The last couple of months have included volunteering in New York City on September 11th, volunteering lots with AmeriCorps Alums, and volunteering on a TeamWorks team on cycling with Hands On Portland!
New York City on September 11th
I had the honor of participating in an event called the Service Nation Summit on September 11th-13th in New York City. The event included a forum on service with both Presidential candidates the evening of September 11th and then a day of summit-ing on both the 12th and 13th. At the summit I heard Queen Noor of Jordan, Jeffrey Sachs, Jon Bon Jovi, Senator Chris Dodd, First Lady Laura Bush, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Orrin Hatch, Mayor Bloomberg, Caroline Kennedy, Alicia Keyes, and lots of other leaders talk about the importance of service. It was very inspiring!
To watch the candidates...
McCain... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdjO055AChs.
Obama... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1yPFwtF5M4
To learn more about Service Nation and sign your declaration of service.
http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation
As part of the summit Orrin Hatch announced a new national service bill that he and Senator Kennedy developed. It is thrilling to see national service on both candidate's agendas and to see such wonderful support from Congress for its expansion!
Hands On Portland Team Works
One great program that happens at many Hands On organizations is something called Team Works. It is an opportunity to link together a few different service projects all around one theme. I have been participating in a Team Works team all on cycling the last month. We have assembled safety kits for the Portland police to distribute to cyclists who don't have lights on their bikes, we have helped with a celebration for Bike to Work month, and tomorrow we will be at the Community Cycling Center, which is a great local biking organization. The great benefit of this format is that one can start to see how different organizations work together or how to address community needs with the new knowledge one gains from different approaches to the same need.
AmeriCorps Alums
Things are going well with Alums. Locally we hosted a great focus group on the future of Alums and mobilized to encourage Gordon Smith to co-sponsor the Kennedy Hatch Bill that I mentioned above. We now have a reputation with Smith's office as being "aggressive!" Ha! Nationally we have developed our three year strategic plan, chosen an amazing new group of Leadership Council members, and have our fall retreat in a little over a week.
TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS as of 10/18/08: 241.25 in 253 days. I am 12 hours behind my one hour per day goal... but I'll catch up!
Showing posts with label AmeriCorps Alums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AmeriCorps Alums. Show all posts
18 October 2008
20 May 2008
It's Primary Day!
Hello Friends!Today is May 20th and if you haven't heard, it's Primary Day in Oregon. If you are in town, then you know it is hard not to trip over a candidate (or a former President!) On Sunday, I had the pleasure of volunteering with Bill and Chelsea Clinton at the I Have A Dream Foundation in Portland. I have to say, just knowing that the Hillary campaign wanted to volunteer in our community made me happy. I think service is important and so do they... here are his comments .
I wanted to participate in the project because Bill Clinton was the President who signed the National Service Bill establishing him as the "Father of AmeriCorps". I was in AmeriCorps when Bill (now I can call him that because we are tight!) was President. When he walked up and shook my hand, the only thing I could say was, "we are all current or former AmeriCorps Members and we thank you for the experience." I think he said "Yea, I gathered that." There you have it... my first encounter with a President!
I am glad that Bill didn't ask who I was voting for or what I had planned that afternoon, because from there I went to the Obama rally in Portland. Over 75,000 Portlanders turned out to hear Obama speak. Now if we could just get him to volunteer!
11 May 2008
Where’d she go?
Not far! It’s been a busy couple of weeks! Work has taken over as of late, but the volunteering is still a goin’… I just haven’t had much time to write. The last couple of weeks have included all of my regular favorites.
A few highlights…
- Hands On Greater Portland CARES Day (more on that in a minute!)
- Tabling for Hands On Greater Portland. It is so fun to talk about Hands On.
- SMART reading. This most recent week I worked with a kindergartner who did cartwheels down the hall on the way to the SMART room. Next week is the last week before summer break.
- AKA Science – weeks 3 and 4 included discussion of earthquakes and tornadoes. Now when I ask what causes certain types of weather… the answer tends to be “the combination of hot and cold air.” We continue to start each class with running or walking around the school to expend energy. I joined them in a race one week.. I don’t think they knew what to think when they found out I can actually run as fast as they can.
- AmeriCorps Alums Leadership Council – we are gearing up for a national conference on volunteering in Atlanta at the end of the month. We have talked about wearing superhero capes to stand out in the conference of 4-5,000 attendees. Whatever it takes to stand out.
- Oregon Commission on Service meeting – Friday’s meeting was in Albany, OR. 4 new Commissioners add great energy to the mix.
Total Volunteer Hours as of 5/11/08: 115.75
3 months into the adventure.
A few highlights…
- Hands On Greater Portland CARES Day (more on that in a minute!)
- Tabling for Hands On Greater Portland. It is so fun to talk about Hands On.
- SMART reading. This most recent week I worked with a kindergartner who did cartwheels down the hall on the way to the SMART room. Next week is the last week before summer break.
- AKA Science – weeks 3 and 4 included discussion of earthquakes and tornadoes. Now when I ask what causes certain types of weather… the answer tends to be “the combination of hot and cold air.” We continue to start each class with running or walking around the school to expend energy. I joined them in a race one week.. I don’t think they knew what to think when they found out I can actually run as fast as they can.
- AmeriCorps Alums Leadership Council – we are gearing up for a national conference on volunteering in Atlanta at the end of the month. We have talked about wearing superhero capes to stand out in the conference of 4-5,000 attendees. Whatever it takes to stand out.
- Oregon Commission on Service meeting – Friday’s meeting was in Albany, OR. 4 new Commissioners add great energy to the mix.
Total Volunteer Hours as of 5/11/08: 115.75
3 months into the adventure.
14 April 2008
What does it all mean?
This week has a few of the usual suspects and one new endeavor. I read at SMART on Tuesday, worked with our local AmeriCorps Alums chapter, and went to an orientation at Fernwood Elementary/Middle for a new Monday activity; teaching science in an after-school program through AKA Science.
I spent Saturday at the University of Oregon at their student leadership conference. I presented a workshop called “Civic Engagement a.k.a. how to be a superhero in your community.” There were 25 or so college students in the room and I decided to utilize their experiences in a focus group discussion about community involvement.
We watched a video about the 4 college freshman in NC who changed the world by having a seat at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in February of 1960. Within 1 month 54 cities had similar sit in’s. Those 4 young men made a difference.
The U of O students worked through a couple of scenarios where they were called on to react to theoretical situations on campus: a dorm fire and a campus policy change on recycling. The students had great short-term and long-term actions for the scenarios. Then we talked about one’s responsibility in the community. It is easier to react when something hits you, but if we were to talk about the every day things students do… what does it mean to be a “citizen”? In Ancient Greece, an idiot was the opposite of a “citizen” or someone involved in community.
The students discussed the idea of volunteering and whether that should be a part of citizenship. Some thought a requirement was good… others thought is should be by choice and related to one’s interest. They mostly agreed that being informed was an important component of being a citizen. This led to a discussion on voting and whether that was an important component of citizenship. The students thought that voting without information was useless and should therefore be a neutral indicator of citizenship. Do you agree?
By the way… if you are in Oregon, please make sure you are registered with a party so that you can vote in our primary on May 20th. If you are an independent, then you cannot vote for a major party candidate. Your vote matters! Please register by April 21st. More information on registering to vote is here!
Total Volunteer Hours as of April 13th: 87.5
I spent Saturday at the University of Oregon at their student leadership conference. I presented a workshop called “Civic Engagement a.k.a. how to be a superhero in your community.” There were 25 or so college students in the room and I decided to utilize their experiences in a focus group discussion about community involvement.
We watched a video about the 4 college freshman in NC who changed the world by having a seat at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in February of 1960. Within 1 month 54 cities had similar sit in’s. Those 4 young men made a difference.
The U of O students worked through a couple of scenarios where they were called on to react to theoretical situations on campus: a dorm fire and a campus policy change on recycling. The students had great short-term and long-term actions for the scenarios. Then we talked about one’s responsibility in the community. It is easier to react when something hits you, but if we were to talk about the every day things students do… what does it mean to be a “citizen”? In Ancient Greece, an idiot was the opposite of a “citizen” or someone involved in community.
The students discussed the idea of volunteering and whether that should be a part of citizenship. Some thought a requirement was good… others thought is should be by choice and related to one’s interest. They mostly agreed that being informed was an important component of being a citizen. This led to a discussion on voting and whether that was an important component of citizenship. The students thought that voting without information was useless and should therefore be a neutral indicator of citizenship. Do you agree?
By the way… if you are in Oregon, please make sure you are registered with a party so that you can vote in our primary on May 20th. If you are an independent, then you cannot vote for a major party candidate. Your vote matters! Please register by April 21st. More information on registering to vote is here!
Total Volunteer Hours as of April 13th: 87.5
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