Honors Student Experience

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® Series is the world’s largest, most successful fundraising and education event for breast cancer. Race for the Cure® truly makes an impact, with 100 percent of the net proceeds allocated to our mission:
• 75 percent of the net income stays in our community to help fund local programs offering breast health education and breast cancer screening and treatment.
• The remaining 25 percent goes toward Susan G. Komen® Research and Training Grants program.
In addition to raising funds for the breast cancer movement, Race for the Cure® also increases awareness, celebrates breast cancer survivorship and honors those who have lost their battle with the disease.

They need volunteers to help on race day, Saturday October 7th at Black & Veatch, 11401 Lamar Ave, Overland Park. Below is the list of volunteer jobs and a link to sign up!

*Environmental Team – Expo Area Set up trash boxes and monitor them in Expo area, replace trash bags when full and take bags to dumpsters. Pick up trash. Vinyl gloves will be provided.

October 7, 2017            3:00 PM – 7:00 PM                     13 volunteers needed

http://kansascity.info-komen.org/site/VolunteerMgmtUser?event_id=59640&job_id=59657&volunteermgmt.user=vm_event_details#jobdetailanchor

*Environmental Team – Race Route Walk the route cleaning up after walkers and runners, then pick up the bagged trash along the route throwing the trash bags into the trash truck. Also, do a walk through parking lot areas to make sure they are cleared of trash. Vinyl gloves will be provided, but you are welcome to bring work gloves. 

October 7, 2017            4:00 PM – 7:00 PM                     6 volunteers needed

http://kansascity.info-komen.org/site/VolunteerMgmtUser?event_id=59640&job_id=59661&volunteermgmt.user=vm_event_details#jobdetailanchor

*Muscle Men for the Cure Help in all areas of the Expo. Must be willing to lift heavy items, be able to go in different directions at a given time, be able to make the human chain for the survivors to walk through at a designated time from the survivors’ area to the stage area.

October 7, 2017           2:00 PM – 5:00 PM                  16 volunteers needed

October 7, 2017           5:00 PM – 9:00 PM                  18 volunteers needed

http://kansascity.info-komen.org/site/VolunteerMgmtUser?event_id=59640&job_id=59699&volunteermgmt.user=vm_event_details#jobdetailanchor

*Parking Lot Attendants Monitor pedestrians as they make their way through the parking lot and while crossing the road to the race and Expo area. There will be 3 attendants per crossing area.

October 7, 2017            2:00 PM – 4:30 PM                     19 volunteers needed

http://kansascity.info-komen.org/site/VolunteerMgmtUser?event_id=59640&job_id=64209&volunteermgmt.user=vm_event_details#jobdetailanchor

*Tear Down – Expo Area & Race Signs Will help dismantle and pack up the Expo area, as well as remove race signs along the course. May include lifting and carrying heavy boxes or items. Will also monitor trash boxes in Expo area, replace trash bags when full and take bags to dumpsters. Vinyl gloves will be provided.

October 7, 2017            7:00 PM – 10:30 PM                   40 volunteers needed

http://kansascity.info-komen.org/site/VolunteerMgmtUser?event_id=59640&job_id=64152&volunteermgmt.user=vm_event_details#jobdetailanchor

Happy volunteering!

I received this information today and it sounds like an amazing organization. Check it out:

About Little Warrior Princesses:

When Brandon and Cassandra Dickerson found out they were pregnant with twins, neither one of them expected to be in the delivery room at just 26 weeks. Their daughters, Ava and Olivia, entered the world weighing less than a pound each and with the odds stacked against them. Like all parents faced with a premature birth, Brandon and Cassandra were scared, unsure and overwhelmed. But their daughters were born with a fighting spirit. Miraculously, after four long months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Kansas City’s St. Luke’s Hospital, Ava and Olivia were able to go home.

The experience of Ava and Olivia’s birth profoundly impacted the Dickerson’s, and the couple began looking for a way to give back. That’s when Little Warrior Princesses was born. The non-profit organization helps NICU families with transportation and food assistance during their extended stay at the hospital. Little Warrior Princesses seeks to offset some of those basic needs by providing gas and food gift cards to NICU families.

Current Volunteer Opportunities:

Currently LWP has two major ways in which you can help as a volunteer. The first way is through delivering gift cards to the families at the hospitals. We need people who have a reliable mode of transportation and who can preferably deliver to hospitals on Wednesdays and Thursdays. There are numerous hospitals in the KC area that we deliver to. It’s quick and easy! We provide you with the food and gas gift cards in our LWP bags and all you have to do is deliver them to the family, snap a quick picture for us to post on our Facebook page, and you’re done! The second need for volunteers is for our upcoming 2nd Annual Storybook Gala. On November 11th from 7pm-12am we will be hosting a Wizard of Oz themed Gala to raise money for our organization. We need various helping hands to ensure the event runs smoothly. This will be a fun evening to be a part of!

If you are interested in helping with either of these volunteer opportunities please email our founder at cassandra@littlewarriorprincesses.com or if you would like more information about LWP please visit our website at http://www.littlewarriorprincesses.com

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Did you know that you can volunteer at the Nerman Contemporary Art Museum on campus? They have a few different positions they’re hiring for right now. They are looking for help with receptions as well as assistants for their youth art classes.

Check out their website for more information!

Howdy! Next weekend in the Carlsen Center, JCCC is hosting the Kansas Cowboy Jubilee. This event looks like a ton of fun with music, dancing, and art and they need volunteers to help run the show! Check out the full program here.

They are looking for volunteers for the following activities:

1)      Assist in the courtyard with the mining for gold troughs and “Tiny Town” both are for small children.

2)      Outside, by the panning for gold,  need someone to “cash out” the gold by issuing fake money to the children.

3)     Participate in the Barn Dance and Ballet Folklorico de Topeka cowboy/cowgirl dance. Approximately 20 minutes of participation.

If you’re interested, make sure and contact Angel Mercier at amercier@jccc.edu.

Giddy up!

I visited Goodwill yesterday and met with their Volunteer Experience Specialist. I had no idea about all the great things they’re doing to help people overcome barriers to gain employment! They have a great range of duties for volunteers from conducting Mock Interviews to Helping in their “Career Corner” to put together professional outfits for job seekers. Really they have something for everyone!

Check out their website for a list of positions, their descriptions and availability:

http://www.mokangoodwill.org/volunteer 

YOU can make a difference by helping them with their mission of empowering people with disadvantages and different abilities to earn and keep employment through individualized programs and services.

If you’re looking for a truly unique volunteer experience than look no further. Heartland Therapeutic Riding helps children and adults with disabilities through working with horses. The equine-assisted activities provide therapy and improve the lives of those participating.

Their volunteer opportunities are:

Rider Team: Be a part of our rider support team as a sidewalker or horse leader. You’ll work with our riders and horses on a weekly basis. Horse experience is not required to be a sidewalker. We’ll provide the training that you’ll need.

Ranch Hands: If you can swing a hammer and know a Phillips screwdriver from a flathead screwdriver, then we need you.

Individual or Group Service Project: We will work with you to tailor a project to fit your skills, talent and time frame.

 

Volunteer training is required for volunteer positions working directly with riders and/or horses. Volunteers must be 14 years or older. Their classes run in the evening on the half hour from 4:30 to the last class starting at 7:30.

For more information visit their website at http://HeartlandTherapeuticRiding.org or email them at info@htr.org. Their address is 19655 Antioch Rd., Bucyrus, KS  66013 and the barn phone number is (913)897-3939.

The mission of Episcopal Community Services is to engage the Episcopal and broader communities, both in feeding the hungry, and in empowering the poor to move beyond the barriers of poverty with dignity through education and job training.

One great thing they do is the Kansas City Community Kitchen, where they have introduced “Dining with Dignity.” In other words, they transformed the ‘soup kitchen’ format into a complete dining experience. They always need volunteers, here’s a list of duties:

• LUNCH SERVICE – working from 10:30 AM – 2:30 PM every weekday, this is where we need the most help. Volunteers get to choose from various positions in the dining room (wait staff, host, beverage station) and sometimes in the kitchen (dishwasher, expo/plating team). Training takes place at 10:30 before doors open at 11. Doors close at 2 and you stay to help clean up and will be out by 2:30. It takes at least 12 people each day to make this work well, but we can use as many as 30 volunteers any given day.
• SHORT SHIFT – for corporate volunteers and those that are limited on time, give us an hour to help cover our lunch rush from 11 AM -12 PM. You’ll be helping in the dining room either waiting on guests or just bussing tables to help us keep up with the crowd. If you’ve never been a part of our lunch service before, we strongly urge you to come for training at 10:30 or wait until you’ve had a chance to work a full lunch shift before filling these positions. There are fewer of these positions open each day since we really need most people for the full lunch service.  If you’d like to stay later than 12, you are more than welcome to do so.
• MORNING PREP – working with the staff and/or culinary trainees to help get things ready for lunch, these volunteers work from 8:30 – 10:30 AM (which is also when the lunch volunteers arrive). Common tasks are slicing bread, preparing the desserts into individual servings, chopping and mixing the salad or fruit, etc.
• EVENING PREP TEAMS – Monday and Thursday nights from 5-7 PM we use volunteers to help us get produce sorted and prepared for use the rest of the week.   We also have a 6-8PM shift on Monday evenings.  You may be chopping onions and potatoes one week and roasting chicken and washing fruit the next – it all depends on what’s come in through our food rescue efforts. Please note that Thursday nights have several recurring groups so spots are more limited. Individuals are welcome to sign up and fill in around groups as long as there are spots open on the calendar.
• SATURDAY CLEANING/PREP – we have three shifts:  8:30-10:30AM, 10:30-12:30PM and 1-3PM.  Each shift has a capacity of twelve volunteers.    Volunteers help with deep cleaning (the kitchen, equipment, etc.) and helping with prep for the following week. This may include sorting inventory in the pantry, walk-in, chopping produce, etc. As with evening spots, these are popular and often fill up in advance. Individuals can fill in around groups as long as there are spots open on the calendar.

Any of these options would be at the kitchen located at 750 Paseo Boulevard (not our admin office address listed below). The building is called the Downtown Community Services Center and Kansas City Community Kitchen is in the lower level. There’s a small parking lot on the west side of the building, with the entrance off of 8^th Street. Parking spaces are limited, so carpooling is suggested and greatly appreciated.

All volunteers should be at least 14 years old (perhaps younger with advanced notice & adult supervision, but nobody under 10), wear long pants, closed toe shoes (NO FLIP FLOPS ALLOWED PER HEALTH CODES) and bring hats (baseball caps are fine) or they provide hairnets.

When you’re ready to schedule your volunteer day, you can go directly to the online calendar on Volunteer Matrix at http://episcopalcommunity.org/Get%20Involved/volunteer.html to see which spots are open and sign yourself up.  Just click on the big green Sign Up to Volunteer button and you will be taken to the calendar.

For more information about Episcopal Community Services visit: http://episcopalcommunity.org/