Honors Student Experience

Heartland Therapeutic Riding is a nonprofit in Miami County whose mission is to serve children and adults with disabilities and to improve quality of life through equine-assisted activities and therapies.  These activities and therapies utilize the interaction with a horse and/or the movement of a horse to promote physical, cognitive, and emotional growth. And they couldn’t do it without volunteers! Here are some of the roles they need volunteers for:

• Sidewalker – Supports the riders by walking beside the horse and offers assistance and/or stability to the rider according to the instructor’s directions. As a Sidewalker, they observe and interact with the rider and serve as an extra set of eyes and ears for the instructor. This volunteer needs to be comfortable working with individuals with disabilities.
• Horse Leader – Leads the horse and/or assists the rider in controlling the horse during class. The leader is focused on the horse to ensure the safety of the rider. This volunteer needs to have experience handling horses and must attend our Leader Training class.
• Barn Assistant – Prepares horses for classes and assists with the general care of our horses. This role includes grooming, tacking, and leading horses. This volunteer needs to have experience handling horses and must attend our Barn Training class.
• Arena Attendant – Assists the instructor in and outside the arena. Responsibilities may include: setting up the arena, leading horses in and out of the mounting area, changing tack, substituting for a leader, sidewalker, or barn assistant, and taking notes for the instructor. This position is for experienced Heartland volunteers who have attended both leader and barn training

Additional Volunteer Opportunities include:

• Barn Assistants and Haycrew: If you love being around horses and don’t mind a little dirt, then they’ve got a brush or pitch fork waiting for you! Barn assistants groom and tack horses and the Haycrew help care for our horses.
• Special Events: If you love putting on a show, then helping with their Horse Show, Fall Festival, Camp, and Parades is just the ticket for you.
• Fundraising Team: If you’re a go-getter and love to talk with people, you’d be great at helping them round-up auction items and sponsors for their Tux ‘n’ Boots gala or asking for contributions for their Adopt-A-Horse and Rider programs.
• Ranch Hands: If you can swing a hammer and know a Phillips screwdriver from a flathead screwdriver, then they desperately need you!

 

More information and volunteer applications can be found on their website. Get out there and start making a difference!

The Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City’s mission is to provide support and resources for individuals with Down syndrome, their families and the professionals who serve them. DSG seeks to provide the entire community with information and education to broaden awareness and foster positive attitudes regarding people with Down syndrome.

DSG offers programming for outreach, community awareness, and education! For example they hold the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk, do a Meal Voucher Program, offer conference scholarships, peer presentations,  seminars, workshops and more.

If this cause is of interest to you, make sure to check out their volunteer web page today!

Shepherd’s Center Central is a local leader in the regional effort to ensure that all people can age successfully. Their mission is to empower midlife and older adults to live healthy, engaged, and independent lives. Some of their programming includes:

Adventures in Learning
An interfaith, multi-cultural, and community-based program, Adventures in Learning meets 40 Fridays a year with an array of classes and luncheon speakers. The program is geared toward older adults who want to continue learning, become engaged in the community, and make new friends.

Meals on Wheels
The Meals on Wheels program at Shepherd’s Center Central mobilizes volunteers to deliver hot, nutritious meals to individuals, age 60+, who are homebound and live in the area of 31st Street to 85th Street and Stateline to east of Highway 71 in Kansas City, MO.

KC Rakes!
KC Rakes provides free yard raking service in the Kansas City service area for adults, over the age of 65, who own their home, cannot afford to pay for yard services, don’t have family who can assist them, and who can no longer do yard work on their own.

Medicare Counseling
Medicare Counseling provides information, assistance and encouragement to individuals and families in matters related to Medicare and related retirement living.

Senior Companion Program
This project trains and supervises adults 55+ to serve as helping companions to provide assistance and friendship to older adults that are at-risk or adults with disabilities so that they can maintain their independence in their own home. The Senior Companion Program is a project with the Corporation for National and Community Service since 1981.

 

Volunteers can interact with a variety of different programs! If you’re interested visit their website for more information.

The Shawnee Indian Mission is hosting their Annual Spring Clean and Volunteer Service Project on April 7th. There will be many projects for volunteers to complete indoors and out. If you’re interested, contact Jennifer Laughlin at jlaughlin@fairwaykansas.org. Make sure to wear comfortable clothes and shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty. Lunch will be provided! Feel free to bring friends, family, and children to help out! Here’s the details:

Saturday, April 7 from 9am to 12pm

Shawnee Indian Mission, East building (parking lot is available on the far east side of the property or two smaller lots off of 53^rd St)

3403 W. 53^rd Street

Fairway, KS 66205

913-262-0687 (Jennifer’s office line), or Jennifer’s Cell as needed 816-898-1407

 

Happy volunteering!

Although you wouldn’t know it today, spring is coming! Which means planting season is just around the corner. Cultivate KC is looking for an individual to help put together seed packets on Tuesday and/or Thursday mornings at the Juniper Gardens Office in Kansas City, KS. Cultivate KC is a locally-grown non-profit working to grow food, farms and communities for a healthy local food system. If you’re interested, email Taylor at volunteer@cultivatekc.org.

Don’t forget JCCC is going to Cultivate KC on March 30th to help out on the farm! If you’re interested or would like to know more, you can sign up here.

Bring on the spring!

Job Olympics is a competition designed to promote employability skills for high school students in special education. Each year, Job Olympics brings together over 500 students from 40 schools to JCCC. They compete in a variety of events. A competition of this magnitude requires plenty of volunteers and Job Olympics is seeking your help! They are looking for student volunteers, judges, and captains for events.

Students:
They need 1-2 students in each event. These students will help the judges enter the judging information and assist in the room. Ideally these students will be confident with electronics & confident in talking to adults. Accounting, Excel, and Google docs knowledge is a bonus. These students must be willing to assist in with any event, any judge & any captain. Friends will not be paired together. Sign up here. 

If you’re interested in judging events, you can sign up here. And if you’re interested in being a captain, you can sign up here.

Please visit www.ksjobolympics.com for more information. You may also seek additional information from the CLEAR program on campus by visiting COM 312, calling ext. 3247, or sending an email to clear@jccc.edu.

Happy Monday! What better way to start off the week then to add some volunteering to your calendar and have something good for the soul to look forward to. The community needs you!

Cherith Brook Catholic Worker’s Second Saturday Work day is coming up on March 10th from 9am-12pm. They will put you to work cooking lunch, sorting food donations, gardening, etc. Afterward, everyone enjoys table fellowship together.

Please RSVP as soon as possible so they can plan projects. You can call (816) 241-8047 or email at cherithbrookkcmo@gmail.com. They are located at 3308 E. 12th St. in KCMO.

As always, if you want to help even more, Cherith Brook always needs volunteers on shower mornings on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday from 8am to 11:30am. You can join in serving breakfast, doing dishes or cleaning showers.

Art With a Heart provides a hands-on visual arts experience to educate and inspire at-risk children. Their vision is that all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to improve their quality of life through artistic expression.

Here’s how you can help!

Current Volunteer Opportunities:

Creative Classroom Connections:

• Volunteer this school year! Opportunities are available NOW for their Creative Classroom Connections program. Join Art With a Heart in providing high quality art experiences in multiple sites around Indy. Programming begins the week of September 11. No art experience necessary; bring your heart for kids and your smiling face and they will train you on everything else!  Email Mica atvolunteer@artwithaheart.us with any questions. Sites and times are listed here.

After School Programs

• Help Art With a Heart provide programming at various sites after school this fall! They need volunteers to assist teachers in setup, project work, and clean up. No art experience is necessary, just a happy attitude and a love for kids! Email Mica at volunteer@artwithaheart.us with any questions. Sites and times are listed below.
• Westminster Center: Wednesdays from 4:45-6:15 (2 volunteers needed)
• Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center: Wednesdays from 3:45-5:15 (3 volunteers needed)

Special Events:

• They need volunteers for the Feast of Lanterns Festival on August 26^th from 3pm – 9:30 pm at Spades Park. They need shifts filled from 3-5 pm ; 5-7 pm; 8-9:30 pm. It will be a really fun event! Here is the website with more information: https://indyfol.org/ Email Leah at community@artwithaheart.us to volunteer for this opportunity.

Host a Hearts on Display exhibit of student art:

• At home, at work or in their studio.  This is an exhibit of original and reproduction student art that raises awareness of Art With a Heart and illustrates the remarkable work that students produce in their programs.  It’s a fun event where people are invited to come and learn more about the work and understand the particular niche that Art With a Heart occupies in the art education landscape. Contact Andrew Lee at alee@artwithaheart.us or (317) 966-6920 for more information.

 

Click here to learn more!