During this Valentine's Week, we want to share some of the reasons Nevada Volunteers LOVES Nevada's Volunteers. We hope that you'll take a moment to see how special the volunteers are that are making an impact in our communities. We…
Want to make a difference in the world? How about a difference in the environment? You can do all that AND pay off student loans or pay for college tuition!
Great Basin Institute’s Nevada Conservation Corps has two types of AmeriCorps*State positions open: one for the fall and the other as a year-round member. Apply today!
2012 Fall Restoration Team Member
August 20, 2012 – November 15, 2012
Spend your fall working and camping outside at some of Nevada’s premier natural areas. Serve alongside volunteers from across the country while making a lasting contribution to Nevada’s natural heritage. Gain valuable field experience while working on habitat improvement, restoration, and recreation projects with the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Nevada Division of Forestry. Projects may include trail construction and maintenance, hazardous fuels reduction, and habitat restoration.
Compensation: This is an AmeriCorps position and candidates will receive a living stipend of $3,500 for the fall. This is not an hourly wage or a salary and is paid to members bi-monthly throughout their term of service. Upon completion of AmeriCorps service members shall receive an additional education award in the amount of $1,468 that can be used for paying off student loans, or paying tuition for a Title IV accredited college. (more…)
With summer almost over, what would you say you accomplished? Did you go on a family vacation? Did you spend time with friends? Or did you spend your summer on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.?
While social media continues to become a larger part of our lives on a daily basis, it is our last ditch effort to encourage students to become truly “social” and get out in your community to give back. Here are some ideas we came up with to get you started…
Love to read? Want to become a teacher? History guru?
1. School Supply/Book Drive: As school quickly approaches, help those that might not be able to purchase new school supplies or schools needing some extra supplies. Host a school supply drive and distribute your donations to an elementary school in your city in need.
2. Library: Volunteer at your local library putting away books or reading to kids in the children area. Spend your time helping and completing that summer reading list. Contact your local library today to see what ideas they have to put your service to use. (more…)
National Volunteer Week is finally here! Nevada Volunteers is so excited to celebrate the volunteers in Nevada that continue to make our state a better place to live!
This year, Nevada Volunteers will be sharing the great works of volunteers in Nevada, as well as volunteer coordinators/managers that continuously support those volunteers. Each day, we will be posting inspiring stories and pictures – keep checking our blog, Facebook, and Twitter for amazing stories!
Thank you to those that continue to give their time, money, and energy to organizations throughout Nevada! If you are not yet volunteering and want to get involved, visit blue.nevadavolunteers.org to find volunteer opportunities near you!
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Gayle Farley, Volunteer Coordinator at the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, poses with some of her fabulous volunteers!
I have over 120 volunteers and they are mostly teens and young adults. Many of them come into the Boys & Girls Club to volunteer for school credits and really don’t want to be here in the beginning until they see what is here for them, and that this Club is for them. I see them working with younger kids and loving what they do. They just want to help out as much as they can. Some of these young volunteers go to school, work, and still volunteer because they love it so much. When I call them to see how they are doing, the calls and emails I get back are often, “it is so nice to have someone who cares about what is going on in my life” –makes me feel that I am doing something really worthwhile. I can honestly say, for the first time in my life, and I have worked for many years, that I feel that I am really where I am supposed to be. I watch these young volunteers grow into great leaders with goals and a purpose in their lives because of what volunteering and the sense of what “giving back” has taught them. And you know, they make me feel pretty special too…..everyday. (more…)
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…)
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!
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…)