such as canned tuna or chicken, peanut butter, etc.), along with low-sugar foods (cereals, snacks, sugar-free cookies) to donate to Area 10. Their food pantry serves low-income homebound senior citizens with two bags of groceries and frozen food each month. Their program currently serves 165 households, has been running for 15 years, and is run completely by volunteers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know! Thank you in advance for supporting our cause!

Thank You for your Veterans Day Donations

On behalf of START, AmeriCorps Alums, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis, thank you to everyone who generously donated items last week. We filled the box in the MPA/MSES office with over 20 items!

Remember our Heroes

November Volunteer of the Month--Kate Slavens

ALL ABOUT KATE:

Degree: First year MPA

Concentrations: Nonprofit Management & Policy Analysis

Internship: Middle Way House

Activities: Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, START

Recent Volunteer Experience: Bloomington Multicultural Expo

Hometown: New Castle, IN

Undergraduate Institution: University of Evansville

Blood Drive Success!

Thanks to everyone who gave blood at our Red Cross Blood Drive last Wednesday, October 14th.

Thanks to your efforts, we were able to provide 26 usable donations to the Red Cross!

Yoplait Lids - Save Lids to Save Lives

This week we are mailing 44 Yoplait lids to the Save Lids to Save Lives campaign sponsoring Susan G. Komen for the Cure. For each lid, Yoplait donates ten cents to the fund, with a guaranteed gift of $500,000.
Learn more at http://www.yoplait.com/slsl/, and keep washing your Yoplait lids and placing them in the big envelope on the board in the Grad Lounge.

First Year Representative Voting

CONGRATULATIONS to our two First Year Representative Nominees! Please see their campaign statements below:

Susanna Foxworthy: Hi, I would love to be your first year rep for START! As the first year representative, I would take an active role in shadowing the co-presidents of START for next year. I would also look for and promote volunteer activities and other creative ways for us to get involved in the community. Since we're all involved in other organizations and, of course, classes, I'd concentrate on finding a balance of volunteer opportunities that are one time commitments (i.e. cookie decorating at a nursing home during the holidays, maybe!) and also others that require greater time commitments. This year, I have participated in a couple of events I learned about from START including the service project during orientation week and tutoring once a week at the Pinnacle School, and I am excited for the future events like caroling and forming a Homeward Bound team. Thank you for your vote!

Hey fellow START members! My name is Lindsay Walker and I would love the opportunity to be your first year representative. I am a MPA student concentrating in nonprofit management and just like all of you; I have a strong belief in serving my community and helping those around me in any way that I can. I have volunteered and worked for numerous charitable organizations including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Phoenix Rescue Mission, where I helped organize and implement seasonal food drives and the Fiesta Bowl’s Hole-In-One Golf Tournament which raises money for families of firefighters and police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. I also spent some time working in the communications department of the Make-A-Wish Foundation where I helped convey the organization’s mission statement and objectives. If chosen as START’s first year representative, I will commit to bringing new ideas to the table, sharing all of your thoughts and feedback with the association and carrying on my passion for serving the community in which we all live. Thanks everybody!

Please send your vote to speastart@gmail.com by NOON this Friday (October 16^th). We will announce the new first year rep once all votes are tallied.

Free Hotel Stay for Volunteer Service

Give A Day, Get A Night

Sage Supports Volunteerism

Give 8 hours of community service and Get a complimentary night stay or 50% discount on hotel rooms at all 53 Sage hotels across the country.

Offer ends March 31, 2010

The Details:

Complete 8 hours of volunteer service to a registered 501(c)3 non profit organization by March 29, 2010 to qualify to receive 50% off the published room rate -- or maybe a complimentary night (limited availability).

For more information: click here.

City of Bloomington Volunteer Network

If you are interested in volunteering in a particular sector, but can't seem to find info, check out:

City of Bloomington Volunteer Network

401 N. Morton St. Suite 260
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 349-3433
volunteer@bloomington.in.gov
www.bloomington.in.gov/volunteer

And, as always, feel free to e-mail speastart@gmail.com if you have any specific questions!

Bloomington Multicultural Expo

Dear Civic Engagement Stakeholder members,

The Bloomington Multicultural Expo (BME) needs our help! On Saturday, October 10th of this year, four festivals will come together to create a new, exhilarating “Expo” experience! The I.U. Moon Festival, Soul Food Festival, Festival Latino and International Village will integrate their activities at Bryan Park from 11am to 4pm, and by doing so, they are expecting well over 1,000 participants! Students always play an integral role as festival participants but this year we hope that our student volunteers can help, too!

This volunteer opportunity seems perfect for students and provides a wonderful educational experience. I am hoping we can help support BME by funneling some of our student volunteers to their Expo during the event day. I serve the BME planning committee and, as a communication bridge between our group and theirs, I would like to propose a possible system for recruiting Expo volunteers from our Stakeholder group. See what you think:

1. What if four Stakeholder members each signed up to have their I.U. volunteer program support one, individual festival with their student volunteers? That person would then be able to recruit their student volunteers most easily, and help to fill their 11am to 5pm volunteer needs.

2. Each festival site at Bryan Park will have unique volunteer needs – some need many and some need few; each has just now come up with their final volunteer numbers and volunteer job descriptions;

3. Student Volunteer shifts will be in 2 hour slots from 11am to 5pm;
SO – are there 4-5 of you who are willing to sign up your students from your volunteer program to help with this year’s Bloomington Multicultural Expo?!
If so, here are the totals that they will need. (Please note that community volunteers will also participate in this event and might contribute to these numbers. But, the more student volunteers they receive, the easier this will make their total recruitment effort!)
Let me know the festival site for which you would like your volunteer program to sign up:

Moon Festival – 24 volunteers
Latino Festival – 4
Soul Food Festival – 35
International Village – 0
Expo Children’s Activities – 8
Misc. – photographer, clean-up, etc.

We can talk more about the specifics of this at our next Stakeholder’s meeting on September 23rd but I would love it if you could tentatively provide sign up feedback now so that BME knows how IU student volunteers might be contributing.

Email speastart@gmail.com if you are interested in volunteering for this event!

Red Cross Basic Aid Training for Kids

Basic Aid Training

Monroe County Chapter American Red Cross

Contact: EJ Chung, eunchung84@gmail.com

We are looking for student volunteer teachers to teach this program to 519 4th graders in Monroe County.

The BAT program will teach children emergency response skills, rescue breathing and ways to prevent and care for choking, wounds, nosebleeds, falls and animal bites.

We are targeting 7 schools and we are going to teach them 6 health related topics. And each unit is about an hour long.

We will provide teaching materials and training for volunteers, and guest speakers from different organizations like Bloomington Hospital and Bloomington Fire Department.

The BAT program will start in the spring semester of 2009/2010 academic year, and this program will provide student volunteer teachers to gain teaching experience, skills to manage a whole classroom, expand public speaking skills, develop new job skills and build professional contact network for their future.

If you have any questions or more information, please let me know!

Community Garden Volunteering

Bloomington Community Gardens Program is looking for volunteers to help with maintenance. The program offers organic plots, as well as financial aid for people who need help to cover the cost of renting a plot. Groups of 5-25 can volunteer in 3-4 hour shifts at one of the two community gardens. Here are the links to the two gardens:

Willie Streeter CommunityGardens: http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=212
Crestmont Community Gardens: http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=211

If this sounds like something you are interested in, please let START know (speastart@gmail.com), or you can directly contact Natalie at nmmesser@indiana.edu. Once we receive enough interest, Natalie will set up a shift on a Saturday or Sunday and then hopefully make regular arrangements for students who are interested and available.

SPRING 2010 START EVENTS

SPRING 2010

January
17th Soiree for Service (joint event with GSA)
18th Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Day

February
1-5th Election Week

March
TBA Rally for Service Week

April
TBA Blood Drive

FALL 2009 START EVENTS

FALL 2009
August
27th First Year Orientation Service Day and lunch event

September
19th United Way “Day of Action”
20th United Way Campaign Concert at Buskirk-Chumley Theater
26th Hoosiers Outrun Cancer (Join the START/GSA Team!)

October
14th Red Cross Blood Drive

November
16-20th Hoosier Hills Food Drive (week-long event)

December
7-11th Salvation Army Angel Tree
12th Salvation Army Christmas Caroling

Thanks to the newbies!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dear new START members and interested parties,

Thank you so much to those of you who stopped by our table at the organization fair on Thursday. We are excited to share with you the events START has planned for this semester. Please don't hesitate to contact Jenna or me if you have any questions about volunteering, START, or any other SPEA info.

We look forward to meeting you soon! Watch for a message to come soon about our first meeting and upcoming events. In the meantime, be sure to check out our blog at www.speastart.blogspot.com!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Red Cross Book Fair

Boys and Girls Club Event October 3, 2009

Boys and Girls Club of Ellettsville presents…

Cornival--our very first 'real' fundraising event!

Saturday, October 3rd -- Noon-5:00pm

There are two ways to help out with this event:

1) Go to www.bgcbloomington.org and register yourself in the corn hole event! It's simple -- you get pledges, come play, win prizes, and have fun! Your pledges are donations for our club! Getting your friends to join you and even creating some competition between groups is encouraged!

2) Volunteer the day of event --- maybe it's helping with kids events, greeting guests with programs, helping serve food....we can use your help!

Please RSVP to speastart@gmail.com or contact Amy Matney, Unit Director at amatney@bgcbloomington.org or 812.935.6970.

Volunteer Opportunity with PALS on October 23 and 24

Thanks for your support!

Thanks to everyone who supported our September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance.

Thanks to your generosity, we are sending 11 cell phones and accessories to Cellphones for Soldiers!

I know that they appreciate your support. To find out more about the nonprofit, visit www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com.

September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance

START Members,
Be sure to check out this wonderful opportunity to team up with AmeriCorps and do something simple to give back to members of our U.S. military.

Pinnacle School Volunteer Opportunity

5K Benefiting Cancer Research

HOOSIERS OUTRUN CANCER – 5K

Many of you may have seen an e-mail sent out by Ann on behalf of the GSA regarding the upcoming Hoosiers Outrun Cancer event. We would like to encourage START members to take a second look. SPEA has a team each year; so we are trying to get a group of SPEONs to run, walk, crawl, skip, etc.

WHAT: 5K supporting Bloomington Hospital's Olcott Center for Cancer Education.
DATE: Saturday, September 26th
TIME: Opening ceremony @ 9:50AM – 5K race @ 10:50AM
WHERE: IU Memorial Stadium and throughout campus
WHO: So far only Ann and Jenna are registered…

If you're interested in running, please follow the link below and fill out the online registration form. Be sure to add "SPEA Graduate Program" as your team. The early bird deadline to register is 09/18/09. https://www.kenlongassoc.com/hoc/hoc09entryform5kr.htm

For more information, visit the run's website: www.hoosiersoutruncancer.org.

Help United Way later this month!

UNITED WAY CAMPAIGN EVENTS
—FALL 2009—

Partner Agency Fall Day of Action
DATE: Saturday, September 19th
TIME: 9am-12pm
WHO: 3-12 SPEA volunteers
WHERE: Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard
DETAILS: Pantry cleaning, garden organizational project

Big Band Concert
DATE: Sunday, September 20
TIME: TBD
WHO: 8 volunteers to usher
WHERE: Buskirk-Chumley Theater

Look out for more details coming soon! If you’d like to sign up to help now, please email speastart@gmail.com.

August 27, 2009 -- New Student Service Day

February 2009 -- Homeward Bound 5K Run

March 2009 -- Rally for Service "Change Wars"

March 2009--Rally for Service Team

August 27, 2009 -- New Student Service Day

Thanks for a Fantastic Service Day!

New SPEAmigos,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We appreciate everyone who woke up early this morning to participate in our community service projects throughout the Bloomington area. We hope you were able to give back to your neighborhood and meet some new friends.

If you are interested in receiving future information about START, e-mail speastart@gmail.com and ask to be added to our SPEA list serve. Through the list serve you will receive notices about volunteer opportunities hosted by START and others community organizations. (We will also post them here on our blog.) In addition, use the g-mail account to send any suggestions or feedback about START or today’s events.

Thanks again for a terrific day of service! We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Best,

Kathy and Jenna

START Co-Presidents

El Centro Comunal Latino Volunteer Info

El Centro Comunal Latino

Volunteer Information and Training Meeting

When: Sunday, Sept 13th, 2009

Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm

Where: Monroe County Public Library (303 E. Kirkwood), Meeting Room 1A

This is an excellent opportunity to:

· Connect with the Latino Community!

· Help Spanish-speaking members of the community find information and access to resources!

· Work with other service agencies!

· Plan educational, social and cultural programs!

· Get volunteer hours or credit towards your own coursework!

· Help make a difference in someone’s life!

At the volunteer information and training meeting you will meet some of the board members of El Centro (who are also volunteers!), and learn more about all the different programs you can choose to get involved that will meet your interest and/or skills. Some volunteer opportunities do require ability to speak Spanish, but not all.

Please RSVP your attendance to the September 13^th meeting at elcentrocomunal@gmail.com by September 10, 2009.

We hope you join us!