In honor of National Volunteer Week, we wrote to Brandi Willis Schreiber, Community Impact Volunteer Director at the Volunteer Center of Lubbock, and asked her to share her thoughts on volunteering and volunteer recognition. When we asked her why volunteering is important, she thoughtfully replied, “The answer to this question probably depends upon whom you ask. If you asked a volunteer why volunteering is important, he or she might say, ‘Because it makes me feel good,’ or ‘I get to make my community a better place.’ If you asked an organization why volunteering is important, their staff might say, ‘It helps us meet the needs of our clients,’ or ‘We couldn’t survive without them!’ And to ask a community why volunteering is important, you could simply look around and see all the good that otherwise wouldn’t happen without the time, resources and commitment from volunteers. The truth is, volunteering is important for all these reasons. It’s a personalized, purposeful action that provides profound results, impacting real people and changing the face of community issues.”

Schreiber also stressed the importance of celebrating volunteers on both a small and large scale, both immediately after an activity and at once-a-year events. At the Volunteer Center of Lubbock, thank-you e-mails are sent shortly after volunteers participate in a project. In addition, the center holds two annual volunteer recognition events: the Cornucopia Luncheon, where individuals, businesses, students and families nominated by the community are honored for their exemplary service; and a Celebration of Service, a youth-centered event that spotlights student volunteers. For National Volunteer Week, the center will be hosting a special Day of Service on Saturday, April 24, 2010. “Volunteers will help us clean up and beautify the grounds and gardens around our center,” said Schreiber. “It will be a great way for people to do a simple project that makes a big impact!”

One of the most remarkable attributes of volunteering is that it can empower and strengthen the volunteer as well as the people they are helping. “In volunteers, I encounter true humility,” Schreiber says. “I meet volunteers all the time who want to change their life, find a job, overcome personal difficulty or live up to the individuals they want to be. A young man from another country came to the Volunteer Center of Lubbock because he wanted to give back to our community. However, he feared that people wouldn’t accept him because he was from another country. After working with him to find the right volunteer fit, he ended up helping someone learn how to read and trained other volunteers. I was touched so much by his humility and courage! I think of him every time I meet a potential volunteer. Without volunteers, our community wouldn’t exist.”

The Volunteer Center of Lubbock is open Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on the Day of Service, contact the Volunteer Center of Lubbock at (806) 747-0551 or volunteer@volunteerlubbock.org.

Every week is National Volunteer Week at the Volunteer Center of North Texas (VCNT). With more than 1,400 member agencies across North Texas, we play matchmaker every week to citizens looking for ways to serve in their community.

No matter what your age may be, or why you are choosing to serve, volunteering is one of the most important things a human being can do. By taking the time to serve someone else, a volunteer helps to provide basic needs to others and to their community. These acts of service pave the way for positive change in relationships, homes, neighborhoods and communities.

Volunteering can be performed in different ways and does not always have to involve a long-term commitment. Due to the busy schedules of people today, the VCNT finds that more and more groups want to volunteer through a short- term project, typically on a weekend. When an individual inquires about volunteering, we guide them towards the best opportunity that fits their desire and focus. Utilizing HandsOnNorthTexas.org as the online outlet for finding volunteer opportunities throughout the North Texas region, more than 79,500 referrals are provided annually. The VCNT also reaches out to the next generation through Youth Volunteer Corps of North Texas, sponsored by State Farm Companies Foundation. Youth Volunteer Corps of North Texas is a civic engagement and leadership development program that promotes service learning for students in middle school and high school.

While volunteering is critical and important, so is recognizing them. Volunteers give their time, energy and skills to tasks that usually would not be completed without them. They are critical to moving the missions of our organizations forward. The very least we must do to sustain the efforts of volunteers is to take the time and recognize their achievements. At the VCNT, we recognize our volunteers in several ways. From a random hug and “Thank you” in the hallway, to putting on our cowboy hats, belt buckles and spurs so that we can celebrate them with a Lone Star Salute!, our tri-county event honoring volunteers who served in their community the previous year. Our first Lone Star Salute! of 2010 will take place during National Volunteer Week on Thursday, April 22, 2010, at the Plano Centre in Collin County. We will hold Lone Star Salute! events for Tarrant and Dallas County residents later this year.

In addition to holding Lone Star Salute!, we will also be celebrating National Volunteer Week through our Student Engagement Department’s promotion of Global Youth Service Day on Saturday, April 24, 2010. Global Youth Service Day is the largest service event in the world, engaging millions of youth in more than 100 countries. With more than a dozen Global Youth Service Day projects occurring throughout the North Texas region, there are plenty of opportunities for volunteers to engage in service!

Because of volunteers, children are mentored and nurtured, the hungry are fed, those in pain have a shoulder to cry on and communities that once were broken begin to be healed. Volunteers recognize that it is not a choice to give back to their communities, but rather a civic responsibility. With this attitude, join others during National Volunteer Week to create positive change in your community.

So much depends upon volunteers—each of them. Every day, volunteers help to provide social services to Texans. They are a crucial part of nonprofits’ efforts to solve community challenges. If there were no volunteers, the world—our world, yours and mine—would be a very different place.

Because of volunteers, many crucial social services are provided, including food delivery, student tutoring, self-sufficiency programs for the homeless, college application assistance, health and wellness information and so much more. Because of volunteers, people receive assistance in rebuilding their lives. Volunteers engage in many different activities, depending on the organization they work with; but they all have that in common—they help to rebuild lives.

Because of volunteers, 556.6 million hours of service were given by 4.1 million Texans from September 2007 to September 2008. Roughly 23% of Texans—nearly one in four people—chose to help fellow Texans by volunteering¹.

Here is our challenge to you: Imagine a world in which you are volunteering. What will you do? Who do you want to help? Which lives will you help rebuild?

National Volunteer Week is April 18-24, 2010. Will you join your fellow 4.1 million Texans and be a part of changing your community for the better? Your local volunteer center can help you find the right opportunity, as can the following online volunteering resources:

• Volunteer Match.
• ServeNet.org.
• 1-800-Volunteer.
• Serve.gov.
• DoSomething.org.
• Idealist.org.

Imagine what can be done because you are a volunteer. Then, make it happen.

¹ These statistics can be found in the Corporation for National and Community Service’s “Volunteering in America” report.

Global Youth Service Day is only two weeks away; and according to Youth Service America, Texas is one of the top states to register Global Youth Service Day projects! As of today, 75 Texas projects are listed on GYSD.org. Only Ohio (with 110), Minnesota (with 104) and Pennsylvania (with 85) are currently ahead of us, so registering your organization’s project might push Texas up to the top!

Registering will ensure that your organization’s project is counted in the official grand total. And with 63 countries currently represented and a total of 1,164 projects registered, every project counts!

You can find instructions for registering here.

Do you know what you will be doing for Global Youth Service Day? To get you thinking, here is an example of a project: one of our AmeriCorps grantees, Easter Seals Central Texas’ program ASSET AmeriCorps, will be building a community garden. (More information about their project can be found here.)  If your organization is planning a project, spread the word about it in the comments section!

We raked and bagged leaves at LifeWorks’ Transitional Housing Center.

Here at OneStar, we recognize the importance of service as a strategy to tackle community challenges. We also recognize the value of collaboration, and the importance of strong working partnerships to help strengthen the nonprofit sector. So every few months, OneStar employees get together with two of our national service partners—the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) State Office, and Texas Center for Service Learning—for a day of volunteering and discussions.

Our most recent meeting was Friday, March 12, 2010. We spent the morning at LifeWorks, an Austin nonprofit that provides counseling, education and housing services to youth and families. We raked leaves, planted bushes, scrubbed doors and cleaned out rooftop gutters at their Transitional Living Services facility, which provides housing and case management to young adults who have aged-out of the foster care system. We truly enjoyed working on the facility, making it more welcoming for its residents. Thanks go out to Susan Akin, Steve Bewsey, Mitch Weynand and all the LifeWorks staff and residents, who made us feel so welcome during our project.

In the afternoon, our partners and several OneStar staff members listened to a fantastic presentation from Fred Lugo, Director of Travis County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), and Graham Duncan, a Travis County RSVP volunteer. Their program connects people ages 55 and over with volunteer opportunities that utilize their skills and their interests. They discussed the program’s success, stressing the importance of effectively matching volunteers to the right opportunities while also offering volunteer recognition events. Their program has around 1,100 volunteers at any given time, which they credit to positive word-of-mouth referrals.

After the Travis County RSVP presentation, three representatives from College Forward spoke: Emily Steinberg, Associate Director; Adriana Gomez, AmeriCorps*VISTA leader; and Max Arzola, AmeriCorps*State member. Steinberg talked about the origins of College Forward, and how much of their program’s success can be attributed to its unique collaboration between AmeriCorps*State and AmeriCorps*VISTA members. With 99% of its participants getting into college—a full 100% of those who have applied were admitted to four-year schools—College Forward is having tremendous social impact in the Central Texas region.

We’d like to thank everyone from Travis County RSVP and College Forward who took the time to meet with us in the afternoon. We learned a tremendous amount during both our service project and our afternoon presentations. We truly appreciated the opportunity to celebrate our partners’ successes while also getting involved and helping directly!

(Go here to view more pictures from our service project on Facebook!)

If you have pictures from the event and would like to share them with us, we’d love to see them. Post a link to them in the Comments section below. If you’re a fan of OneStar on Facebook, you can add them to our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/onestarfoundation.

Special thanks go out to the conference planning committee members: Aki Frankenberger, Anna Thiele, Kathy Hernandez and Rosa Moreno-Mahoney, all from OneStar; Mark E. Skinner, Colorado Governor’s Commission on Community Service; Melinda Points, Oklahoma Community Service Commission; and Wendy Elliott, Youth Volunteer Corps of America. We also have to recognize the amazing efforts of Amy Salinas and Natalie Banks, who served as event planners for this conference. You all are rock stars!

Speaking of rock stars, we have another exciting service-related update to share. Jon Bon Jovi has become the first celebrity to publicly endorse the United We Serve campaign though creating both a 60-second public service announcement (PSA) and a special volunteering-related video for fans at his concerts! The video—which includes footage of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama volunteering—is being shown on the U.S. leg of Bon Jovi’s “Circle the World” tour.

You can watch the special concert video here:

Below is the PSA starring Bon Jovi:

The press release on the Bon Jovi video is located here.

• Amarillo Independent School District (ISD) / Amarillo ISD AmeriCorps: Each AmeriCorps member planned lessons on the ideals of Dr. King, and presented them to groups of elementary school students.
• AVANCE, Inc. – El Paso Chapter / AVANCE – El Paso AmeriCorps: The AmeriCorps members partnered with the local Children’s Health Insurance Program office to reach out to and educate local parents on health insurance options for their children.
• Catholic Charities of Central Texas / CCCTX-ESDR AmeriCorps Case Management: Worked with Keep Austin Housed AmeriCorps Program and LifeWorks at the MLK Day of Wellness distributing shoes, coats, socks, meals, hair cuts, massages, hearing exams, referrals to services and more.
• Casa De Amigos of Midland / STARS: The program held a Senior Fair, where they presented information to seniors on healthy living, general well-being and exercise.
• Central Dallas Ministries (CDM) / N2 Texas Corps: AmeriCorps members held several projects, including repairing two homes with bcWorkshop and former Dallas Cowboys running back and 2010 Hall of Fame candidate Emmitt Smith; preparing meals for the homeless at SoupMobile; organizing the children’s library at Roseland Community Center; sorting CDM thrift store items; creating welcome bags for CityWalk@Akard’s new residents; and reflecting on Dr. King’s service.
• Communities In Schools of Central Texas / CIS of Central Texas AmeriCorps: AmeriCorps members made 50 hats for terminally and chronically ill children through Happy Hats, adding a positive note to each hat. In addition, the members marched in Austin’s MLK Day march and rally.
• City Year, Inc. / City Year San Antonio: Members participated in the city’s MLK Day march.
• College Forward / College Forward Partnership for Higher Education: AmeriCorps members held five projects: working in The Caring Place’s food bank and thrift store; beautifying Copperfield Nature Trails; cleaning Guerrero Park; volunteering and playing with children at the Greater San Marcos Youth Council shelter; and cleaning and interacting with residents at the Southside Community Center shelter.
• Communities In Schools – Dallas Region / CIS – Dallas Region AmeriCorps Program: Members met and discussed why Dr. King was important, the difference he made and how to put his spirit into action at schools and in their community.
• Easter Seals Central Texas / ASSET*AmeriCorps: Members surveyed 13 apartment complexes for accessibility features; AmeriCorps*VISTA members will upload this data into the Access Texas Housing Web site. Members also repaired the wheelchair ramp and fence at an Accessible Housing Austin!-managed house. In addition, member Phillip C. earned a Certificate of Appreciation for his assistance with an MLK Day event at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
• Front Steps / Keep Austin Housed AmeriCorps Program: Along with members from Catholic Charities and Goodwill, Front Steps’ AmeriCorps members hosted the annual MLK Day of Wellness, a four-hour homeless resource fair that gave shoes, socks, coats, backpacks, hygiene kits and various donated items to over 400 homeless individuals. They also provided foot care, eye exams, haircuts, massages, STD screenings, mini-case management sessions and information on accessing service providers.
• Goodwill Industries of Central East Texas / TMC MentorCorps: Members gathered and distributed children’s books. They also participated in the 18th Annual MLK Commemorative March. In addition, they attended a banquet that honored mentors from different organizations from their community.
• Harris County Department of Education / CASE AmeriCorps Kids’ Day Project: Members distributed AmeriCorps information at Houston’s MLK Day parade. In addition, members discussed the “I Have A Dream” speech and did an activity with children at the Jewish Community Center.
• Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. / Jumpstart Texas / Dallas: Members organized a canned food drive and donated the collected food to a local nonprofit and fellow AmeriCorps program, Central Dallas Ministries.
• Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. / Jumpstart Texas / Lubbock: Members worked on several projects: cleaning rooms at the Ronald McDonald House; gathering care package supplies to send to troops deployed overseas; playing Loteria and talking with a retirement community’s members; and beautifying a preschool and elementary school.
• National Association of Community Health Centers / Community HealthCorp – Texas / Brownsville Community Health Center (BCHC): Members served food at the Good Neighbor Settlement House. They also gave free blood pressure checks and information about BCHC services at the Ozanam Center, a homeless shelter and services center.
• National Association of Community Health Centers / Community HealthCorp – Texas / Valley Primary Care Network: Members visited a local nursing home, where they spoke to the residents about MLK Day, sang songs from MLK’s protest in Selma and recorded the residents describing their experiences with the civil rights movement.
• Project Transformation / Project Transformation AmeriCorps: Community volunteers, staff, AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps alumni sorted book donations and organized a library at Wesley Rankin Community Center. The book donations were form from Barnes and Noble, which distributed 2,000 books to Project Transformation over Christmas.
• Schulenburg Weimar In Focus Together Inc. / SWIFT AmeriCorps: Members conducted a food drive at grocery stores in Schulenburg and Weimar, then sorted and delivered the donations to the Weimar Community Food Pantry and the Schulenburg Area Food Pantry.
• Texas A&M International University / TAMIU ADELANTE: AmeriCorps members from Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Carrizo Springs, Crystal City, Cotulla, Zapata, Hebbronville, San Diego, Benavides and Edinburg provided educational activities on Dr. King’s actions, moments and events for students in third through seventh grade.
• Texas A&M University / TAMU Colonias AmeriCorps Disaster Recovery and Preparedness / Del Rio: Members distributed food to parents while children learned about Dr. King through coloring books and storytelling.
• Texas A&M University / TAMU Colonias AmeriCorps Disaster Recovery and Preparedness / Eagle Pass: Members created coloring books of Dr. King and distributed them to Seco Mines Head Start, They also read to children and taught them about Dr. King.
• Texas A&M University / TAMU Colonias AmeriCorps Disaster Recovery and Preparedness / Laredo: In Webb County, AmeriCorps members distributed handmade blankets, clothing, toys and food baskets to 20 families living in colonias. Members raised the money for blanket fabric and sewing supplies and hand made these beautiful, warm blankets for the children and adults.
• Texas A&M University / TAMU Colonias AmeriCorps Disaster Recovery and Preparedness / Lower Rio Grande Valley: Members and volunteers canvassed the colonias, speaking to over 1,800 people about the 2010 Census and how it impacts communities.
• Texas A&M University / TAMU Colonias AmeriCorps Disaster Recovery and Preparedness / Western Rio Grande Project: Members developed an emergency goods response system that will help provide essential food, hygiene products and household items to families after a disaster. The project was launched in Fort Hancock and may be expanded to Canutillo and Socorro. In addition, materials were gathered to help 12 families.
• Texas A&M University / TAMU Colonias AmeriCorps Disaster Recovery and Preparedness / Zapata County: Members visited a nursing home, where they talked to the residents and shared diabetes management information with them.
• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board / Collegiate G-Force / Texas A&M University – Kingsville: AmeriCorps members held educational arts and crafts project with the children at three Kingsville Housing Authority housing developments. The members led the children in learning about Dr. King as well as African-American inventors Garrett A. Morgan and George Washington Carver.
• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board / Collegiate G-Force / Texas State University: In the morning, members volunteered at the Greater San Marcos Youth Council Emergency Shelter, where they prepared breakfast and lunch for residents and played with children. In addition, members adopted and cleaned a San Marcos park; they will continue beautifying the park throughout the year.
• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board / Collegiate G-Force / University of North Texas: AmeriCorps mentors cleaned the interior and exterior of an adult day care center in Lewisville, preparing the facility for its opening next month.
• Travis County Department of Human Services / Travis County CAPITAL AmeriCorps Project: Along with Waste Management, members worked on trail clearing, mulching and Chimney Swift tower installation on a wildlife trail.
• United Way of El Paso County / HIPPY El Paso: Members divided up and worked on three different projects: cleaning and repairing a house for a local family; sorting food for a local food drive; and cleaning out the Westside Animal Shelter’s storage room and animal play area.
• United Way of El Paso County / Ready for Disasters: Along with HIPPY El Paso and AmeriCorps NCLR Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe sorted canned goods and distributed them to the Salvation Army, the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, the El Paso Rescue Mission, the Center Against Family Violence and additional organizations.
• University of North Texas / Texas HIPPYCorps: Members sorted cans and perishable foods for the North Texas Food Bank.
• The University of Texas at Austin – Charles A. Dana Center / ACE AmeriCorps: Members cleaned the Austin Groups for the Elderly headquarters, beautifying a historical building while also organizing the materials of a nonprofit that provides classes, fun activities and free rides to Austin-area senior citizens.

Many of our grantees submitted service project photos to us. Visit our MLK Day album on Facebook to view them!

AmeriCorps members and College Forward participants volunteered together this MLK Day. (Courtesy of College Forward.)

Nicole Watson, Strategic Communications Specialist at OneStar Foundation, is one of millions of people volunteered on Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year. She talked with the OneStar Blog about her experience, and about the importance of volunteering as a youth.

Why did you choose to volunteer on Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

The main reason I decided to volunteer was to give back to my community on a day that commemorated a leader who passionately believed in making our nation a better place.

How did the service project you participated in impact your community?

I participated in United Way Capital Area’s 2010 Martin Luther King Day of Service on Saturday, January 16, 2010. United Way convened about 700 volunteers to work with local organizations that hosted MLK Day service projects throughout the Austin community. The day started with a kick-off ceremony at Huston-Tillotson University, featuring a keynote speech from Dr. Richard Reddick, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin, and a moving performance from The Cipher – Austin’s Hip-Hop Project. After the kick-off ceremony, people went to the location of their projects.

The project I worked on was with College Forward, a program that works with economically disadvantaged high school students who are transitioning to college. We joined the Copperfield Neighborhood Association to clean up the Copperfield Nature Trail in north Austin. Along with the neighborhood’s residents, staff members, volunteers and College Forward students removed two truckloads of litter and three flatbed trailer loads of underbrush.

How did your service project celebrate Dr. King’s legacy?

I think that the project I served in celebrated Dr. King’s legacy by reminding me how important it is to participate in making my community a better place. The project helped ensure that the trail was accessible for residents and visitors to enjoy the trails, ponds and greenbelt with friends and family.

College Forward participants cleaned up the Copperfield Nature Trail on MLK Day. (Courtesy of College Forward.)

What did you learn from participating in your service project? How has it influenced you?

I learned two things during my MLK Day service project:

1) Our group effort had impact. Due to the size of our group, we were able to accomplish more tasks involved with maintaining the trails than the residents could have done alone. This demonstrated the amount of impact a dedicated group can have.

2) The importance of instilling an ethic of community service at a young age. I was already familiar with College Forward through their involvement with AmeriCorps*Texas, but after getting involved on a personal level, I was inspired when I saw how involved the students were. I was unaware that, as part of their high school programs, students are required to complete community service hours. I think this is very important because for me, my community service involvement started at a young age and I have held on to it as an adult. I still remember volunteering with my mother when I was a child; those experiences have positively affected my life and my choices.

• January: National Mentoring Month. The Web site NationalMentoringMonth.org has information about finding mentors, serving as a mentor, partnering with mentoring organizations and more.
• January 15: Deadline for Coccia Award Nominations. The first-annual Gladys Marinelli Coccia Award through Youth Services America honors young female social entrepreneurs. More information on eligibility is available here.
• January 18: Martin Luther King Jr. Day. What will you be doing for the first national service day of 2010? Find or post a project through MLKDay.gov or Serve.gov.  In addition, an online project toolkit is available at MLKMobilization.org.
• January 29: Deadline for Disney Friends for Change Grants. Disney and Youth Service America will distribute 150 $500 grants toward projects that engage children’s service projects focusing on the environment. More information can be found here.
• February 22: Deadline for Get Ur Good On Grants. Youth Services America and celebrity Miley Cyrus are sponsoring 100 $500 grants for youth services projects to take place on Global Youth Services Day. More information is available here. 
• March 24-27: National Service-Learning Conference. This year, the country’s largest service-learning conference will be held in San Jose, California. Visit their Web site to learn more and to register.
• April 18-24: National Volunteer Week. Points of Light sponsors this weeklong celebration of volunteering. Start planning your project now!
• April 23-25: Global Youth Services Day. Be a part of the largest youth-oriented service-learning celebration in the world. Visit GYSD.org to post your project or find a project.
• May 1: Join Hands Day. This national service day brings adults and young people together to make a difference in their communities. Go to JoinHandsDay.org to find or post a service project.
• May 9-15: AmeriCorps Week. What are you doing for AmeriCorps Week? AmeriCorpsWeek.gov can help you find a project, post a project or get ideas for creating a project. The Web site also offers tools to help you spread the word about your AmeriCorps Week project.
• September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. Officially designated by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, this day is a nationwide opportunity to strengthen communities and bring people together through service. More information can be found on Serve.gov.
• October 23: Make A Difference Day. USA Weekend magazine began this day of service for people of all ages. Find or post a service project through their Web site.
• November: Family Volunteer Day. Sponsored by Disney and Points of Light, this event encourages families to get involved in volunteering together. Information on the 2009 Family Volunteer Day can be found here.
• Various dates: Grant deadlines. Don’t forget to check ServiceWire.org for different grant opportunities and their deadlines!

Are there additional service-related dates that you have already added to your 2010 calendar? Share them with us in the Comments section!

Photos by: Cliff Cheney / cliffcheney.com

On October 16, 2009, OneStar Foundation was honored to participate in the Points of Light Institute Presidential Forum on Service.  Service leaders, AmeriCorps members, Texas A&M University students and additional supporters gathered for a day dedicated to the power and potential of volunteerism and service.

OneStar proudly co-hosted the Service Leader Roundtable at the forum with Bank of America. Before the program began, however, roundtable attendees were surprised and greeted by former President George H. W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush. After their kind welcome remarks, an exciting discussion on the future of service began.

Thank you to all of our partners who attended the Service Leader Roundtable. We are eager to continue the conversation in the coming weeks and months.

We are also delighted to present some pictures we took at the forum. Enjoy!