Honors Student Experience

The holidays are right around the corner. For many of us that is exciting and comforting, but for many, the holidays can be an extra financial and emotional burden. It’s the season of giving, so why not give back to your community too and help those in need!

The Don Bosco Centers provide English as Second Language classes to seniors and adults with disabilities all across the Kansas City Metro. Many of their students live at or below the poverty level and share similar basic needs like personal hygiene items, warm blankets, paper goods/cleaning supplies, warm socks, hats, gloves, and more.

Here’s how you can help:
• Adopt and shop for a homebound senior
• Purchase items for senior holiday gift bags
• Purchase items for our ESL student holiday extravaganza
• Provide a financial donation
• Volunteer for events in December

If you’re interested you can contact Andrea Dutt at adutt@donbosco.org or 816-691-2900.

Union Station is having a huge children’s Halloween party this year that features all your favorite princesses, superheroes and other beloved characters along with face painting, bounce houses, costume contests, trick or treating and more! And of course, they need volunteers!

If you enjoy working with children or just love Halloween and are interested in helping with the festivities then contact Lonnie Neal at lonnien89@gmail.com.

Are you interested in helping the environment? Bridging the Gap is a great organization in Kansas City that helps the environment through planting trees, protecting pollinators, removing litter, increasing recycling, and restoring wildlands! They need a lot of volunteers this month so grab a sweater and your beanie and get out there!

They are looking for help with litter cleanups on Sunday Oct. 15th and Saturday Oct. 21st. As well as help with tree plantings on Saturday Oct. 14th, Saturday Oct. 21st, and Saturday October 28th.

Make sure to register in advance at the links below! Contact Amy Smith if you have any questions at 816-561-1062.

https://bridgingthegap.org/events/

 

I received this in an email from Liz Shrout, the Executive Coordinator at the Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation, seems like a great opportunity!

“The Kansas City Marathon is quickly approaching on Saturday, October 21st. The Sports Commission is in GREAT need of Course Monitors along the race course. Course Monitors help us monitor intersections along the course and cheer on participants as they go by.

All volunteers are automatically entered for a chance to win prizes such as A Garmin Vivosmart3 and Southwest Airline Vouchers!

We also have a program called Grant Groups which allows us to donate $10 per volunteer back to organizations who register between 10-50 volunteers as a group. If you are interested in being a Grant Group, please let me know before you register so that I can set your group up in our system.

If interested in volunteering, below is the link where you can register to volunteer as a Course Monitor. Also listed below are the Course Monitor shifts available and in need of more volunteers.

http://www.sportkc.org/marathon/volunteer/

Course Monitor Shifts Available:

Course Monitor Shift 1: 6:30-9:30 am
(Start-Mile 4, 10K, or 5K; Downtown/18th & Vine)

Course Monitor Shift 2: 6:45-10:45 am
(Mile 4-8: The Paseo/Gillham Park/Nelson-Atkins)

Course Monitor Shift 3: 7-11 am
(Mile 8-12: Brush Creek/The Paseo)

Course Monitor Shift 4: 7:15 am-12 pm
(Mile 12-16: Waldo/Ward Parkway)

Course Monitor Shift 5: 7:30 am-1 pm
(Mile 16-19: Ward Parkway)

Course Monitor Shift 6: 7:45 am-1:30 pm
(Mile 19-22: Loose Park/Ward Parkway)

Course Monitor Shift 7: 7-10:30 am
(Mile 22-Finish: Plaza/Westport/Midtown)

Any questions can be directed to Liz Shrout at Lshrout@sportkc.org”

Cherith Brook is looking for volunteers next Saturday the 14th! They are a residential Christian community dedicated to hospitality, peacemaking, and sustainability. They offer temporary housing, showers, clothes, and a warm meal to anyone who needs it. They grow food, care for chickens and bees, and are always looking for more ways to get closer to the land.

Here’s the information for their monthly work day:

“We work from 9-11:30am and finish with lunch together at 12pm.   We have lots of jobs that require no prior experience.  We have a variety of inside and outside jobs, such as, sorting clothes/food, preparing lunch/breakfast, working in the garden, cleaning the chicken coop, etc.  Please let us know if you plan to help work the workday so we can plan tasks and jobs accordingly.  RSVP to cherithbrookkcmo@gmail.com.”

I received this email over the weekend from Alleen VanBebber:

“Thanks for being interested in this. As you know, the Shawnee Indian Mission (at Mission Road south of Bishop Miege and St. Agnes schools) has long been a Kansas State Historical Site. Last year, due to the famous Kansas financial problems, the State stopped all funding of activities at the site. Fortunately, Mayor Jerry Wiley and the City of Fairway (where the Mission is located), stepped up. The Mission is still a State historical site, but is funded by the City, the Mission’s Foundation, and volunteers, of which I am one.

For more than 30 years, the Mission has presented a Fall festival event on the third weekend in October.  It is a way to spotlight  the role and work of the Mission as a historical site  and to raise funds to help with ongoing expenses of maintaining the Mission premises.  The objective is to keep it open for the community and tourists to learn about and enjoy the experience of 19th century Kansas life.

The hours are 10-5 on Saturday and Sunday. In addition, there is a free folk and bluegrass concert on Friday night (with burgers and beverages for sale).   And there is a free campfire with singing and stories by the Missouri Trappers at dusk on Friday night.

Except for the City’s assistance, all of the planning and staffing of the event is volunteer labor.  This year, for the first time, we are asking for a $2.00 donation for those over 15.  The event is family friendly (although beer and wine are available this year. and geared especially toward children.  There are children’s games, a crafts tent for kids, displays of frontier cooking and frontier gardens, rides on a mule-driven wagon,  a cider press, an “encampment” of trappers, the Missouri Town Dancers, food trucks featuring “frontier-style” food, and a Boy-Scout rope climb.  There also are a number of folk artists and crafters selling their products, as well as some demonstrating how to make them.  This year, there are musicians performing all day in the West Building.  The ending event each day is a performance of Native American dances by the Haskell  Dancers from the Lawrence  campus.

There may be 4,000 or 5,000 people in attendance.  We are very short of help at this point.  Jobs may include manning a booth, helping with children’s games or at the craft tent, working the admission gates, helping me at the information/pop booth, picking up trash, running errands, etc.

Any help the JCCC students could give, or those from SM East, or any other folks you might know would be greatly appreciated.  If any potential volunteer will contact me at 816-769-6017 (cell), I can put them in touch with the volunteer scheduler.  They could work any hours they have available from 10-5 on Saturday or Sunday or both.  Thanks!”

 

For more information about Shawnee Mission Indian, visit their website. They are located at:

3403 W 53rd St
Fairway KS 66205-2654

Happy Monday JCCC!

Shawnee Community Services is a local food pantry and free clothing resource, serving the entire KC metro since 1982. They are looking for food donations and volunteers for the holiday season!

Needed by November 1st: 240 each spaghetti & canned spaghetti sauce & peanut butter & cream of mushroom soup & canned pumpkin

All items will be used for the Thanksgiving pantry dinner boxes distributed Nov 18th.  If you can help with these please let Marlisa or Sylvia know by email at shawneecommunityservices@gmail.com or call 913-268-7746

Volunteers needed to pick up bakery products & to sort donated household goods

Apply by contacting Marlisa at 913-268-7746 or walk in Mon/Tues from 2p – 4pm

I just met with Sean Swindler of the Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training at a meeting for the Autism Spectrum Support Club here on campus. What a great group! The club is inclusive, made up of JCCC students with Autism and their friends, peers, and supporters. The goal of the club is for all members to learn from one another, experience social activities, and develop friendships. The group includes both activities on campus and activities in the surrounding community.

They need volunteers at their meetings to help with social skills and social interactions. Usually they have a short meeting and then do some sort of activity, either on or off campus. Today they were on their way to tour JCCC’s athletic facilities and next time they’re taking a bus to the Oak Park Mall!

Swindler said they’re always looking for volunteers to help out every other Thursday at 3:30pm and that volunteers can commit to as few or as many meetings as they need. He also mentioned they’re happy to write recommendation letters for student volunteers!

For more information you can contact:

Sean Swindler, sswindler@kumc.edu, 913-897-8472

or

Carla Dodge, cdodge@jccc.edu, 913-468-8500 ext. 4248

MOCSA is an amazing organization that JCCC has partnered with many times in the past. They are always looking for volunteers that are dedicated to ending sexual violence in our society.

If you want to help sexual assault victims, spread awareness or help with fundraising – this is the place to go. Men and women alike above the age of 18 are welcome to volunteer.

For more information and to apply visit their Volunteer web page. Their next training sessions are on November 18th and 19th!