Interfaith Community Outreach (ICO) provides emergency gap services and referrals to people on the Outer Banks and surrounding areas who have no other place to turn for help.  ICO is an interfaith organization of volunteers who are supported by more than 30 local faith communities and network partners.  Offices are in Southern Shore, at the corner of Juniper Trail and 158 by-pass, and in Jarvisburg at the Hebron United Methodist Church.

Show your support for this great organization by attending the Fall Family Festival will be an all-day event on September 12, 2009, located at the church grounds of the Jarvisburg Church of Christ (121 Forbes Road).   There will be something for everyone: Fish and Chicken Fry, Bake Sale, Live Music, 'Free Gas for a Year' Raffle, book sale, games, and much more.  If you would like to volunteer, you can do so online.  Make sure you note Fall Family Festival.  Or call the office at 252-4800-0070

Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast invites all current and potential Girl Scout volunteers to the 2009 Inspired By U Fall Kick Off on August 15 at Oscar Smith Middle School in Chesapeake. Find out all you need to know about volunteering for the Girl Scouts! Attend training courses and enrichment classes. Guest speakers include the 2nd VP of the Girl Scouts of the USA National Board of Directors Linda Foreman as well as Executive Director of the Elizabeth River Project, Marjorie Mayfield. Attendees will get the first peek at the new Girl Scout Journey series: It's Your Planet - Love It! Activities are also available all day for daughters and troop members who are registered Girl Scouts. Check-in is from 8-9 a.m. and classes run throughout the day until 5 p.m. Pre-register by visiting the Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast Web site, www.gsccc.org, or by calling (757) 547-4405 or 1-800-77SCOUT.
 
Volunteering for the Girl Scouts can work into any schedule as mentors, advisors, or short-term volunteers. Whether you help out regularly, occasionally, or only for a special event, you can use your talents to change the life of a young girl. The Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast, a United Way agency, serves over 16,000 girls in grades K through 12, and 6,000 adult volunteers in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. In Girl Scouting, caring adult volunteers help build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.

Sponsored by the First Flight, Nags Head, Manteo, Wanchese, Columbia, Currituck, Lower Currituck and Plymouth Lions clubs, the North Carolina Lions VIP Fishing Tournament attracts over 500 blind and visually impaired people, along with their guests, ages 12 to 91 to the Outer Banks. The tournament which will be held October 11, 12, 13 and 14, this year, draws people from 77 counties and is the largest gathering of blind and visually impaired people in North Carolina.

Volunteers make the tournament a success each year by working to prepare each site for our participants. They prepare the rods and reels for the fishing tournament, along with cutting bait, hauling fish to be weighed and serving as guides for the visually impaired participants. They welcome the participants at the local motels, stuff registration packets, transport supplies and prepare and sale merchandise during the event; they set up 150 tables and 750 chairs at the local gymnasium where meals and seminars will be held; they help prepare food and serve the participants breakfast, lunch and dinner; they clean up the gymnasium after each meal and prepare for the next meal; and they actually pay for the privilege of being a volunteer.  If you are interested you can find an application on line.  If you would like to 'adopt a fisherman', contact Angelo Sonnesso.

Every 16 minutes in the United States, someone dies by suicide. This year thousands of men and women will walk in over 150 communities across the United States, each contributing their voices to break the silence surrounding suicide.
By walking in the Out of the Darkness Community Walks to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), you will be walking with thousands of people nationwide to raise money for AFSP's vital research and education programs to prevent suicide and save lives, increase national awareness about depression and suicide, and assist survivors of suicide loss.

Many articipants walk in memory of a loved one lost to suicide. Each walk site has its own unique remembrance activity in which you can participate. To organize a walk in our community, contact Mike Lamma, AFSP's Senior Director of Field Management & Development, at 1-888-333-AFSP (2377) Ext. 16, or mlamma@afsp.org. Visit the site for more information.