The Sustainability Question

Lyndsey Bohall (center) and Alexandra Ellison, VISTA (left), speak with Kristin Pickard, Volunteer Coordinator for Northern Nevada Hopes (right), about the nonprofit's volunteer needs. Northern Nevada Hopes is Northern Nevada's premier center for HIV/AIDS treatment and care.

How do you keep a volunteer initiative going once it gets off the ground? That is the major question facing Lyndsey Bohall, our Reno 2011 Summer Associate VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) for the Nevada Volunteers higher education initiative this summer.

Lyndsey is just beginning her sophomore year at the University of Nevada, Reno, and she already has a solid head on her shoulders as well as a tech-savvy perspective on this sustainability question. As part of the Honors Service Council and the UNR Alternative Break Club, she has become familiar with the challenges of connecting college students to service opportunities. Collecting current, in-depth information on who needs help is crucial to matching students to appropriate nonprofits according to areas of interest and skill level. (more…)

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A Place Where Smiles Really Count

Karen, the Volunteer Coordinator for the Tom Vetica Resource Center in Reno, Nevada, knows the importance of a smile to those she serves.
Helen, an AARP volunteer, sorts mail for the homeless clients of the Tom Vetica Resource Center in Reno.

The Tom Vetica Resource Center is like a bee hive, always humming with people coming and going. A total of 15 volunteers assist a diverse population of people who need help because they are currently without a home and have no address to apply for jobs or receive services. The Resource Center gets them registered, gives them access to a computer to search for work, provides a phone to make important calls, and operates a mail service for over 500 individuals who need an address. There are also computer training and money management classes at the Community Assistance Center campus, which includes the Family, Men’s, and Women’s Shelters, and the Center coordinates with numerous other service agencies to conduct weekly outreach sessions. (more…)

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Guest Post #3: Valley Hospital Volunteer Celebrates Silver “Volunteer Anniversary” by Beth Bartel, CVA

Geri at work

Geri Grant

Guest blogger, Beth Bartel, is a Nevada Volunteers Commissioner and a Human Resources Generalist at Valley Hospital in Las Vegas where she combines duties in Human Resources with management of their volunteer program. She is a Certified Volunteer Administrator and Treasurer of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Directors of Volunteers in Agencies (DOVIA). We are so pleased to have her share an amazing story about a lifetime volunteer at Valley Hospital.

When Geraldine (Geri) Grant began volunteering at Valley Hospital in 1986, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States; the Oprah Winfrey Show debuted; and “Top Gun” was the number one movie.

At Valley Hospital, plenty of patients needed surgery. That’s where Geri found her niche – and never left!

“I’ve volunteered in Outpatient Surgery for my entire 25 years,” said Geri, who is 83 years old. Her volunteer “career” started when her youngest daughter wanted to be a candy striper. Valley was also seeking adult volunteers, so Geri signed up as well. Now, on Wednesdays, she can be found in the Outpatient Surgery department helping the nurses with whatever they need – making beds, compiling charts, or chatting with patients and family members.
(more…)

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The Ripple Effect

Belinda spent this past tax season in Las Vegas preparing tax returns for low-income individuals as a volunteer.

Tax season is over, but the legacy of one volunteer’s commitment to service will linger. Belinda spent the last few months volunteering for VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance), helping low-income individuals in Las Vegas prepare their tax returns. She has a wonderful story to tell which illustrates the ripple effect of volunteering.

Belinda said:

Today was a good day in many ways. Although we are at the end of tax season and the demand for our services far outweighs our capacity, I am in good spirits. Today I was able to help a client through a really tough time by doing her return and taking the time to educate her about all the different credits she would qualify for. This client has major car repair needs looming that she could not afford to fix and every day prayed her car would not break down. She was barely making ends meet and needed extra cash to get the work done. Based on the knowledge she gained from a thorough review of her taxes we realized her refund from the year before was much less than she was entitled to receive. We prepared a 1040X that gave her even more money than she could have ever dreamed. By the end of preparing both years’ tax return, the client was in tears and extremely thankful; she kept saying thanks over and over and over again. I don’t know if we will ever see her again, but she is a fan of VITA for life!

(more…)

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Priceless!

Fred Barrie prepares his talk to a Nevada Volunteers Lunch n' Learn about his new volunteer tracking software.

National Volunteer Week is a time to celebrate volunteers, and Nevada Volunteers has a gem of a volunteer to celebrate. Fred Barrie is a highly talented professional who is the best example ever of what a skilled volunteer can add to an organization. Skilled volunteers are a valuable asset, bringing know-how and experience to an organization to supplement the expertise of staff. Sometimes a skilled volunteer goes way beyond that capacity, propelling the organization into completely new realms of possibility. That is what Fred has done for Nevada Volunteers, and why we want to give him a colossal National Volunteer Week thanks!

Fred is a computer programmer who loves to explore new dimensions in software programming. He’s been working with computers for over 20 years and can’t get enough of them, it seems. When he heard our Volunteer Development Coordinator, Janet Wright, talk about the need for a good volunteer tracking software, Fred said, “I can do that.” (more…)

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Good For You!

Do you volunteer? Good for you! You are one of the four in ten Americans who volunteered this past year.

But do you know that you are doing yourself a big favor?

Volunteering is just plain good for your health, your sense of well-being, even your job, according to a survey of more than 4,500 Americans by Volunteer Match and United-Healthcare.

How?

Consider this volunteer’s story. Mac has been volunteering in Reno with VITA, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. In early February, he had a thrilling success story to report. Mac said:

I had a client this week that was about to lose her place to live at the end of this month. She has a son. I prepared her return and she got a refund of over $4,000.00. When I told her that her refund would be e-filed and in the bank by the 25th, she broke down and cried. She said I saved her and her son from being homeless.

(more…)

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Governor Sandoval Makes Service a Cornerstone of His Administration

Nevada Volunteers was thrilled to have Governor Brian Sandoval hammering down shingles with our AmeriCorps members at a Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas project early on MLK Day. By afternoon, he was up north, mingling with young people at a presentation on cyber-bullying hosted by the Children’s Cabinet AmeriCorps program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Truckee Meadows.
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MLK Day 2011: A Day On, Not A Day Off

“Service above self will be the cornerstone of my administration as Governor,” Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval proclaimed. He joined approximately 70 AmeriCorps members bright and early in Las Vegas, Nevada on Martin Luther King Jr. Day morning to celebrate the Day of Service.

Partnering with Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas, Nevada Volunteers’ AmeriCorps members gathered together to build three special homes in honor of the 25th anniversary of the holiday recognizing one of America’s great heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. More than 40 years after his death, Dr. King’s example continues to guide Nevadans in addressing the state’s most critical issues.

The event in southern Nevada brought together AmeriCorps State members from Great Basin Institute’s Nevada Conservation Corps, Luz Community Development Coalition, and the United Way of Southern Nevada, along with AmeriCorps VISTA members serving southern Nevada nonprofit agencies. The Governor jumped in to lend a hand with the AmeriCorps members, at one point even aiding them on the roof by nailing on shingles. (more…)

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Last Chance to Give!

Nevada Volunteers knows you care about continuing Nevada’s service and volunteer efforts. That’s why we are reminding you that this is your final chance to make a tax-deductible donation for 2010. Remember, all gifts to Nevada Volunteers are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Thanks to your generous contributions, Nevada Volunteers has raised $1,300 for the Nevada AmeriCorps programs this holiday season and has had the ability to share our AmeriCorps members inspirational stories with you. But we need your help if we want our communities to continually receive the chance to grow and prosper. We hope you’ll join us as we work to continue Nevada AmeriCorps programs, helping Nevadans to enrich their lives through service and our communities to benefit from their incredible efforts.

Please don’t miss this opportunity to give back to our communities through admirable programs. For more information about Nevada’s AmeriCorps programs, visit blue.nevadavolunteers.org. (more…)

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