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Community Service
What is community service? Let's break it down
How
do we get started?
Here
are a few ideas for community service projects
A
few more ideas for community service projects
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For more information contact
Linda Kivi Porter.
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What is community service? Let's break it
down: (Definitions from the
American Heritage Dictionary.)
Community:
- "A group of people living in
the same locality and under the same government."
- "The district or locality in
which such a group lives."
- "A group or class having
common interest."
- "Similarity or identity."
- "Society as a whole: the
public."
- "Common possession or
participation."
Service:
- "The occupation or duties of a
servant."
- "Acts of devotion; witness."
- "An act of assistance or
benefit to another or others."
So what is community service for
members of the VFRW?
How about: Acts of assistance
or benefit to another or others in our district or locality or under the
same government?
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How do we get started?
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Find out about Community Service Organizations (CSOs) operating
in your local community. Obtain booklets or pamphlets created by
your local county government office that provide basic information
on the various CSOs available in your area. For example, Loudoun
County, Virginia provides a booklet for county residents entitled,
“2010 Guide to Services.” These booklets are usually updated
annually.
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Distribute these booklets to the members of your club and to members
of your local Republican committee.
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Make
time to review the booklet, contact the organizations listed, and
schedule visits to meet with the community service organization’s
leadership and/or volunteer coordinators. They will gladly
introduce you to their staff, provide tours of their facilities,
tell you about their upcoming fundraising activities, share
“wish-lists”, and inform you about volunteer opportunities (as
individuals and/or as a club). Let your community know that
Republican women care!
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Visit
your
local community volunteer center. These centers promote
volunteerism by providing information, referral and recognition of
volunteer activities. Loudoun County’s community volunteer center
is called Volunteer Loudoun. Volunteer Loudoun is affiliated with
the national Hands On organization.
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Attend
various fundraising or service events. Encourage other club
members to attend and/or volunteer with you. Keep in mind that many
CSOs require volunteers to go through a training or orientation
program; some even require a background check. Some organizations
only accept volunteers who are 18 years of age or older; while
others provide opportunities for youth to be involved with adult
supervision. Several CSOs may require you to sign agreements to
ensure clients names and/or locations of various shelters are kept
confidential.
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If
you’d like to get more involved, investigate whether your county has
a Leadership program available. County leadership programs meet
monthly to discuss and create change projects for their
communities. There may be an application process and a fee
associated with joining your community leadership program. Many of
them are 9 or10 month-long programs and begin each fall.
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Feature
a different CSO every month in your club newsletter and/or at your
club meetings. Help increase awareness within your club, local
Republican committee, and neighborhood of the services offered by
these groups as well as their accomplishments.
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Each
club has something that stands out as needing the help of Republican
Women. Community service is not just for Thanksgiving and
Christmas, it’s a lifestyle. Community Service chairpersons, please
get your committee together and decide what you will do to make a
difference in your community. I look forward to hearing about the
ways you served your community. Please share information and ideas
with other CSO committee chairs in other RWCs. Thank you for all
that you do for others!
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George H. W. Bush, 41st President
of the United States said,
"We all have something to give.
So
if you know how to read, find someone who can't. If you've got a
hammer, find a nail.
Join the Community of Conscience."
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Here are
a few ideas
for community service projects.
Did you know that:
-
October 16, 2010, is World Food Day? Team up with others to collect
canned goods and/or food cards for your local food pantry by
standing in front of various grocery stores and distributing copies
of the pantry’s “wish list” with those entering the stores to shop.
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The
Panera Bread restaurant chain donates their unsold produce every
evening to various groups which then distribute the “dough-nations”
throughout their communities?
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October
is Domestic Violence Awareness month? Participate in planning
and/or attending a fundraising event for your local women’s
shelter.
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Some
churches have organizations that will provide matching funds to
money raised for various causes/groups by church members?
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Many
shelters and food banks also dispense personal care items to their
clients? Diapers and women’s personal care products always seem to
be in short supply.
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Freedom
Alliance is an organization that provides scholarship funds to sons
and daughters of military personnel killed or 100% permanently
disabled while in the line of duty? These scholarships are
renewable for a total of four years.
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Volunteers
of America is a national organization that many counties hire to
operate transitional housing programs, emergency homeless shelters,
and drop in centers in many communities? Drop in centers are places
where the homeless can go to receive a meal, wash their clothes, and
take a shower. Many shelters are only 89-day programs and many
transitional housing programs are 2 years in length. With the
current state of the economy, the need for these types of services
is growing exponentially and the waiting lists for many shelters and
transitional housing programs are quite lengthy.
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Virginia
has a 12-month long financial management class for people with
documented low-incomes called the VITA program? This program is
taught by a financial planner who advises families about how to
avoid fees and penalties from banks, how to improve credit scores,
and how to create a monthly budget. If qualified families save
$2000.00 during the course, the State will award them an additional
$4000.00 which must be used for purchase of a home or college
education.
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Most
counties have a literacy council that trains and provides tutors for
individuals who require assistance with reading, spelling, and
math?
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Here
are a few
more ideas for community service projects:
-
Locate your county’s Free Health Clinic and donate books for
children and adults to read while they patiently sit in the waiting
room. Make up little goodie bags to keep the children entertained
with crayons, construction paper, and a few stickers.
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Team
up with a local church that’s already involved in Project Angel Tree
and help collect and/or deliver Christmas presents to children whose
parents are incarcerated.
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Participate
in the NFRW’s Support the Troops program and mail packages overseas
to our soldiers on the front lines. Talk with your local
privately-owned mailbox/office supply stores and see if they will
donate the postage to mail your package to the troops.
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Find
a group that hosts military appreciation dinners and treat a veteran
to a meal.
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Contact
your local Youth Initiative, which is an organization that promotes
healthy, safe, living, learning, and leadership opportunities for
youth in your county.
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Reach
out to your county’s Volunteer Caregiver program and help transport
frail elderly or disabled adults to doctor appointments or stop by
to visit with them in their homes.
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Treat
representatives of your local police, fire and rescue, and emergency
services to a summertime BBQ or picnic. Thank them for their
service to your community.
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Stop
by your local National Guard Headquarters, speak with the commanding
officer, and see if there are times that you can drop by with coffee
and muffins.
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