Family Volunteer Day

On November 21st, more than 220 people, some 37 groups and families, gathered together to give service. Raquel Lopez, one of our Provo VISTAs, organized Family Volunteer Day, a national day of service. The day started out with a scrumptious breakfast of pancakes followed by many different service projects. Families helped rake leaves at the cemetery, decorate organizations for Christmas, helped disabled individuals make Christmas cards and decorations, helped build houses and much more. Many VISTAs attended and lent a hand making pancakes, registering volunteers, seting-up and cleaning. It was fun to see so many happy volunteers show up with a positive attitude towards service. It is wonderful that parents were instilling the values of service in their children at a young age. Good job to Raquel for working so hard to pull off this awesome day of service.

VISTAs Charley and Jill busy making delicious pancakes

Stephanie on pancake duty

Excited volunteers

Princesses volunteer too

Making Christmas decorations at TURN

Moving mountans or doors at Rural Housing Development Corporation construction site

To view more photos, please visit us on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=164947&id=48523063337

VISTA IST 2010

Please mark your calendars for the annual VISTA Individual Service Training (IST) Conference! The Conference will be held at the Provo Marriott on January 27-29, 2010. All VISTAs in Utah are expected to attend, and if you cannot, please let Carrie know ASAP. We are very excited for this skill-based training, and the theme is "Tools for Sustainability." Topics include: sustainability, stakeholders, social media, PR, evaluating your project, and more.

Please make sure you register for the conference online by this Friday by click on the following link:
VISTA IST Registration


All food and lodging will be paid for, and gas mileage round-trip will also be reimbursed. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let Carrie know. Get excited for this helpful and fun training!

November in the South Franklin Community Center

Every month the Community Center keeps on growing! More and more people are getting involved in their own community. Last week, there was the first of a series of Neighborhood Leadership Meetings. These meetings are the result of a collaboration between VISTAs and DCFS workers/University of Utah Social Work grad students. The meeting went well, with neighbors discussing what they liked about their community, and what they thought could improve. The second neighborhood meeting will be on Saturday, November 7th at 1:00 pm at the South Franklin Community Center (750 S. 650 W.)

Be sure to check out the community center blog (sfccboulders.blogspot.com) and Facebook Fan Page (South Franklin Community Center) for the November calendar of events as well as for updates on the Thanksgiving activity!

VISTA Project Pipeline

Every month Brian, our benevolent VISTA leader, compiles a newsletter full of tips, ideas and suggestions to help us in our jobs as VISTAs. I thought it would be fun to include parts of the newsletter in our blog.


Retain the One-time Volunteer

Many people this time of year are looking for the “episodic” or “one-time” volunteer experience, however even though this might be the initial desire of the volunteer, consider the following to help your project retain these volunteers:

Be a great place to volunteer, be prepared and make volunteers feel welcome.

Train sufficiently, set expectations and give them a purpose.

Recognize your volunteers!

Carefully screen and match volunteers to organizational tasks.

Be careful in how you supervise and communicate with volunteers, don’t make them feel like they are at their job.

Provide a culture that is welcoming to volunteers and allocate sufficient resources to support them.

Adopt practices that are directly concerned with satisfying volunteers to help you increase your rate of retention.

Brianstorm Opportunities

Brainstorm ideas of new volunteer opportunities. Many organizations get overwhelmed with volunteers, making any available opportunity a hot commodity. Be creative and get ideas from all members of your organization.

Plan Ahead

Think big and think ahead. The holidays are the perfect time of year to try and fill your wish list. Whether you need more volunteers, an in-kind donation or monetary contributions, by planning ahead and making the ask you have a perfect opportunity to tap into the resources in your community.

Get the Word Out

Make sure your volunteer opportunities accessible! Get the word out about how volunteers can help your organization this holiday
season. Use your local volunteer center or the state wide online services to help connect you to volunteers.

Look forward to next month's newsletter as well! Thanks Brian!

Family Volunteer Day

Each year VISTAs are encouraged to participate in several national service days. Family Volunteer Day is a great way to for us VISTAs to get involved in the community that we serve.

This November, Utah County will be among hundreds of communities nationwide participating in Family Volunteer Day. Locally, Family Volunteer Day is hosted by United Way of Utah County and gives families the opportunity to participate in improving their neighborhoods and communities.

“Family Volunteer Day is a chance for families to get together and experience meaningful service,” said Raquel Lopez, youth volunteer outreach AmeriCorps*VISTA with United Way of Utah County. “This is a good opportunity for parents to teach their children the value of service.”

On Saturday, November 21, teams of family volunteers will gather for a pancake breakfast and will then split up to serve in various locations. Projects include helping with home construction for families in need, making and setting up holiday decorations for elderly and disabled community members, cleaning at a special needs day care center and putting together charitable care packages for the children of disabled persons.

“It is neat to see families wanting to teach their children to appreciate what they have,” Lopez said. “It can be hard to find service projects for a whole family, and this creates a day for them to serve together.”

Last year, more than 130 volunteers donated their time to five projects including making stockings for low-income children and putting up holiday decorations at local nursing homes.

“Often volunteer opportunities aren’t designed for families or younger children,” said Brian Wayment, AmeriCorps*VISTA leader with United Way of Utah County. “Typically it is hard to include the whole family. We try to have family-friendly activities that include everyone.”

Projects are geared toward volunteers of all ages and skills to include every family member. Volunteers are assigned to projects depending on their interests and capabilities. Families of all sizes with children of any ages are encouraged to attend. Church and community groups are also welcome to participate in the day’s activities.

“It gives families the opportunity to learn something together,” Wayment said. “Children who learn to serve at a young age are more likely to be involved in their community in one way or another.”

Family Volunteer Day starts with a complimentary pancake breakfast at 8:30 a.m. at Community Action Services and Food Bank (815 S. Freedom Blvd., Provo). Service projects will be from 9:30– 11:30 at various sites from Payson to Orem. Interested families should sign up at www.unitedwayuc.org or call Raquel Lopez at 801-691-5330.

Make a Difference Day

Candy, costumes, pumpkins and spooky fun are all my favorite things about Halloween. I love all holidays. So when we decided to plan a project for Make a Difference Day on October 24th, we naturally wanted to do something centered around the upcoming holiday. We wanted to be able to share all of our favorite things about Halloween with the children of Utah State Hospital. In the end we decided to throw these youth a carnival full of Halloween activities. Doughnut eating contests, pumpkin and face painting, treat-or-treat bag making were just a few of our carnival activities.
We were given the wonderful opportunity to interact with these youth. It was a joy to see the smiles on their faces as they chowed down on doughnuts, glaze covering their faces, and as they sat waiting to have their faces painted. Equally entertaining were the grimaces and looks of disgust when they bravely touched the mysterious contents of the fear factor boxes. While our Make a Difference Day project may not have served a huge part of our community, we still had the opportunity to affect the lives of these select youth even if it was only for a couple of hours. Not only were we able to give service, but it was a great chance for the VISTAs to work together and with our community. Thank you to all who helped make this day a great success.

Stephanie taking care of the pumpkin painting station
Raquel, the face painting artist

The competitive doughnut eating contest
Sarah with her scary and gory fear factor boxes (We miss her already!)

Potraits of Service

Congratulations to this year’s grand prize winners of the Portraits of Service competition!! United Way of Utah County in conjunction with Bryant Livingston Photography, Provo Towne Centre Mall and Community Action Services and Food Bank encouraged high school students throughout the county to give service in their community. As students logged their hours between July 1^st and September 31^st and wrote a service reflection, they became eligible for free senior portraits and electronic prizes. Seventeen-year-old Colton Shumway of Lone Peak High School was the winner of a MacBook Laptop and $400 portrait package from Bryant Livingston Photography. Seventeen year-old Emily Knorr of Timpanogos High School won an iPod Touch and a $300 portrait package. Special thanks to our sponsor APX Alarm for their generous contribution and support of this service-based contest. Join the United Way of Utah County Facebook Group to learn about more service opportunities and competitions!

Grand Prize Winner, Colton Shumway

(Read Service Reflection)

Directed by Raquel Lopez, Portraits of Service was a brand new competition this year. They are hoping to hold the competition again next year, so spread the word about this awesome opportunity and the potential to win great prizes.

Second Place Winner, Emily Knorr

(Read Service Reflection)