Volunteer Newsletter

Transcription

1 Volunteer Newsletter "Saving Children's Lives and Building Healthy Families" In This Issue Volunteer Spotlight Drives/Donations of Most Needed Items Special Events & Fundraising Activities Opportunities for Groups, Families & Individuals Opportunities in our Family Success Centers Issue: #6 March 2012 Dear Volunteer, Thank you for your continued interest in volunteering with the Children's Home Society of New Jersey (CHSofNJ). Following you will find information for new and on-going volunteer opportunities to help our children and families. We have 44 programs and can not list every opportunity available, so if you do not see a volunteer opportunity that is a good fit for you or your group, please feel free to contact us to discuss your specific volunteer interests. VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT Ongoing Volunteer Opportunities Save the Date Join our Auxilary Group Quick Links CHS Website Donate to CHS Join Our List Forward This Information Do you know someone who might want to get involved? Show them the world so they can dream bigger! This is what Yvonne Diaz, who runs the CHSofNJ after school program at Washington Elementary School in Trenton, strives to do every day. Recently she had some help from Johnson and Johnson's Global Business Intelligence Pharmaceuticals Information Technology team who introduced these elementary school children to some of the latest technology. With the leadership of Dennis Mariano (pictured above) and Marvin Quesada, these technology professionals designed fun, educational, hands-on activities for the children to do on the

2 Contact Us 635 South Clinton Avenue Trenton, NJ P: (609) F: (609) Office Hours Monday - Friday 9am-5pm Evening programming occurs on Wednesdays in our FSC South and on Thursdays in our FSC North and once a month on Saturdays in both locations. state of the art ipads and lap-tops that they supplied for the afternoon. The children were completely engrossed and enjoyed their interaction with the volunteers. In addition to a wonderful afternoon filled with fun and laughter, perhaps a few will be inspired to dream about a career in technology! DRIVES/DONATIONS OF MOST NEEDED ITEMS Easter Baskets Stuff an Easter Basket with toys, books, candy and other goodies and help spread the joy of Easter to our children. All baskets need to be delivered to CHSofNJ by Friday, March 30th. Deliveries can be made Monday through Friday from 9:00am until 5:00pm. Are you interested in conducting a drive or donating items for our children? If so, we are in great need of the following supplies for our children who range in age from infants to adolescents: diapers, wipes and infant care items, hygiene products, underwear/socks, bilingual/spanish books, clinical books for clients, "Happy Adoption Day" books and preschool books. Items to help run our programs We are always in need of equipment and supplies to help run our programs. If you are interested in donating an item, please contact us regarding our current needs. Please contact Valerie Noble at vnoble@chsofnj.org for more information regarding donations. Note that due to staffing and storage constraints we ask that all donations be delivered to our office and be new/unused. SPECIAL EVENTS AND FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES A Night of Stars... Our annual Gala Fundraiser is coming up on Saturday, May 5th and we are currently looking for dedicated volunteers to help: Solicit gala auction items, sell raffle tickets and assist with mailings and other pre-gala preparations. Help with preparations the week prior. Set up on the day of the Gala (9:00-1:00 or 2:00-5:00) Assist at the Gala by selling raffle tickets, working the silent auction, and packing up (5:30 until the end). Please contact Denise Wentzler at: dwentzler@chsofnj.org for more info. OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROUPS, FAMILIES & INDIVIDUALS

3 Health and Dental Day Early Head Start will be hosting a health and dental day at our main office in Trenton on Thursday, March 29th from 11:00am- 2:00pm. We need volunteers to help! This would be a great group volunteer activity! The purpose of this event is to provide hearing, vision and dental screenings for program participants as well as activities (including mouth finger-painting, an oral health puppet show and picture opportunities). "Welcome Spring" Socialization Event On Saturday, April 14th Early Head Start will host a socialization event entitled "Welcome Spring" from 10:00am until noon and we need approximately 5 volunteers to help. This would be a great volunteer activity for a small group! Participants will have the opportunity to pot soil, plant seeds and have their photos taken inside of giant sunflower cut outs. There will be educational opportunities regarding the importance of establishing nurturing relationships with their children during the early years (0-3) so they can recognize healthy attachments as they grow as well as the benefits of eating fresh fruits and vegetables and having one's own garden. Help give baby showers to expecting mothers! We need volunteers to help with our "CUNA" and "C.A.R.E.S for Her" baby showers. Help is needed for donations of baby items, shopping, assembly of baskets, and lending a hand at the showers. This is a great opportunity to start a drive to collect baby items! Upcoming showers are planned for: April 3rd (5:00pm to 7:30pm) May 3rd (12:00pm to 3:00pm) June 26th (5:30pm to 7:30pm) July 12th (12:00pm to 3:00pm) September 13th (12:00pm to 3:00pm) September 18th (5:00pm to 7:30pm) November 29th (12:00pm to 3:00 pm) December 11th (5:00pm to 7:30pm) Early Childhood Disabilities Fair We will be hosting an Early Childhood Disabilities fair in our main office in Trenton on Saturday, June 16 from 11:00am- 2:00pm. We need volunteers to help! This would be a great group volunteer activity! A variety of community organizations will be providing health, mental health, and social services information and resources for participants. There will be games, food, face painting, arts and crafts, and more! Please contact Tracey Huegler at thuegler@chsofnj.orgfor more info.

4 Help make our Family Success Center (North) a place families want to come to! We are looking for a group or family that would be willing to paint some rooms at our Family Success Center and possibly donate the paint and supplies. The date and time can be flexible! Pleasee contact Tracey Huegler at thuegler@chsofnj.org for more info. Can you put together a diaper bag for a teenage mom/baby in our foster care? Help prepare our teenage moms to leave the house with their new babies by providing them with a diaper bag filled with basic "on the go" essentials. A laminated list of essentials attached to the diaper bag will help ensure that she is always prepared! Pleasee contact Tracey Huegler at thuegler@chsofnj.org for more info. "Family Movie Night" We can use help shopping for and putting together brown bag lunches or snacks for our family movie nights. We also need help assisting staff care for younger children who are not willing/able to watch the movie. Movie nights are generally on Wednesday or Thursday nights from 5: :00pm until 8:00pm. Our next movie night is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28th. Donations of brown bag lunches, prepared on the premises, are also welcome! Pleasee contact Tracey Huegler at thuegler@chsofnj.org for more info. OPPORTUNITIES IN OUR FAMILY SUCCESS CENTERS There are many ways, big and small, to help in our Trenton- based Family Success Centers! We need two or three volunteers to help with planned Saturday activities that occur once a month. We also need volunteers to assist with: mailing our monthly center based activities calendar to our families between the 20th and 25th of each month, providing clerical support and questionnaire data entry, translating program materials, and creating picture displays. Many, many, more opportunities! Computer Training and GED Tutoring We are always looking for folks who can help our parents achieve the skills needed to be successful in the workplace. Do you have a skill that you think can help? Help keep our kids healthy! We are in need of 2-3 volunteers for each of our Family Success Centers to help sanitize the toys for our infants and children. We are very flexible with

5 the timing on this, it could be done on a Monday, Friday or Saturday. Bring a friend! Do you like to scrapbook? If so, help us capture all of the wonderful work that we do and highlight activities/programs for potential clients and funders. Do you play an instrument or like to sing? If you have a musical talent and can spare 15 minutes, we could use your help in our Fun with Books & Music pre-literacy program. This program is run during the day and in the evenings in both English and Spanish. Please contact Maritza Raimundi at mraimundi@chsofnj.org for more info. ONGOING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Do you have great organizational skills and like people? Help the volunteer coordinator with all aspects of the volunteer process. Make an impact on volunteerism! Child care help needed! We are looking for folks to help with child care, on a regular or periodic basis, while parents attend educational programming or receive needed services. If you like to work with children we could use your help! We are in great need of child care for our: Family Success Centers: Wednesday (South) and Thursday (North) evenings from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Early Head Start Policy Council Meeting: The first Wednesday of every month from 9:00am until 11:00am. Emergency Child Care: We would like to find a few folks willing to be called, sometimes at the very last minute, to help out with child care at our events given unforeseen circumstances. NOTE: All child care helpers are required to complete Human Resource Processing, including drug screening and background checks. Other ways to help... Birthday Generosity Classroom projects for kids Baby Bottle "Formula for Hope" Create your own idea! Please contact Valerie Noble at vnoble@chsofnj.org for more info. SAVE THE DATE!

6 Save the date for upcoming fundraising and agency events! Friday, March 23rd: Red Rose Day Please contact Valerie Noble at to find the selling location nearest you! Saturday, May 5th: "Night of Stars" Annual Gala Fundraising Event Reserve your tickets, buy 50/50 raffle tickets, donate to our silent auction or become a sponsor! Friday, May 11th: Designer Handbag Bingo Ladies, come join the fun! For more information about our new Trenton Auxilary event, please visit our Web-site: Sunday, May 13th: Mother's Day Stay at Home Tea We're delighted to announce a special "Stay at Home Tea" in honor of Mother's Day. We welcome your participation and we'll even provide a tea bag for your use at the time and place of your choosing! What a wonderful opportunity to honor your mother (or someone "like a mother") while helping a child who needs a mom to find one! Details will be posted in April, so please check back at Wednesday, September 12th: 23nd Annual Charity Golf Outing Saturday, September 15th: The 6th Annual Latino Parenting Event Please contact Denise Wentzler at: dwentzler@chsofnj.org for more info. regarding any of our fundraising events. JOIN OUR AUXILIARY GROUP Get involved with a special group of women! Interested in learning more about the work of our auxiliary or possible membership? Please contact one of the following auxiliary membership committee folks for more information: Ann Brown: Annieb1756@comcast.net Debbie Musick: musick11@comcast.net Kellie Foerter: kmalloy@pharmanet.com Eve Mitchell: loveve31@aol.com Thank you for helping us to save children's lives and build healthy families!

7 Sincerely, Tracey Huegler Director of Corporate Development and Volunteerism The Children's Home Society of New Jersey Office Hours: M/W/R 9:00am -3:00pm x156