As a father, grandfather and experienced Boy Scout master, Ken knows children. A semi-retired pharmacist, he found the Volunteer Reader Program when he was “looking for opportunities to be helpful.” Each week he brings books from his home to share with Harmony’s 4- and 5-year-olds, adding variety to the center’s collection of books.

The children’s favorite books often feature characters with whom they are already familiar. Ken brings classics such as Berenstain Bears stories and books from the Curious George series. The kids have fun while Ken helps them “think a bit” by asking questions such as, “Do you think George is going to get into trouble?  How would you handle George in this situation?  Do you think they are making the right decisions?”

Thank you, Ken, for sharing your love of reading at Harmony Early Childhood Education Center!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Collect and bag non-perishable food items (please don’t include items that have expired or are in glass containers)

2. Place the bag by your mailbox and it will be delivered to a local food bank.

This is the 20th year that the Letter Carriers have sponsored the Food Drive. How cool is that? Be sure to thank your letter carrier for participating in this awesome community event.

With Seattle food banks reporting a  30% rise in hungry clients and a 31% decline in donations since 2008 these donations will go a long way toward helping our hungry neighbors.   Last year – participation was down which means food banks throughout King County had significantly fewer food donations.   Let’s turn that around this year.

This could not be easier. Do it!  Tell your friends, colleagues and family members to participate as well. Put it on , Tweet, Blog – do whatever it takes to get the word out.

Want to get even more involved? Volunteers aged 16+ are needed to staff local postal stations from 2 to  6 p.m. on May 12th.  Learn more and register with Food Lifeline.

We all have a role to play in building a Hunger Free Community – take action on Saturday.

Powell also is the founder and chair of the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service at the City College of New Work. Through the center and other civic roles, Powell remains committed to supporting at-risk youth and young adults as well as building our communities through volunteerism and public service.

A Conversation with General Colin Powell, presented by CityClub

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

8–9 a.m.

The Westin Seattle

• Tickets and additional information
• Volunteer with United Way of King County
• Upcoming United Way events

Kelly Swedick has been an outstanding pet publicist for the Seattle Humane Society for the past year. She helps pups put their best paws forward in captivating photographs and clever profile descriptions. In addition to her weekly pet publicist shift, Kelly is also an on-call foster photographer, making sure that pooches in foster care still get the star treatment with fabulous portraits and profiles. With immense talent, and saint-like patience, Kelly knows how to bring each dog’s individual personality to life online which helps them meet their perfect match to a new home. (Nominated by Maureen Lull)

At age eight, Rhyli Perkins became the youngest volunteer at the Coal Creek Family YMCA. Despite her youth, she has been a dedicated and versatile volunteer, lending her service to different departments. She has volunteered in membership, family programs and aquatics. In membership, whether scanning and greeting members, folding towels and helping with back office administration, Rhyli always lends a helping hand. In aquatics she was a slide attendant and in family programs she volunteered with the infants, toddlers and youth. Rhyli is passionate about volunteering; she has an extraordinary work ethic and her willingness to learn tasks while tackling new stills are amazing. She is dependable, has a positive attitude, and has developed wonderful relationships with staff and members. (Nominated by Vicky Hinds)

This week, in honor of National Volunteer Week (April 15-21), we salute your nominees for recognition—volunteers who work tirelessly to make life a little better for others in our community—and introduce a few of the superstars. Today: meet a born organizer.

When Kathy Polakoski arrived to volunteer at Seattle Children’s Home in October 2010, there was no one regularly overseeing the gently used items donated for the home’s “clothing room,” a resource offered to clients.

So Polakoski, with her positive attitude, dived in and turned the chaos of recent donations into an organized, highly functional and attractive system for clients who need clothing for their daily wardrobe. She not only organized and inventoried the clothes, she also took ownership of the room, decorating the space and renaming it “The Butterfly Boutique.”

“Now clients can feel like they are having a positive ‘shopping’ experience when they use it,” says Heather Teegarden, who nominated Polakoski citing “her smile and friendly ‘hello’ for our residential clients and Seattle Children’s Home staff.”

In addition to the clothing room, Polakoski helps keep order in the toy room and other therapy rooms throughout the SCH campus. She is a regular office volunteer who helps with mailings and staffing at fundraising events. In her first year, Polakoski volunteered more than 300 hours!

“To date she has put in over 400 hours total!!” Teegarden says. “We are so lucky to have her!”

This week, in honor of National Volunteer Week (April 15-21), we salute your nominees for recognition—volunteers who work tirelessly to make life a little better for others in our community—and introduce a few of the superstars. Today: meet a computer coach to a community of retirees.

Martin Thompson began helping residents at The Hearthstone, a retirement community at Green Lake, with basic computer skills (emails, attachments, sending photos and managing Facebook accounts), but now he does all that and fixes printers, sets up email and internet accounts and advises on all manner of hardware and software.

He has given lectures and demonstrations on the use of many new technologies. Although his generous donation of time (more than 900 hours) is certainly impressive and his technological skills are superior to many staff members, his greatest gifts, says nominator Donna Leggett, “are his limitless patience, easy smile and exceptional relationship skills.

“Too often older people feel alone, left out of the mainstream,” Leggett says. “But Marty exudes friendliness, warmth and a ‘you can do this’ attitude with everyone, making him a #1 volunteer!”

• Learn more about National Volunteer Week
• Want to volunteer with us? Find a variety of volunteer opportunities.

A computer coach. A naturalized citizen helping new immigrants. A nonagenarian order-taker. These are just a few of the many volunteers nominated for recognition in honor of National Volunteer Week (April 15-21). This week we not only salute our volunteers—people who work tirelessly to make life a little better for others in our community—but we also introduce a few of our superstars. First up: meet a car seat expert.

Nancy Wainstein has volunteered for almost five years at WestSide Baby, which provides clothing, toys, baby gear and more to children in need in South King County. So committed is Wainstein to her work that she completed training to become a certified car seat technician to make sure that every car seat the nonprofit gives to children meets the highest safety standards.
Says Wainstein’s nominator, Maria Groen, “Nancy’s incredible dedication to this role shows in the 850 hours she has given to WestSide Baby.”

This week, in honor of National Volunteer Week (April 15-21), we salute your nominees for recognition—volunteers who work tirelessly to make life a little better for others in our community—and introduce a few of the superstars. Today: meet a naturalized citizen reaching out to help new immigrants.

For more than five years, Hao Tu has taken the bus twice a week to volunteer at the Asian Counseling and Referral Service to help Vietnamese and Cantonese clients fill out citizenship applications, the first step on their journey from immigrant to American.

She looks forward to every Tuesday and Thursday when she helps take attendance at the citizenship classes or assists with making copies of the documents needed for the citizenship application. ACRS staff say she rarely misses her days at ACRS unless she is not feeling well or on vacation. And she loves helping the senior citizen students who—as she well remembers—often need extra attention and encouragement when preparing for the citizenship interview.

Additionally, she helps the seniors find the Social Security office and obtain bus passes. She truly understands how hard it is when one is isolated and needs help in a new community.

Says Thu Van Nguyen, a citizen case manager and one of many at ACRS who nominated this exceptional volunteer: “Ms. Hao has found a second home at ACRS where she attended citizenship classes and became naturalized in 2005. Her true spirit of volunteerism will keep her connected to ACRS for a long time to come.”