Volunteering and the Revival of the American Community

A Hands On Boomer Initiative Update

In his book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert Putnam examines how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors and our social networks. Americans are even bowling alone! Putnam believes that America can civically reinvent itself and offers ways to reconnect and engage.

On February 24 and March 1, the Hands On Boomer Initiative and the Multnomah County Library, as partners in Life by Design NW, are co-sponsoring book discussions on Putnam’s book, followed by an opportunity to volunteer. During our conversation we will discuss Putnam’s findings and suggestions for change, explore our own needs for meaningful connection and consider how service to community can assist us in fulfilling this need. Sign up now to participate in this conversation relevant to these challenging times in which greater connection to one another and our common good is needed more than ever.

Visit our Boomer Initiative events page for information on other Portland opportunities relevant to 50+ adults. Hands On Greater Portland is co-sponsoring and presenting at the OASIS education and community service fair on February 27th.

Valentines For Volunteer Leaders

To celebrate our Volunteer Leaders in the month of February, Hands On Greater Portland invites you to submit comments, funny or touching stories, pictures, poems, and notes of gratitude about a positive experience you’ve had working with a Volunteer Leader. These can be directed to all Volunteer Leaders or to one person in particular, but all should be anonymous. Submissions received by February 10th will be distributed to Hands On Volunteer Leaders in time for Valentine’s Day!

Please email your submissions to amelia@handsonportland.org. You can also submit via fax to (503)200-3356, or via mail to Amelia Lamb at Hands On Greater Portland, PO Box 4889, Portland OR 97208-4889.

In Love and Service

As we head into the shortest month of the year, red hearts begin to pop up in storefront windows, chocolate finds its biggest market of the year, and dinner reservations pile up for the evening of February 14th. Regardless of whether you embrace the holiday with romantic gusto or lament its consumerist stronghold, Valentines Day is just around the corner.

Each year, Hands On Greater Portland celebrates this day through its Heart of the Community Awards Luncheon, which honors the love, commitment, and hard work shown by some amazing volunteers and nonprofit partners in our community.

It’s also a time when those of us in the volunteer management realm begin to wonder aloud… how many volunteers foster a different kind of love through their commitment to service?

Meet Lydia and Justin. In her day to day, Lydia promotes volunteerism in college campuses across Oregon through her work with Campus Compact. Justin just finished an AmeriCorps term of service through the Northwest Service Academy. A couple with a conscience, the two also make time to volunteer with Hands On in their free time, whether it be hilling potatoes at Zenger Farm, sorting through building materials at the Rebuilding Center, or weeding garden plots at a Get Out and Garden work party with Portland Community Gardens. In fact, it was at a Hands On project that Lydia and Justin first met, while touring the Hillsboro landfill as part of a April Eco Challenge TeamWorks back in 2007.

“Justin and I share a lot of common interests, so volunteering provided us a venue for exploring issues we both find important while getting to know one another better. Meeting for the first time on a Hands On project gave us a way to immediately connect around both the topic at hand (sustainability and environmental stewardship) and our shared value of being involved in the community.”

Lydia believes its only natural that she would meet her significant other through a venue like Hands On.

“Whether it's something done with family, friends, significant others or complete strangers, volunteering connects people. It allows individuals to come together around the common goal of creating stronger communities. The great thing about Hands On is that you're free to focus your time and energy on projects relating to one specific issue or focus, or you can change up where you volunteer as often as you'd like. Throughout our relationship volunteering has definitely been a great way to spend time together while getting out, meeting new people and staying connected to the community.”

We see similar comments in the feedback we receive after projects, as volunteers express excitement at connecting with a like-minded individual, making a new friend, and growing closer to family members through a shared commitment to serve and strengthen the community in which we live.

Next time you sign up for a project, why not invite a friend, bring a family member, or strike up a conversation with another volunteer on the project? You never know what kind of connection you might make!

What’s your Hands On love story? How has volunteering brought you closer to those you care about? We’d love to hear your stories! Feel free to post them in a comment or send your reflections to melia@handsonportland.org

Volunteer Leader Profile: Smart Ocholi

Smart Ocholi joined the volunteer community in Portland in 2007, and was trained by Hands On Greater Portland as a Volunteer Leader last month. Here is the unique story of how he got involved with Hands On.

I am originally from Nigeria and came to the U.S.A. in 2002 through a yearly Visa Lottery program, conducted by the U.S. government, which is expected to bring about 50,000 immigrants from all over the world to the U.S.A. Upon arrival, my wife and I settled in Dallas, Texas, where I joined the U.S. Army in 2002. I was posted to Germany in 2003, and then deployed from Germany to Afghanistan in 2005-2006.

Back in Nigeria, I led and participated in a number of volunteer activities, such as HIV/AIDS awareness programs, road construction and maintenance, community development, and youth mentoring/teaching. Also, while deployed to Afghanistan, I supported and participated in some humanitarian programs, delivering toys, educational materials, and other amenities to the children and adults in the communities around the military bases.

I moved with my family to Portland after more than 4 years of active duty service with the military to work as operations manager for a recycling company. I started seeking out organizations where I could contribute to the development and basic needs of the community around me. That was when I found Hands On Greater Portland and became interested in a number of its programs. Many of the opportunities available through Hands On are similar to the work I did in Nigeria and Afghanistan, and I am anticipating that helping out in Portland will allow me to connect back to that work.

--Smart Ocholi

Partner Spotlight: Operation HOPE

Through several global initiatives and its three principal programs: Banking on Our Future (teaching school children about money), HOPE Coalition America (financial emergency preparedness and disaster recovery), and the HOPE Center Banking Network (loans, bill pay, computer literacy, understanding banking principles) Operation HOPE is leading the “silver rights” movement towards making free enterprise and capitalism relevant to all underserved communities.

So where do you come in?

Banking on Our Future, the financial education program of HOPE, links professionals from around Portland with schools and community groups.

HOPE needs support in teaching our youth about the basics of banking, budgeting, checking and savings, credit and investment. Volunteers are trained to present the material in a fun, engaging and relevant program. They provide a curriculum that is fun and easy to use.

The program runs four hours and is usually broken up into four, one-hour sessions or two, two-hour sessions. Volunteers only accept programs that fit their schedule. You can teach one program or continue to sign up throughout the year.

This is a simple, easy, fun and rewarding opportunity. Youth need this information in order to succeed in life and you can be the one to give it to them.

To help volunteer, click here.

To learn more about HOPE:

www.operationhope.org

Positive Aging Conference: Next Step

Portland: the next Blue Zone?

Join us through our Boomer Initiative as we explore positive aging.

-------

Hands On’s Boomer Initiative, and other partners in Life by Design NW, is building upon the success of a recent aging conference with a Jan. 28 event to further explore positive aging.

The Second Annual Conference on Positive Aging took place at a “sold-out” Marylhurst University this past November. This day-long conference featured many nationally known authors who shared leading-edge concepts and resources, exploring purpose, meaning and vitality in the second half of life. An overwhelming number of conference participants suggested that the Life by Design partners convene more opportunities to further explore positive aging. They expressed a curiosity about how to develop Portland into a Blue Zone -- a geographical area in which the environment, culture and civic structures support individuals in living vital and long lives, filled with purpose, meaning and well-being.

As a result, Life by Design NW will devote its January Coffee and Conversation to reconvene our conference discussion and further envision the possibilities for positive aging.. Other sponsors include Marylhurst University, Oregon Gerontological Association, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Hands on Greater Portland! The event takes place from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute located in the White Stag Building. A $5 donation is appreciated. To register, call 503.731.6650 or email::event@lifebydesignnw.org.

Hands On’s Boomer Initiative helps Boomers and older adults assess their interests in volunteering and connect them with meaningful volunteer opportunities. We will also prepare our non-profit partners to re-tool their volunteer programs to include opportunities that capture the gifts of the 50+ cohort while offering them personal fulfillment and connection. For volunteer and other opportunities, visit our webpage.

Volunteer Leader Profile: Lisa Nelson

1. What was your experience with volunteering prior to Hands On Greater Portland?
I volunteered with my family starting when I was about 5 doing all kinds of different things to help different causes. I was raised to believe service was important and have volunteered throughout my lifetime. Since I've been in Portland I have volunteered with Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Junior Achievement, and several elementary schools (as Classroom aid, reading buddy).

2. How did you get involved with Hands On Greater Portland?
When my husband Shepley and I moved to Portland we were wanting to meet people outside of work so we joined TeamWorks through Hands On Greater Portland. That was a great beginning!

3. What has motivated you to spend your free time helping develop family-friendly volunteer programs?
As parents of 2 kids (ages 6 & 3), we want to pass on the value of helping others to my kids. I believe volunteering has to be fun for both parents and kids to make it a valuable experience the whole family will want to do again and again. I believe there are A LOT of people in Portland that feel the same. I want to help the Family Volunteer program be a great success by creating truly family friendly experiences throughout the family program (great projects, age appropriate education, easy to navigate online, etc.) AND reaching out to families about the great opportunities Hands On Greater Portland provides.

4. How has your experience changed you?
It has given me faith that there are A LOT of families like ours in Portland that want to share the value of helping others with our kids. And that want to make it a fun experience for kids & adults by volunteering with other families with children of similar ages.

5. What's your favorite cause?
There are so many amazing causes out there. That's why I love Hands On Greater Portland, I don't have to choose one. We can volunteer our time to help with a seemingly limitless number that are of interest to me and my family.

6. What has been your favorite Hands On volunteer experience, and why?
TeamWorks. Shepley and I had a great experience - met some great people and had a lot of fun. It is something unique and valuable that Hands On Greater Portland provides - creating community while volunteering to help others.

Heart Of The Community Awards

Please join us Tuesday February 17, 2009 for The Portland Trail Blazers / Hands On Greater Portland Heart of the Community Awards luncheon that celebrates volunteerism and honors outstanding volunteers and volunteer programs. Click here for tickets and more information.

Celebrate MLK Weekend with us!

How are you celebrating MLK weekend?

You may already be hearing the buzz about the MLK Weekend Of Service hosted by United Way of the Columbia Willamette and Hands On. The convergence of MLK weekend with President-Elect Barack Obama’s Inauguration is going to bring thousands of people out to serve and to celebrate in full force. So, are you ready to be part of history on MLK weekend between January 17 and 19th, 2009?

It’s not too early to sign up to sort books for children, toil in community gardens, paint public schools, preserve wetlands, or make care packages for troops (and more!). Want to volunteer in your neck of the woods? No sweat. We have projects in 4 counties.

Find your project here:

While you’re at it, why don’t you find a few friends or family to go out an volunteer with you? We want your volunteerism to be contagious! Spread the word. Let’s make this the biggest MLK celebration of service yet.

See you on MLK Weekend Of Service,
The Hands On team