Save the Date

Celebrate Service, captures the meaning of this signature week: Honoring the people who dedicate themselves to taking action and solving problems in their communities!

This year, Points of Light is also honored to recognize the fourth anniversary of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and the creation of the Volunteer Generation Fund. 

Through a series of celebratory and service events across the nation, Celebrate Service, presents an opportunity for individuals, families, nonprofit organizations and government entities alike to celebrate the ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things through service.

National Volunteer Week embodies the energy and power volunteers evoke on a daily basis as they lead by example—not only encouraging the people they help, but motivating others to serve as well.

Join Volunteer Connections Montcalm-Ionia in Celebrating Service at the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner!

Main Dishes will be provided by the Lamplight Grill-Ionia and Huckleberry's- Greenville. Bring a side dish to share for this Potluck Dinner.

Help us honor the Volunteer of the Year and Celebrate People in Action from these Community Programs:

Basic Needs Committee

2-1-1 Committee

Citizen Corps Programs

Community Food Network

Ionia County Peace Community

Financial Literacy Program

VITA- Income Tax Assistance Program

and the United Way Montcalm-Ionia Counties!

Volunteer Engagement Training!

 

As a consultant with Volunteer Centers of Michigan working with the Volunteer Generation Fund Grant, Sandra Miller has participated in and led a number of strategic planning meetings and seminars across the state and midwest. Volunteer engagement is gaining increased recognition and validation as an important strategy toward any nonprofit's ability to build capacity and sustainability. There's also increased data supporting the need for collaboration and cooperation between nonprofits to build community awareness and support toward a culture of community engagement and volunteerism. It's also vital that nonprofit organizations be prepared to effectively engage those individuals seeking to volunteer their time and skills. The purpose of this discussion and workshop will be to identify some things that have worked in other communities and to discuss how organizations within Montcalm and Ionia counties might plan effective collaboration strategies.

 

We hope that you can attend this month's meeting on Wed. morning at the Montcalm Area Career Center.

Strategic Volunteer Engagement-Volunteers as a Resource and Asset

Date: February 20, 2013
Time: 9:00-10:30 AM
Location: Conference Room-Montcalm Area Career Center, 1550 Sidney Rd., Sidney, MI

How can nonprofit organizations work together to create a culture of collaboration and foster community engagement within Montcalm and Ionia counties?

Montcalm County resident, former Americorps*VISTA member, retired teacher and current consultant with the Vounteer Centers of Michigan will lead a monthly seminar and discussion between participants. The goal will be to identify effective volunteer engagement strategies and to define how these strategies might be used to effectively mobilize volunteers to serve to meet local community needs. Information from two resources-"The New Volunteer Workforce"(Stanford Review) and "A Matter of Survival: Volunteering By, In, and With Low-Income Communities" (Points of Light Foundation) will be presented and used to generate this first discussion.

If the Montcalm Area Career Center is closed due to weather, this training will be rescheduled to the following month. (This is the first training in a monthly training series taught be Sandra Miller from Volunteer Centers of Michigan!)

Announcing Volunteer of the Month for February: Margaret Durga!

In the past couple years Margaret has worked as an AmeriCorpsVISTA in the office of United Way Montcalm-Ionia Counties.  As a VISTA she worked to help alleviate poverty by creating a financial mentoring program.

Margaret has begun her fourth year as a volunteer with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.  VITA has brought back hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax refunds and credits to the residents of Ionia and Montcalm Counties.

Margaret is a committee member of Boy Scout Troop 130 in Greenville, is registered with Venture Crew 2620 at Greenville High School, is a merit badge counselor, and has served for two years as the Five Rivers District Popcorn Kernel for the annual Boy Scout popcorn sale.

This year Margaret participated in mentor training for the Montcalm Area Reading Council and has just begun working with her first student.