Each month HandsOn has a DIY project you can do any time, any place (or you can even plan on doing it one day, but then really do it a couple days later).  Find out more about HandsOn Greater Richmond’s DIY Volunteering initiative here.

We’ve partnered up with HandsOn and will post the DIY for the month here on Richmondmom, but you want to get out and about you can find more volunteering opportunities for you or the whole family on their website.

 

 Make Easter Eggs for Southside Child Development Center & Peter Paul Development Center

Southside Child Development Center and Peter Paul Development Center are both community resources dedicated to supporting children and families by giving them a safe, consistent, structured, and loving environment in which communities can thrive through services like childcare, after school programming, summer programs and initiatives that support the whole family. Both of these organizations coordinate an annual Easter egg hunt and need assistance getting eggs ready for the children to find. DIY volunteers will assemble plastic Easter eggs and providing Easter baskets that will be used in the events at each of these centers, bringing some fun and joy to the children and their families.

Supplies*

30-40 plastic Easter eggs

Candy or toys to fill each (instructions and restrictions will be in full instructions)

2 baskets that can be used to collect eggs

*Volunteers are responsible for purchasing any of the materials needed for DIY opportunities.

How To:
1. Express Interest in the project to HandsOn. We’ll send you instructions and plan for your delivery.
2. Every person who plans to volunteer (including youth) must express interest. You can create a volunteer team to sign up your group or family members. Read about how to create and manage teams. 
3. Plan the time and place to DIY.
4. Once you’ve expressed interest, complete instructions will be sent to you. We ask that you donate a minimum of 30-40 Easter eggs and 2 baskets. There is no maximum. Expect the total project to be done in about 2 hours depending on the number of eggs made and the number of people you have volunteering with you.

Confirmed participants will receive 2 hours for submitting materials prior to 4pm, Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

Sign up here.

DATE CHANGE: Due to the weather expected Saturday, we’re inviting you to join Be A Noble Kid SUNDAY, January 25 from 12pm-2pm. 

 #GetOutandGiveBack January 24th for a Noble Event benefitting the Hilliard House, a program that assists homeless women and their children located in Richmond, VA.

At the Be a Noble Kid Event, families will enjoy hot chocolate and cider, Noble activities, and goodies for each Noble Kid who makes a donation.

Bring donations to Dunncroft/Castle Point Park from 12 – 2pm.

The Hilliard House is currently in need of

This project is Drop In, Drop Out and designed specifically to engage youth and their families. Volunteers can come at any time during the 10am-12pm window on January 19th, 2015 and are expected to work for no more than 30 minutes. This project allows those who cannot commit to a full project a chance to serve (and it wouldn’t work if everyone stayed the entire time anyway!)

Volunteers will:
• bring in new or gently used children’s books appropriate for Pre-Kindergarten-Fifth grades
• decorate at least 2 Martin Luther King inspired bookmarks- one for themselves, and one to be given to a child at Chamberlayne or Laburnum Elementary School

There is no minimum age to participate with the help of an adult making this a great volunteer opportunity to young kids.

All volunteers who plan to attend must be registered. This includes youth. Click here to sign up.

DIY Volunteering: Book Drive and Bookmarks
MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 2015
10:00 AM-12:00 PM
Children’s Museum of Richmond
Click here to register.

Jane Smith, the “Cookie Lady” has been baking cookies at the Ronald McDonald House for over twenty years.

Every Tuesday afternoon she would come to the Ronald McDonald house and bake a sweet midday snack for the families and children who stayed there.  Though she is no longer able to bake for the Ronald McDonald House, she still comes by every week with a big plate of cookies and an even bigger smile.

To continue her cookie legacy, the Ronald McDonald House hosts the the cookie hour.
Each day, volunteers bring enough ingredients for a couple dozen cookies and bake everything in our fully-stocked kitchen.

From the website:
Ronald McDonald House Charities^® of Richmond, VA is a non-profit organization that provides a home away from home for seriously ill children and their families. Circumstances that bring our families here are unfortunate, challenging and often times tragic. Amidst the uncertainties and fears they face, we offer respite, normalcy, compassion and love. Our goal is to ease the burdens faced by families during the most challenging time of their lives, so that they can stay together and stay focused on what matters most: their child’s well being.

If you’ve got an hour to put a smile on someone’s face (and a sweet treat on their plate) you can sign up by emailing Rachel@rmhc-richmond.org or by calling 804-355-6517. Find a day that works for you on the Cookie Calendar here, Cookie Hour is at 2:00pm every day.

Find out on October 18, 2014!

Join HandsOn Richmond and a thousand people who care about Richmond (just like yourself) and volunteer to commit 4 hours to making RVA a better place.

Register for a project
(registration closes october 17)

In addition to just feeling amazing, registered volunteers and nonprofit staff hosts are invited to Hardywood Park Craft Brewery for a celebration after service. Join in for:
• food and beverages
• live music
• a community art project
• family friendly activities and games
• in a festive indoor-outdoor atmosphere

The Celebration will be from 1:30-3:30pm. More information will be in your confirmation email after you register for a project.

HandsOn Day of Service
Saturday, October 18, 2014
9am-1pm, followed by a celebration

Register here

]]> http://richmondmom.com/2014/10/12/handson-day-of-service/feed/ 0 http://richmondmom.com/2014/09/20/building-a-case-for-hope/ http://richmondmom.com/2014/09/20/building-a-case-for-hope/#comments Sat, 20 Sep 2014 15:37:50 +0000 http://richmondmom.com/?p=59549

photo credit: John Perivolaris

Michele Jones, co-owner of Pasture Restaurant in Richmond and Charlottesville, knows a thing or two about moving households. Michele moved frequently as a child, and at one point had a fear of growing up in the foster care system. Michele found solace in her suitcase, and always kept it packed with her most treasured belongings.

Years later as an adult, when Michele learned that some children in foster care were toting their most prized possessions in trash bags, Michele felt empowered to change that. She felt strongly that children in foster care deserved more and that they should be able to carry their personal effects from home to home with dignity. And carrying their stuff in trash bags is, well, anything but dignified. Michele also wonders how her own self-concept would have been different as a child, if she had used a trash bag to carry her things instead of a suitcase.

Michele shares that she does not have any children of her own, but she feels like children in foster care are everyone’s children and she is compelled to help them. Michele founded Case for Hope, which works with the community and partners to provide children in the Richmond City foster system with their very own suitcase.

Together with her business partners of Pasture restaurant, Jason Alley and W. Reilly Marchant, Michele united the Richmond restaurant community to come together and donate luggage for the children of Richmond City foster care – and the suitcases arrived by the carload. Members of the Richmond foodie community from Kitchen Thyme, Toast, Strangeways Brewing, Estilo and Dash restaurants all worked together to make it happen. She says, “People have been so nice and so excited about this. It has exceeded what I thought I would be able to accomplish in 6 months. This has really shown me the best in people and how people can really get excited about contributing in this way.”

A few weeks ago, Michele was surprised to receive a phone call from ABC news. A few days later, Case for Hope was featured on ABC News with Dianne Sawyer for their America Strong feature. As you can imagine, Michele has been very busy since the show aired, with luggage coming in from all over the country. Michele says, “My goal is to accomplish as much as one person can do, with the help of lots of other people. It’s about working together as a community.”

Michele’s initial goal was to provide the 288 children in Richmond City foster care with suitcases. After only 6 months, she has exceeded that goal. “New kids are constantly coming into the system, so please keep the cases coming”, says Michele. Recently, she also began collecting backpacks, small tote bags and new or like-new coats as well.

And with the national coverage, people throughout the country want to know – how can they develop a program like this in their own community? Michele’s renewed goal is to have suitcase drives around the Virginia to help children in many of Virginia’s cities and counties. Michele has collaborated with Faces of Virginia Families to cast the net for getting suitcases in the hands of more children in foster care a little wider. She is also forging other community partnerships to provide guidance on towns building their own program, using Michele as a resource for how to get started. Michele explains, “Everybody loves to help, but people don’t know where to begin. When people see an example like this, then people say, `Wow I could do something like this, too.’ I will be a cheerleader for them.”

Michele, we think you already are a cheerleader.

Want to help?

• Please consider dropping off a new or like-new suitcase at Pasture restaurant
• Please consider donating a suitcase on the “Case for Hope” webpage through Amazon
• Please consider dropping off a new or like-new coat at Pasture restaurant, now through October 31.
• Be on the lookout for upcoming suitcase drives for Case for Hope from the restaurant community – Richmondmom will keep you posted!

 

Thanks To HandsOn Greater Richmond, we’re bringing you a new activity each month that you can do any time, any place and is great for getting little kids involved in their community.

Here’s how it works:

1. Check out the cause and supply list below.  If it looks like something you’d like to do, let them know here and the lovely folks at HandsOn will send you instructions on how to do that month’s DIY project.

2. Volunteer at home with your kids, during naptime, or get a group together and volunteer as a team (learn how to create and manage a team right here).

3. Drop it off and feel good about making Richmond a little brighter while doing something really fun.

This Month’s DIY:
Birthday Cards of Cheer For SupportOne

SupportOne provides residential and community-based support services for adults with intellectual disabilities. HandsOn Greater Richmond is partnering with SupportOne for August’s DIY project to help make client’s birthdays a little brighter. Volunteers will be crafting colorful and cheerful birthday cards that will be distributed throughout the year on resident’s birthdays, making them feel even more loved and cared for on their special day.

Supply List*:
• Cardstock, scrapbook paper, construction paper
• Scissors
• Decorative tape, markers, stamps, glitter, stickers, paint, felt, stickers, string, sequins, etc.
• Adhesives: Glue, mod podge

*DIY Volunteers are responsible for purchasing any of the materials needed for DIY volunteer opportunities.

We’ve partnered up with HandsOn and will post the DIY for the month here on Richmondmom.com, but you want to get out and about, you can find more volunteering opportunities for you or the whole family on their website.

Confirmed participants will receive 3 hours for submitting materials prior to 4pm, Monday, September 15, 2014.

Here’s how it works:

1. Check out the cause and supply list below.  If it looks like something you’d like to do, let them know here and the lovely folks at HandsOn will send you instructions on how to do that month’s DIY project.

2. Volunteer at home with your kids, during nap time, or get a group together and volunteer as a team (learn how to create and manage a team right here).

3. Drop it off and feel good about making Richmond a little brighter while doing something really fun.

This month’s DIY: Decorate Bags and Boxes for Hilliard House

Mission:
Create at least 5 bags and 2 boxes. There is no maximum. Expect the total project to be done in about 3 hours depending on the number of items made and the number of people you have volunteering with you.

Supply List*:
• 5 paper grocery bags
• 2 empty copy paper, banker, or like-sized boxes (16.5 x 8.5 x 12.5 inches)
• Scissors
• Wallpaper, contact paper, wrapping paper, construction paper, scrapbook paper, decorative tape, markers, stamps, glitter, stickers, paint, etc.
• Adhesives- Glue, mod podge

*DIY Volunteers are responsible for purchasing any of the materials needed for DIY volunteer opportunities.

About the Hilliard House:

Hilliard House assists homeless women and their children to build their capacity to live productively within the community. Hilliard House not only provides immediate, on-site shelter and services, but also works to places families into permanent housing in the community as quickly as possible, thus shortening stays in shelter or, in many cases, eliminating shelter stays altogether. Research shows that this “rapid rehousing” approach is a more effective way to address homelessness and based on the principle that when people are in stable housing, other parts of their lives also stabilize. Most clients are provided basic supplies and goods to help them transition into their new lives. DIY volunteers will be decorating bags and boxes to transport these items and provide some much needed cheer and encouragement.

8-year-old Marcus, a New York City child visiting New Hampshire, was frightened by mooing from the neighbor’s farm…His volunteer host mother explained that it was just a cow…She asked “Do you know what cows are?”

Of course, responded Marcus, relieved, “They jump over the moon, right?”

Photo: FreshAirFund.org

The Fresh Air Fund began in 1877 when a tuberculosis epidemic hit the crowded New York City streets.  Since fresh air was seen as a cure for common respiratory ailments,  Reverend Willard Parsons minister of a small, parish in Pennsylvania, asked members of his congregation to serve  as volunteer host families for New York City’s neediest children.

Tuberculosis may no longer be a threat to city kids, but the need for inner-city children to spend a little time outdoors has remained.

Richmond, VA is considered a “friendly town” meaning you can volunteer to give inner-city kids a respite and some much needed time to connect with nature.  Spend a little time running through the sprinklers at Stony Point, going on a walk along the James River, making s’mores and catching fireflies in the backyard.  It’s not about doing anything different than you did last year, but allowing someone else to experience it for the first time.

Read our story about a Real Richmond Mom hosting a child through the Fresh Air Fund.

There is still time to volunteer!
Find out more about how to become a Fresh Air Fund host family today.