It’s Friday (and gloriously sunny out, if you haven’t noticed), and you know what that means? Volunteer round-up time! This is where we tell you about all the new volunteer opportunities that were posted on the United Way Volunteer Website in the past week. If you don’t see anything on this list that strikes your fancy, fear not! There are hundreds more volunteer listings for you to peruse at www.uwkc.org/volunteer. Yeehaw!

Tutor/Mentor Refugee Youth

Sponsor: Coalition For Refugees From Burma | Location: Seattle, WA 98118

Volunteer tutors will provide individualized in home tutoring services to high school aged refugee youth. Tutoring sessions will focus on building students’ academic skills, helping students to self-monitor their progress in their classes, and assisting with college preparedness and. . . more

Volunteer at Vegfest 2012

Sponsor: Vegetarians of Washington | Location: Seattle, WA 98109

Vegfest is the largest vegetarian food festival in the United States. It is held at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall each Spring. Each year there are doctors and dietitians talking about nutrition, chefs giving cooking demonstrations, a huge bookstore and. . . more

MathFest — Elementary Math Like You’ve Never Seen It

Sponsor: Explorations In Math | Location: Seattle, WA 98122

Imagine a community gym filled with squeals of delight, high-fives and gleeful jigs when a challenge is met. Imagine now that coming from families playing math games! MathFest Seattle is the annual math bash at the Rainier Community Center. . . more

Help elementary students succeed! Afterschool tutors needed

Sponsor: Neighborhood House | Location: Seattle, WA 98146

Think that your three hours a week don’t matter? Tell that to Hakeem who didn’t finish today’s homework because it was too hard. He could’ve used your three hours. . . more

Reading Heroes Wanted!

Sponsor: Communities In Schools Of Seattle | Location: Seattle, WA 98118

Share your literary passion with a struggling student by becoming a Reading Buddy! It’s a great way to spend a couple hours during the weekday. You could have the opportunity to reconnect with childhood and make a HUGE impact. . . more

Volunteer for the 2012 Big Climb!

Sponsor: The Washington/Alaska Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | Location: Seattle, WA 98104

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is looking for volunteers to help with the 26th Annual Big Climb on Sunday, March 25th! Volunteers will support participants as they climb 69 flights of stairs at the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle. . . more

Help Homeless women get back on their feet!

Sponsor: Sojourner Place | Location: Seattle, WA 98105

Help women experiencing homelessness get back on their feet. Multiple volunteer positions available including Counselor, Art Instructor,
Newsletter Editor, Web Master, Handyman/woman, and more.

Whether you’re looking to grow your volunteer management skillset, learn how to more strategically engage volunteers at your organization, or you just want to get together with other volunteer management professionals, there are a number of great trainings and networking events coming up in the next few months!

February 9th  “Leveraging Volunteer Engagement to Accomplish Your Mission” 8:30-10:30am Cost: $25 Details and Registration

February 22^nd VAN (Volunteer Administrators Network) Professional Gathering @ Noel House in Seattle. Free

February 24^th 2012 Volunteer Manager’s Summit in Bellevue. Free

March 8th “Board Centered Leadership” 8:30-11:30am Cost: $40 Details and Registration

March 28^th VAN (Volunteer Administrators Network) Professional Gathering @ Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Free

April 3rd & 17th “Effective Volunteer Management 101″ 9:00am-4:30pm Cost: $170 Details and Registration

June: 2012 VAN (Volunteer Administrators Network) Conference. Exact date TBD

Monthly: #NPFace: A meetup for Seattle area nonprofits to share social media best practices. Next meetup is at The Diller Room on 1st and University downtown Seattle from 5 – 7 pm on Thursday February 23^rd Free

Have we missed anything? Email us at volunteer@uwkc.org if you have trainings or events to add to this list!

MLK Day volunteers with Senator Patty Murray at YouthCare

A Los Angeles Times article recently dubbed Seattleites “snow wimps” after our mid-January wintry blast shut down much of the city. Clearly, what the LA
Times didn’t know was that despite the snow, ice, and generally nasty weather, nearly 1,300 volunteers (and volunteer managers!) throughout King County left the comfort of their warm homes to spend the day serving the community in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Students from Seattle University and the University of Washington came out in force, along with members of the local business community. Senator Patty Murray even got into the spirit of the day, volunteering at both YouthCare and the VA Fisher House. While some projects were forced to cancel due to the weather (pulling blackberries in the snow is a hard sell for even the most enthusiastic volunteers), over 60 agencies benefited from $100,000 in volunteer labor. Not too shabby for a bunch of snow wimps.

2012 Jefferson Awards for Public Service

The Jefferson Awards honors ordinary people who do extraordinary things for others. Initiated in 1972 to create a “Nobel Prize” for public service, awards are presented both nationally and locally. Five volunteers from Washington State will receive the Washington State Jefferson Award for their outstanding volunteerism. The winners will be judged by a panel of community leaders and their stories will be told on Evening Magazine the week of March 12th.

If you are a volunteer manager, or work with volunteers in any capacity, this is not only a great opportunity to recognize your exceptional volunteers, but your organization will also receive free volunteer management assessment and consultation from United Way of King County if your nominee is one of the five winners.

For more information visit www.seattlecityclub.org/jeffersonawards Nomination deadline is February 10th

Veterans Day is a bit of an anomaly of a holiday. Unlike its fellow Federal Holidays, Presidents Day and Columbus Day, that recognize people who have made important contributions to our country, Veterans Day is unique in that many of those being honored are still alive, and virtually all of us have some connection to them. That’s pretty neat if you think about it. Maybe it’s your uncle who served in Vietnam, or your little sister stationed overseas, or a parent of a child in your kid’s class.  On Veterans Day, we actually have the opportunity to personally thank those being honored. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never gotten to personally tell a past president how much I appreciate what they’ve done for our country.

With over 600,000 veterans in Washington State alone, there is plenty of opportunity to thank, honor, and support the men and women who have served our country. Below are just some of the ways you can honor our vets - on Veterans Day, and throughout the year:

• Volunteer – Support veterans in our community through service. Volunteer to help disabled vets with chores and housework or transport them to appointments, or help a recently returned veteran transition into the workforce. You can find a variety of volunteer opportunities supporting veterans at www.uwkc.org/volunteer
• Run a Supply-Drive – Collect items for Care Packages that will go to homeless veterans in our community. More info at http://www.uwkc.org/ways-to-volunteer/cre/
• Support military families – There are numerous opportunities to support military families, and veterans, during the holiday season by donating holiday meals and gifts. For a list of holiday opportunities, click here.
• Write a letter – Through programs like Operation Honor Cards and Operation Appreciation, you can easily tell active duty military, and military families, that you appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made, and even pledge to volunteer in their honor.
• For even more ideas on how to honor veterans, check out this great post on the HandsOn Network blog – Six Ways to Celebrate Veterans Day with Service

Happy Cooks at Union Gospel Mission

The kitchen at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission (UGM) serves roughly 27,000 meals every month to those in need. Each night for dinner, they see approximately 350 guests in their small cafeteria, located in downtown Seattle. That’s a whole lot of chopping and dicing for the three cooks on staff, tasked with preparing enough servings to go around.

After spending Day of Caring volunteering in the Kitchen at UGM, a group of Seattle area lawyers, led by volunteer Mari Horita, got to experience first-hand all the work that goes into providing three square meals a day to hundreds of hungry guests. At the end of the day, their hands were blistered and sore from chopping and they couldn’t help but notice that the kitchen was in need of a utensil upgrade.

Mari, who has volunteered for the past two years at UGM, saw an opportunity for her group to do even more. She reached out to her Day of Caring group members and asked for their help. By pooling their money, donating $10 to $50 a piece, the group was able to raise $665 to purchase new knives, and other kitchen goodies, for the chefs at UGM. When Mari went to do her shopping at Seattle’s City Kitchens, they threw in another $300 worth of knives, bringing the total donation up to $965!

The goods

Mari Horita and friends at Union Gospel Mission

As you may have heard, United Way of King County’s Day of Caring is the single largest day of volunteering in Washington State, and this year we anticipate over 10,000 people will spend the day volunteering with local organizations. That’s huge! Already, 9,000 people have signed up to volunteer all over King County, including groups from Microsoft, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AT&T and many more. Use the search box on the map below to see where your favorite local company will be spending Day of Caring.

View Day of Caring Project Sites in a full screen map

In just two short months, our fantastic Bridge to Basics volunteers committed over 100 hours to connecting people in the community to much needed resources. We’d like to spotlight one of our volunteers:

George Lauer just finished his junior year at Seattle University and plans to graduate next year with a degree in Social Work. This term of Bridge to Basics, George went beyond his required service learning hours for school. George’s warm personality and humor made him a great asset to the Bridge to Basics team.

 A HUGE thank you to ALL of this quarter’s excellent and enthusiastic volunteers! We hope to see you again in the fall!!!

Darci Abramson

John Behrens

Grace Chu

Katy Cook

TianTian Dong

Hui Geng

Wanjiku Gitahi

Julie Hackworth

Donesha Hall

George Lauer

Fia Lockhart

Lisa Treadway

A Lettuce Link volunteer harvests fruit for local food banks

When you live in a part of the world that only sees about 71 clear days per year, it’s hard to justify spending any more time inside than absolutely necessary during the summer months, even if it is for a good cause. Fortunately, there are numerous summertime volunteer opportunities that will allow you to get your daily dose of vitamin D while giving back to the community. Don’t forget the sunscreen!

Seattle Tilth: Promote organic gardening and support local food systems by volunteering at Seattle Tilth’s Rainier Community Garden or joining the Issaquah Storm Drain Buttoning Brigade. 

Outdoors for All: Volunteer to help enrich the quality of life for children and adults with disabilities through outdoor recreation. Currently, Adaptive Cycling Volunteers , Adaptive Kayaking Volunteers and Summer Day Camp Volunteers are needed, but new opportunities are posted year round.

PAWS: Make a difference in the life of an animal and get your steps in! Volunteer to be a dog walker with PAWS, the Progressive Animal Welfare Society.

Lettuce Link: Volunteer to help provide access to fresh, organic produce! Spend a day growing and harvesting organic produce for local food banks at the Marra Farm Giving Garden or sign up to be a Community Fruit Tree Harvest Leader, and ensure that fruit that would otherwise go to waste is donated to those who can use it!

Nature Consortium: Help preserve Seattle’s largest remaining contiguous forest, the West Duwamish Green Belt. Plant, weed, mulch, be entertained (live performers have been known to show up to volunteer work parties).

United Way of King County: In King County nearly 40,000 children qualify for free and reduced-price school meals. However – only 11% of kids who participate in the Free Lunch Program participated in federally funded Summer Meal programs. Volunteer and help get the word out about the Summer Meal programs by distributing flyers and other info in the community.

President Obama is scheduled to meet with Senate leaders today to move a deal forward that combines deficit reduction and raising the debt ceiling (so the U.S. does not default on its obligations). Please call the White House NOW! Call 1-888-245-0215 (toll-free), and let them know that you do not support cutting services to low-income, vulnerable people.

You’ve probably heard: Negotiations on reducing the deficit have hit a roadblock, and President Obama is taking a more active role. He is meeting with Senate leadership today. Vice President Biden had been working with a small group from Congress to get an agreement by July 1st.

Call NOW and let them know that you also support protecting services to low income people:

“Please tell the President and the Vice President to hold firm and prevent harmful cuts or caps to low-income programs in the negotiations to reduce the deficit.”

Major national organizations are also urging decision-makers to protect low-income people in deficit reduction plans. This morning a letter was circulated from organizations including United Way Worldwide, National Council of La Raza, Feeding America, Sojourners, Families USA and many more, including the Coalition on Human Needs.

The President and Vice President need your call now. Dial 1-888-245-0215 toll-free, and you’ll be connected to the White House Comment Line.