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Keep up with the latest Volunteer Center news and opportunities!
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Vote
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Remember to vote!
Election Day is November 6th.
Visit the Board of Elections
website for voting information and election news.
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Do Something Seed Grants to Help Bring Ideas into Action |
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Are you working to start a
community action project or program? Do you need
money to put your ideas into action? If you answered, "YES!", you are eligible to apply for a Do Something Seed Grant.
These grants can be used towards project ideas and programs that are just getting started, or to jump-start your program and realize your ideas for the first time.
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Friend of HOC Award
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Congratulations to the The  Senior Connection for receiving the 2012 "Friend of HOC" award during an awards ceremony held Monday, October 22, 2012.
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Montgomery County Recreation is collecting coats to support the Homeless Resource Day on November 15. The goal is to collect more than 500 gently used women's and men's winter coats of all sizes. Although there is a lesser need for children's coats, they will also be accepted. The coats will be distributed free to needy residents.
Coat can be dropped off at several Recreation locations. Click here to see the list of drop off locations. |
| Keep the Trolley Museum on Track! |
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But it's not all good news.
Read the recent article in The Gazette; the trolley museum has seen a recent decline in volunteering.
Click here to learn about their volunteer opportunities, sign up or help spread the word!
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Watch this awesome video!
 | | Montgomery County Volunteer Center Video |
Thank you to Montgomery Community Media for producing this fabulous video for the Volunteer Center!
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"The miracle is this - the more we share, the more we have."
-Leonard Nimoy
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Make a Difference highlights the contributions of stellar County volunteers and organizations that contribute positively to Montgomery County.
Click here for recent episodes. |
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For our online calendar of opportunities,
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The Montgomery County Volunteer Center is part of the Office of Community Partnerships. For more information on the Office of Community Partnerships and to sign up for the Partnerships Newsletter, please click here.
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Privacy is important to us; therefore, we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. At any point, you can select the link at the bottom of every email to unsubscribe.
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Thank You Volunteers!
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Community Service Day was a great success! 
Over 1,000 County residents volunteered through out the week of October 22-28!
Thank you to all the volunteers who served across the Montgomery County. You have truly made a difference in the community. Volunteers worked on many different projects including park clean ups, assisting at fall festivals, painting, invasive weed pulls, packing boxes of books, attending volunteer information sessions and more!
Check out some of the photos on our website! If you have your own photos you would like to share please send them to mcvolunteers@gmail.com or include your best photo when you Share Your Story on our website.
If you volunteered for Community Service Day (October 22-28) and have not filled out the volunteer survey yet click here to provide us with feedback. |
Holiday Volunteering
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 Last year the Montgomery County Holiday Giving Project provided donated meals for Thanksgiving, and meals and gifts for the December holidays for more than 9,000 families. The need for holiday assistance is even greater this year.
The Holiday Giving Project needs community organizations to step up and join the coalition of members to help with collection and distribution of holiday gifts for families in the Silver Spring and Takoma Park areas of the County.Do you think your church or synagogue, business or nonprofit would like to find out about joining the coalition? You are needed!! Click and scroll down the page to see the current coalition members, headed by A Wider Circle. Contact Susan Klavon at 240-687-9629 or email holidays@awidercircle.org to see how you can help. Thanksgiving inspires many people to give back during the holidays. The most popular opportunities, such as serving at a soup kitchen or shelter on Thanksgiving Day fill up fast, while there is a real need for volunteers other days throughout the year. There are many ways to offer your time to worthy causes. Here are a few to get you started. - Put together a Thanksgiving basket for a family in need for the Holiday Giving Project: Contact: holidays@awidercircle.org
- The Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless (MCCH) needs volunteers to prepare meals for the homeless 365 days out of the year, not just Thanksgiving!
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Click here to see more holiday opportunities in the Volunteer Center Database! |
Veterans Day
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 Montgomery County provides a variety of services and resources to veterans, military personnel, and their families. Visit the Montgomery County Veterans' Affairs homepage for more information.
In honor of Veterans Day on November 11th, consider volunteering for any of these organizations that provide support to veterans.
- Mentoring Plus provides a free mentoring program focused on workforce development for women veterans and military spouses. Celebrate Working Women Helping Women Work™ by mentoring a woman veteran or military or veteran spouse. We are particularly recruiting women vets & milspouses who want mentoring. Sign up at the Joining Forces Mentoring Plus™ website. Click here to read more about this opportunity.
- Hero Dogs, Inc. seeks to provide independence and improved quality of life to our nation's veterans by training and placing service dogs (Hero Dogs) with military veterans who become disabled while serving in the armed forces. Become a Puppy Raiser, grant writer, or researcher. View all of the opportunities available here.
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Agency Spotlight: Rainbow Place
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As the County's oldest women's emergency winter shelter, Rainbow Place opened its doors in 1982 as a mission of the Rockville Presbyterian Church. They are dedicated
to providing winter emergency overnight shelter for adult, homeless women in a safe, caring environment by supportive staff who treat all guests with dignity and compassion. Rainbow Place is open from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am nightly from November through March. Each woman is assigned a cot, given three meals per day, on-site case management, limited clothing, and access to shower and laundry facilities. Ride On bus tokens are offered on a case-by-case basis for transportation needs related to clients' work toward stability.
There are many opportunities for volunteers to support this effort to help vulnerable women in a most desperate time in their lives. Volunteering at Rainbow Place is great way to impact others in the community. Over 1,000 hours each year are donated by volunteers who are essential to our mission. Volunteers are needed to serve meals in the evenings; prepare and deliver food; sort donations; assist with driving staff to/from work in inclement weather; setting up the shelter in October or shutting down the shelter in April; event planning and assistance; provide clerical support; and other projects as needs arise. Our biggest volunteer need at this time is for Evening Volunteers and for people to bring meals, desserts or lunches. We are continuing to schedule volunteers for these needs through March.
The community can also be helpful by participating in our November 18th pre-Thanksgiving Rainbow Place Shelter Walk 2012. We want to make this walk highly visible to the Rockville community with a large group of walkers heading into Rockville Town Center. Registration and light lunch starts at 11:30 am at Rockville Presbyterian Church with a short program at noon; the walk starts at 12:15 pm. Online registration and donations can be made by visiting www.rainbowplace.org
Increase your agency's visibility and recruit more volunteers by being a featured Agency Spotlight. Send an email to fern.carbonell@montgomerycountymd.gov for consideration. |
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Save the Date
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service!
Monday, January 21, 2013
9:00 am - 11:00 am |
 The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is just around the corner. This annual Day of Service will take place at the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center. Make sure you put this exciting event on your calendar. Check out photos from MLK this past January. Volunteers will help make bag lunches for shelters (we need all you PB&J sandwich makers!), decorate cards for seniors and veterans, pack Snow day boxes for Meals on Wheels, make fleece quilts and scarves for hospice patients and their families, and much more! This is a great way for groups and families to work together. Students can also receive Student Service Learning (SSL) hours. For question about MLK Day please contact servicedays@montgomerycountymd.gov |
CRCMC Volunteer of the Year Award |
On October 18th, CRCMC honored Della Stolsworth as Volunteer of the Year. Through her leadership and extraordinary effort, Della has reinvigorated their facilitation program. Before lending her immense talents to CRCMC, Della volunteered for the Montgomery County Volunteer Center for nearly 15 years, where she pioneered the Pro Bono Consultant Program connecting retired professionals to local non-profits. In recognition of that work, Della earned praise and honor from then-First Lady Laura Bush. Congratulations to Della Stolsworth! |
| AmeriCorps Legacy Corps Program |
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 Easter Seals is currently seeking civilians, current military members and veterans, ages 17 and older as Legacy Corps Volunteers. Make a difference in your life and the lives of others by providing caregiver support services to veteran and military families.
As a volunteer, you will be providing in-home respite care to an older adult or child and will be helping a family caregiver by giving them a much-needed short break. All activities are of a non-medical nature, not requiring the skills of services of medical, therapeutic or other licensed professionals.
- At least 17 years of age and have a high school diploma or GED
- 1 year commitment of 450 hours of service during the year (approximately 10-12 hours/week) starting November 2012
- Be a legal resident or citizen of the United States
- Participate in monthly meetings and training
- Ability to become First Aid/CPR qualified
- Ability to pass a background check. Must have a clean State Criminal Background Check and National Sex Offender Public Registery (NSOPR)
- Basic computer skills
- Reliable transportation
- Be flexible and available in terms of service activity schedules
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| Nominations Sought for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards |
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Nominations Due: November 16, 2012
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Committee is seeking nominations for the Humanitarian Award and the Children of the Dream Awards to be presented at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Sunday, January 20, 2013. All winners and honorable mentions will be acknowledged during the ceremony to be held at Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda.
Humanitarian Award applications must provide a short narrative explaining the nominee's contributions to Montgomery County residents, including:
- The community-based or civic activities for which the nominee is being recognized
- Whether or not the nominee is paid for the above activities
- Time period the nominee has been involved in activities
- Other contributions of a humanitarian nature made by the person to the community
Children of the Dream Awards will be presented to one male and one female student in grades 9 to 12, or a group or club, which demonstrates outstanding character and community/school involvement. Volunteer activities may include a single significant project or an on-going effort and must be above and beyond routine class work or school or community projects.
Nomination forms are available at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/humanrights. For more information, contact James Stowe, director of the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, at 240-777-8491. |
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Welcome New Newsletter Subscribers
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The Montgomery County Volunteer Center has been out and about
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Dorothy Nelson, Kathleen Meaney Stobie, and Beth Isen with the County Executive at
The Beacon's 50+ EXPO at White Flint
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at many outreach events this fall. We have meet with lots of new potential volunteers and many of them have signed up to receive our monthly newsletter. We welcome all the new readers, and we hope you enjoy all the great information this newsletter offers. With our new readers added, we now have 14,405 subscribers to Montgomery Volunteer!
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| Featured Volunteer Opportunities |
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 Denotes opportunities that are approved to provide MCPS Student Service Learning (SSL) Hours.
November 10 - Event Volunteers. The Capitol Area Telugu Society is Celebrating South Indian Festival Dussera and Diwalli at Roosevelt HS in Greenbelt, MD. Volunteers familiar with Indian culture needed to assist with organizing and executing this celebratory event. Volunteers will help with set up, clean up, and assist with directing attendees within the event. Contact: Badrinath Challa, Program Coordinator, 678-849-8866 November 11 - Girls on the Run 5K Fun Run is the culminating event of our 10 week program. Over 3,000 girls, coaches, and families participate in our Fun Run to celebrate the accomplishment of our participants. We need help with various activities associated with our 5K Fun Run; water station volunteers, course marshals, running buddies, and start/finish line volunteers. Every registered volunteer will get a T-shirt.
Contact: Elizabeth McGlynn, Executive Director, 301-881-3801 November 15 - Homeless Resource Day Volunteers. The Homeless Resource Day will be a "one day, one stop," opportunity for individuals and families experiencing homelessness to access benefits, medical care, substance abuse and mental health counseling, as well as a variety of social services. More than 300 volunteers are needed as greeters, guides, monitors and escorts, help with set up, registration and parking. Register to volunteer here. Contact: Gloria Huggins, 240-777-4565 November 17 - Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade Volunteers. Volunteers needed for the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Silver Sprint to act as balloon handlers- leading the giant Macy's-like Thanksgiving balloons and dressing up in costumes to be on the floats. Assistance needed with set-up and break-down.
Contact: Elizabeth Gallauresi, 301-793-2928
View the November Volunteer Calendar. Do you have a great volunteer story to tell? Share your story with a paragraph and a photo. Tell how you're making an impact in your community! Stories will be displayed throughout our website. Click here to read some Success Stories. Search for more volunteer opportunities here! |
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Denotes opportunities that are approved to provide
MCPS Student Service Learning (SSL) Hours
Photographer. Take Flight provides unemployed or underemployed youth with supportive relationships and tools to achieve business success. Take Flight seeks a photographer to take pictures at their various events to better document their work in the community. Your photos will immediately be put to good use in our newsletter, website and other outreach efforts. Please provide your own camera.
Website: www.takeflightinc.org
Contact Paul Williams, Executive Director, 240-839-1848
Clean-a-Thon. The Jubilee Association provides residential services for adults with developmental disabilities by providing group home living arrangements or support services for those living at home Your group can help maintain the group homes by spending a day cleaning inside and outside one of our community-based group homes. This opportunity is great for groups Small group 3-10 medium group 10-25.
Website: www.jubileemd.org
Contact Kendra Tappin, Volunteer Coordinator, 301-949-8628 x177
Resale Shop Assistant - The Prevention of Blindness operates a resale shop in Kensington with proceeds benefiting sight-saving programs. Volunteers are needed to sort donations, stock merchandise, create store displayes and work the cash register. This is a great opportunity for individuals interested in art, antiques, fashion or retail management. All volunteers are asked to develop a consistent schedule for their work. Volunteers will receive training once they begin their service at the store.
Website: youreyes.org/support-our-work/volunteer
Contact Michele Hartlove, Executive Director, 202-234-1010
Activities Assistant - The mission of Asbury Methodist Village is to provide continuing care and other services to their residents. Provide assistance to residents in a variety of ways. Encourage and motivate residents to participate in programs. Provide companionship to withdrawn residents. Must be able to push wheelchairs throughout the building.
Website: www.asbury.org
Contact Sharon Bennett, 301-216-4200
Find more opportunities here. |
The best place to start searching for volunteer opportunities is the Center's website www.montgomeryserves.org. If the information on our website doesn't answer your questions, or you need help finding volunteer opportunities or exploring volunteering options, contact us via email at volunteer@montgomerycountymd.gov.
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