Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Banner Ad



If you would like to add this banner ad to all outgoing emails for the next month, I can help you do so.

Attached is a jpg version of the banner ad.
And if your email server requires a URL here is where it is stored:  http://ioniahost.com/Community%20Events/NVM%20banner%20ad.jpg

Please let me know if you need assistance with this!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Volunteer Appreciation Dinner


Appreciation Dinner

 Volunteer Appreciation Dinner

Belding High School
April 25, 2013
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

“SPRING INTO SERVICE”

Celebrating People in Action!

National Volunteer Week is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their community.  It’s about meeting our challenges not as isolated individuals, but as members of a community, with all of us working together to be the change, to make an impact, to get the job done!

Volunteer Connections Montcalm-Ionia Counties wishes to express our THANKS to all the volunteers who tirelessly share their time and talents with those in need. 
To celebrate service, many volunteers will be recognized for springing into service in support of community programs and nonprofit organizations. We will also be giving awards to these outstanding volunteers.

Volunteer of the Year
Youth Volunteer of the Year
Student Service Award

Help us take a moment to celebrate our volunteers.  By attending you will be able to share ideas, practices and stories with other volunteers and see what kind of activities are being carried out in our community!

Please bring a dish to pass.
Table settings and drinks will be provided.

For more information contact 1-800-417-2622 or iccfoodnetwork@gmail.com


Friday, March 8, 2013

Sentinel-Standard Article Celebrating Volunteers!


Check out this link to the Ionia Sentinel-Standard about one of our great CFN Volunteers!

http://www.sentinel-standard.com/article/20130308/NEWS/130309518?refresh=true#&refresh=true



 Patricia Davis of Muir named March Volunteer of the Month
Davis has held a volunteer role in her community for as long as she can remember.
By Volunteer Connections Montcalm-Ionia Counties
Mar. 8, 2013 4:12 pm
Patricia Davis visits the United Way office in Belding Thursday to pick up her prize package. Davis was named March Volunteer of the Month by Volunteer Connections Montcalm-Ionia Counties.
Patricia Davis visits the United Way office in Belding Thursday to pick up her prize package. Davis was named March Volunteer of the Month by Volunteer Connections Montcalm-Ionia Counties.

March Volunteer of the Month: Patricia Davis



Our THANKS can not be enough to cover all the time Patricia has dedicated to her community!  Throughout her life she has been active with 4-H, Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and many others!

As a THANK YOU from Volunteer Connections Montcalm-Ionia Counties, Patricia received a care package including gift certificates to the Lamplight Grill, kneeling pads from the Community Food Network, 2-1-1 Magnets, and United Way bracelets to share with her Food Pantry Volunteers.

Monday, March 4, 2013

March Volunteer of the Month: Patricia Davis


ACTION:  What has your nominee done or is currently doing?
Patricia has always held a volunteer role in her community for as long as she can remember. In 1992 when Pat and her husband, John, moved to Muir, they started volunteering.  In two years they witnessed an increase in people needing help in their communities and started speaking to the local Churches and organizations to which they belonged to.  This included the Eastern Stars and Masons of Lyons where they raised more money and recruited volunteers for the food pantry.  When they were told about Feeding America they raised more funds and began buying van loads of food at a fraction of the cost.  In 2003 Pat was asked to take over running the Muir Christian Food Pantry.  And with the aid of her family, Patricia continues to serve the community by providing emergency food to families on demand and hosting a 1 day a month food distribution to local families struggling to provide food on a limited monthly budget.  On weeks that the food pantry is not open she is still working on funding and puts about 10 to 15 hours a week in and on weeks it is open she puts about 25 hours. She orders the food, arranges pick up, helps unload and organize shelves, calls people to volunteer or to donate.

Patricia remembers her family always helping out people and cleaning the church.  Patricia has been a life-long member of the North Plains Baptist Church where her parents attended and her grandchildren still attend!  Pat's parents always instilled in them the importance of helping people.  As a child she went along with her dad to help community members and as a teen she would always volunteer for anything her school had going, including decorating for community events and dances, helping with elderly neighbors, and being a part of 4-H.

As an adult, Pat continued to be involved as a 4-H Leader to her children, nieces and nephews, and neighbors.  As a young adult she also volunteered her time to the Eastern Star for their monthly dinners.  When she began to have children, Patricia taught them the importance of community by bringing them along to the special events she was helping with.  Patricia also served as a Sunday School Teacher for years at the North Plains Church and always helped out new neighbors, chaperoned school outings, and cleaned the church.  She instilled in her children the value of having respect for the Lords House and all that they were lucky to have.  She also served as a Girl Scout leader, Boy Scout Den Mother, and Republican delegate several times representing Muir, Michigan and the families that lived there.


NEED:  What community need(s) does your nominee address?
Over the years, the requests for help from the pantry have increased dramatically.  When the pantry started over 35 years ago, volunteers served around 20 families a year.  That has increased to nearly 120 families seeking assistance each month.

Several businesses in the area have been forced to close, leaving few job resources available to families.  Most residents work on the family farm or in one of the neighboring towns of Ionia or Portland, or further away in Grand Rapids or Lansing.  Patricia comes from a generation where neighbors helped neighbors.  If a neighbor needed clothes or toys for their children, Patricia and her husband would give what they could to help.  As local business owners, the Davis' remember a time when the community was busy and filled with family activities.  To watch families leave the area or struggle to survive with meager resources only builds to Patricia's heartfelt need to help community members where ever she can.  She has watched the community in which she lives grow and shrink countless times, but you can always count on Pat to give of herself.  In fact, Pat's daughters have been forced to "Lay Down the Law" in order to keep Pat from giving away the clothing on her back!  She has such a caring heart and desire to help her community members that Patricia has a hard time knowing her limits.  Even though she has struggled with personal health issues over the last year, she continues to serve the community with every ounce of energy she has!

IMPACT:  What is different as a result of your nominee’s service?
Just by adding up weekly commitments to the food pantry, Patricia easily spends 1020 hours each year coordinating donations, distribution days, and managing the pantry.  Since she began 10 years ago, Patricia Davis has easily served over 10,000 hours.  Each month volunteers at the food pantry serve 60+ families and for holidays the pantry generally prepares at least 100 food boxes to make a special meal for local families.  As coordinator Patricia oversees an average 22 volunteers in the pantry each month who contribute a minimum of 146 volunteer hours each month stocking, cleaning, and sorting food to make the pantry a vital community asset.

As part of the Community Food Network, Patricia volunteered 48 hours in 2012 attending planning meetings, trainings, and special events.  Many of this time was dedicated to the County-wide Food Drive in which 265 volunteers contributed over 868 volunteers to collect over 6,000 food items and over $800 in donations.  Without Pat's dedication to this project and all the work she put into planning and coordinating the project for 8 food pantries throughout Ionia County there is no way this food drive would have been this successful!
With the aid of her family, Patricia oversees two Community Gardens to grow fresh produce for the food pantry.  One is located beside the pantry where those in need can pick their own produce when available straight from the garden.  Another is located near the North Plains church and is taken care of by Pat's family and church members.  Yet, there is still a need for more fresh produce to help local families and therefore Pat has reached out to local growers and farmers requesting that left over produce be donated to the pantry.  In 2012, a family wanted desperately to have their own garden but required new top soil to make it happen.  Patricia tried tirelessly to find a donation of topsoil for this family and eventually ending up making this donation herself.  The family showed their appreciation by making weekly donations of fresh produce from their garden back to the food pantry helping other local families to enjoy the benefit of enjoying fresh produce.