Volunteering During the Holidays

Many people find the Holidays a good time to volunteer. They have time off from work or school and generally a more giving spirit. While help is needed year-round, it is great to see increased volunteer activity during the holidays. The demand for volunteers during the holidays often exceeds the amount of volunteers! As you continue to cross presents off your holiday shopping list, remember those who are in need of your time and generosity, but may not be able to ask for your help. A great way to help those in need is to volunteer!

Here are some volunteer ideas to consider this Holiday Season:


VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Sponsor A Needy Family

Put food on the table for a family that doesn't have the means to do so when you volunteer with Family-to-family.org, an organization that matches you with a household in need.

Help The Homeless
At a time when warm homes and family gatherings are common, the homeless are left feeling particularly isolated. The National Coalition for the Homeless offers a number of ways for volunteers to combat homelessness by serving food at shelters, building homes, or offering job training. Check out the list of ways you can get involved this year.

Deliver A Meal
Share a meal with a lonely person in need this holiday season when you sign up with Meals on Wheels' food-delivery program.

Volunteer For Vets
Find out how you can thank the veterans who put their lives on the line for our safety by visiting the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Visit A Senior
More than 50 percent of senior citizens in nursing homes never get visitors, according to the Senior Source. Bring a sense of family to someone who doesn't have one, when you volunteer at one of these locations.

Show Some Puppy (or Kitty) Love
Get a warm-fuzzy feeling when you volunteer with furry, loyal creatures who are waiting to find the perfect home. Find an animal shelter that needs your help here.

My favorite animal shelter is Wayside Waifs where I have been a volunteer since 2010. 

GIVING OPPORTUNITIES

American Red Cross

"Give something that means something" when you get involved with the American Red Cross' campaign that aims to do just that. Peruse the list of charitable opportunities, which include vaccinating a child and buying phone cards for troops and offer up the ultimate present of selflessness.  I love volunteering for the Red Cross! 

The Salvation Army

Each holiday season, the Salvation Army amps up its fundraising efforts to help support the elderly, the homeless and other underserved populations. Find out how you can get involved with the Salvation Army's work to offer aid to those in need.

Toys for Tots

Marine Toys for Tots Foundation collects gifts for children who come from economically disadvantaged families. If you don't have a drop-off center near you, consider starting your own. Find out how you can get involved here.

United Way
Looking for an opportunity to donate money or time this holiday season? United Way offers both! There are nearly 1800 community based United Ways in 41 countries and territories. The United Way works to help individuals and families achieve their human potential through education, income stability and healthy lives. Click here to learn more about the United Way.

There are many opportunities to volunteer or give over the holidays and year-round! 

Thank you for donating your time or money to others! Happy Holidays!

Shawnee Open House

I took a bit of a break from volunteering but got back in the saddle this weekend. I volunteered for a few hours at City of Shawnee's Open House that was held on Saturday September 17, 2016. I am currently a member of Shawnee's CERT team and helped staff an information booth at the Open House. The Open House had a ton of activities for kids and lots of information for adults from the city's different departments including: Maintenance, Parks & Rec, Police, Fire. CERT is run out of the Fire Department which makes sense since it is Emergency Management. Anyhoo... it was a lot of fun (when isn't working with the fire department fun?). The Open House was held at the John B Glaser Fire Station. Here are pics from the event: 

Sparky is a remote controlled car. Firefighters had a great time playing with the kids and the remote car!

Sparky!

LifeStar was a popular attraction especially during landing and again when it took off for the day.

I wasn't representing the Red Cross at the Open Hosue but did make sure to say Hi to the volunteers who represented the RC, including the service dog in training that one of the volunteers brought along! 

CERT training redo

I recently completed CERT training through City of Shawnee, KS. I previously attended training through SW Johnson County CERT but due to an illness missed the final exercise. The next time the final exercise rolled around for SW Johnson County CERT I was dealing with a back injury and couldn't participate. So when Shawnee offered their training this January I was able to finally complete the final exercise and graduate. I can now join a CERT team and be able to respond to area disasters. This is something I am doing to complement my Red Cross training. 

What is CERT? It stands for  Community Emergency Response Team. The CERT program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. 

Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can give critical support to their family, loved ones, neighbors or associates in their immediate area until help arrives. When help does arrive, CERTs provide useful information to first responders and support their efforts, as directed, at the disaster site. CERT members can also assist with non-emergency projects that improve the safety of the community. CERTs have been used to distribute and/or install smoke alarms, replace smoke alarm batteries in the home of elderly, distribute disaster education material, provide services at special events, such as parades, sporting events, concerts and more.

About CERT Training

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training teaches disaster preparedness, ICS principles and disaster response skills. CERT-trained individuals have a higher awareness, greater resiliency in the wake of a disaster and the ability to supplement and complement professional responders. This training requires 24 hours (minimum) and grants a FEMA-recognized certification.

The CERT Curriculum

• DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: This gives an overview of disasters with a special look at how they'll affect Shawnee and the surrounding area. The Shawnee CERT training program gives special attention on how to prepare before a disaster strikes, including preparedness and hazard mitigation.

• FIRE SAFETY: Instructions begins with the basics of fire chemistry and students learn about the hazards they already have in their home and workplace. This includes instruction on operating fire extinguishers and students hone their technique in a live-fire exercise.

• DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS I: Students learn to identify life-threatening conditions in a technique known as "triage." Additionally, they will be trained to immediately treat victims for the three deadliest killers in mass-casualty incidents.

• DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS II: This extends the medical view into public health considerations, as well as giving hands-on training in establishing treatment areas, conducting head-to-toe Assessments and wound care for types of injuries typically seen in disasters.

• LIGHT SEARCH AND RESCUE: We teach the fundamentals of light urban search and rescue, including size-up, entry, search patterns, rescuer safety and victim extrication.

• CERT ORGANIZATION: When disaster strikes, sometimes getting started is the most difficult step. CERT organization will teach the decision-making skills to organize, as well as a NIMS-compliant vocabulary to fit into larger Emergency Response organizations.

• DISASTER PSYCHOLOGY: The mind is the most important tool – as well as the most delicate. This unit teaches individual and team well-being, from what to expect going into a disaster to working with survivors' trauma and post-traumatic stress.

• TERRORISM AWARENESS: Terrorism is a criminal act and its prevalence is only growing. CERT class introduces the concepts, motivations and tools common among terrorists to create a heightened state of awareness, reducing the possibility that CERT graduates will be the next terrorism statistic.

In 2014, the Shawnee Emergency Management Office established a local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Currently, there are 35 members of Shawnee's CERT. The January class is the 3rd class to receive the training and graduate to become CERT team members. 24 people completed the training and are now eligible to join Shawnee's CERT team which could bring the total number of team members to 59. 

The Shawnee CERT training and training updates are conducted locally at the Shawnee Fire Department and/or Police Justice Center. Both the facilities are made available to volunteers to meet their training needs.

To sign-up for CERT Training in Shawnee, KS contact the City's Emergency Management Coordinator, Terry Kegin, at 913-742-6139 or e-mail him at tkegin@cityofshawnee.org. 

Below are pictures from the final exercise completed on January 23, 2016 for Shawnee's CERT program. The exercise was designed to mimic what CERT responders might need to do in a disaster such as search and rescue, triage, medical transport, fire extinguish (small fires only that can be extinguished using the appropriate fire extinguisher), etc:

  

And here's the graduating class picture from City of Shawnee CERT January 23, 2016:

MLK Day of Service is January 18th

On January 18th, many people in the U.S. have a day off work to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rather than take a "day off", however, many are choosing to take a "day on". They’ll spend MLK Day in service to their neighbors and their communities. Will you join them by volunteering on MLK Day?

Here is a link to searchable volunteer opportunities:

www.volunteermatch.org

Volunteering is a blessing. Whether it's National Day of Service or some other day, I hope you explore the many volunteer opportunities out there! 

Volunteering at Fur Ball

For the 5th year in a row, I got the opportunity to volunteer at Wayside Waifs annual fundraiser Fur Ball. This year's Fur Ball theme was "The Wizard of Paws"... it was held on May 9, 2015.

The event was held at the Overland Park Convention Center where the ballroom was transformed into a Land of Oz party. More than 1000 attendees spent the evening bidding on auction items, feasting on dinner and satisfying their thirst with an open bar all to help the animals at Wayside Waifs.

This year's Emcee was Gary Lezak, Emmy Award Winning Meteorologist for KSHB 41 News. Long time supporters David and Dalia Morris and Chris and Susan Wally served as Chairpersons for the event.

Volunteers and Staff spent many hours preparing and helping out on event night. Here are some pics of staff and volunteers in action:

I worked the check in station again this year. It's the first point of interaction with the guests who attended. I always enjoy meeting everyone and wishing them a great time at the event.

 

 It was a great time for a great cause! Look forward to next year's Fur Ball! Hope to see you there!