AVSO VolunTEENS

Pizza at VolunTEENS tomorrow!

2010-05-18T16:20:00.000-04:00

VolunTEENS will meet at our usual place, usual time! We have a lot to discuss, so hope to see all of you there! BTW, grab a friend or two and bring them along - this means you!

Invite friends to follow this BLOG! Volunteer to contribute to the BLOG! Not busy this summer? How about SummerTEENS? Earn credit toward your honors diploma by volunteering at local organizations! Great thing to add to your resume down the road.....

VolunTEENS meeting, May 5th!

2010-05-04T14:03:00.000-04:00

Hey, folks! We will be having our weekly VolunTEENS meeting from 5:45-7:45 at the Albion District Library in their Naomi Lane Room on May 5th (Wednesday).

One of our mentors is leaving town for the summer, so come by to see her before she heads home from college! We will be having a little more than cookies for snacks this time- how does pizza sound? Let's celebrate what Kye has done for us in getting the VolunTEENS program back on its feet!

We will also be continuing to get things ready for our canned food drive- we'll get updates on the most needed donations, we'll work on our publicity, and we'll get things ready to go! There are also two local volunteer activities to sign up for and updates to be had for AmeriCorps week.

Come on by to join the fun! If you're not a member of the VolunTEENS yet, grab an application at the meeting!

Local Volunteering Opportunities

2010-05-04T13:55:00.002-04:00

There are two local volunteer opportunities coming up in the Albion community over the next few weeks that are very suitable to group involvement.

Firstly is the May 8th placement of flags on the graves of veterans at Riverside Cemetery. That begins at 8am and there will be coffee and donuts for volunteers before we begin. If you have any questions about this event, contact Dick Porter at 629-2774.

The second upcoming opportunity is the Citizens to Beautify Albion flower planting on May 15th starting at 9am. Volunteers pick up flowers from 933 W. Erie St. There is a free picnic for volunteers at Victory Park at noon following the planting. For more information about this opportunity, or to volunteer, contact Cris Solis at 629-5316 or Janice Best at 629-4934.

Members of the VolunTEENS are being encouraged to participate in one or both of these local opportunities.

Making Progress

2010-05-04T13:54:00.000-04:00

Though we had low attendance at our previous VolunTEENS meeting, we did get a few things worked out for our Food Drive. The youth began working out what needed to be on our publicity fliers and they revisited the list that they had first made of places to try to post their fliers. We also brainstormed what things we would need on the day-of at our table. All in all, we got some very important things taken care of.

VolunTEENS meeting, April 28th!

2010-04-26T09:17:00.000-04:00

The AVSO VolunTEENS will be meeting at the Albion District Library (Naomi Lane Room) from 5:45pm - 7:45pm on April 28th.

We're going to doing more planning for our food drive and talking about some local volunteer opportunities. Come on by and join the fun- if you haven't applied to the program yet, come on by and pick up your application!

Food Drive Progress!

2010-04-26T09:08:00.000-04:00

At the April 21st VolunTEENS meeting, we had a lot of fun and we got a lot done. We started off the meeting after a diversion down to the children's room at the Albion District Library to make ice cream. With that taken care of, we got down to business- our icebreaker game! This week, we played the 5Ws+H game. In this game, participants right Who What Where When Why and How down the left side of their paper, leaving enough space between each to fold the paper back so they can hide what they write for any given category. Once this is done, participants in the game write down a "Who" and then fold back that part of the page. They then pass the paper to the next person around the circle and fill in a "What" on the paper passed to them. The game continues in this fashion until all categories are filled. Because no participant knows what was written on the page previously (unless they end up with their own back, which happens in small groups), the sentences that result are usually quite silly. Some of the ones we came up with are:

The talking Mercedes wrestled a shark while eating soup under the bleachers because people were singing with pepper and salt.
The Queen of England ate pickles at the zoo at 6:35 on a Sunday because she saw a flying pig with a lollipop.
President Obama ran into a vat of peanut butter and pickles next to the gym at the sunset because the clock broke with Santa.

As you can see, these don't always make much sense, but they are really funny when read out-loud and the result is always laughter. This game was such a hit that we played it at two separate times during our meeting (once at the beginning and once at the end) it has been requested again for this upcoming week.

After we got some of our sillies out, we moved on to planning our food drive. We decided on a pair of dates and the times for those dates. We will be putting together our publicity plan and talking about how we are going to go about our actual collection when we meet this week.

Dates, Times, and Collection Locations:

May 22nd, Saturday

3:00pm - 8:00pm, Corner of Porter and Superior Street (downtown Albion)

May 23rd, Sunday

1:00pm - 6:00pm, Family Fare (Albion)

Start planning to make a donation, we're going to be sending the food to AIM so all the donations we get stay local and help local people. Keep a watch on this blog and keep an eye out for our publicity for more details and for suggestions as to what donations are most needed.

Want to get involved? Contact AVSO at 517-629-5574 or albionvolunteers@gmail.com, or stop by the VolunTEENS meeting Wednesday evening to fill out an application.

Earth Day at Harrington

2010-04-26T08:49:00.000-04:00

The VolunTEENS lent a hand on Friday to Harrington Elementary students during their playground cleanup. The Harrington students we worked with seemed enthusiastic about their cleanup and were a delight to work with. We are very grateful for the opportunity to be guests at this event.

Loss

2010-04-26T08:45:00.000-04:00

Last week, the Albion Community lost a great person- Mr Allen Jackson Sr. Mr Jackson's memorial is today, Monday, April 26th, at 11am at Goodrich Chapel.

Though I did not know him, I can tell by the lives he touched that he was a great man. Remember the love he shared and if you need someone to talk to, I'm here to listen.

~A.

Meeting: April 21st!

2010-04-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

Just a friendly reminder that our weekly meeting is April 21st, 5:45-7:45 at the Albion District Library in the Naomi Lane room.

We'll be talking about:
Volunteering at Harrington Elementary for Earth Day
AmeriCorps Week
Our Food Drive! This will take up the majority of our time this meeting. Our VolunTEENS have been doing fabulous work getting this food drive together and I am looking forward to hearing what they have to say this week as we continue working on this event.

Have a fabulous day and I hope to see a good group of folks Wednesday night! If you can't make it right at the beginning of the meeting, don't fret, come when you can.

~Anna.

"Don't be greedy, help the needy!"

2010-04-15T13:04:00.002-04:00

The title of this post is the phrase our VolunTEENS used last night to describe our upcoming food drive- pretty catchy, isn't it?

Last night, we had a very productive VolunTEENS meeting with a fabulous group of four of our youth. We put together a rough plan for our canned food drive and then started looking at who we would have to contact to make this a success and how we could advertize. Once we had a basic plan, the teens gave me some homework- to contact the Food Bank of South Central Michigan to see how we needed to go about getting the food to them.

The youth also made thank you cards and pictures for the library and delivered them to the librarians after our meeting. This morning, Colleen Virge, library director, thanked us for thinking of them and told us that the librarians really enjoyed the notes made by our VolunTEENS.

We also talked briefly about my AmeriCorps week project- more information on that to come as we get closer!

So keep an eye on this site as we get the ball rolling and start making big impacts on the community in and around Albion.

Look for more information about the food drive as we get planning- we meet again:
Wednesday, April 21st
5:45 - 7:45
at the Albion District Library, Naomi Lane room.

~Anna.

Meeting- This Week!

2010-04-12T13:35:00.000-04:00

Hello, hello, hello!

We have a VolunTEENS meeting this week, April 14th, from 5:45 - 7:45pm at the Albion District Library.

Want a sneak peek at what we'll be talking about? Here it is!

We've got some local volunteer opportunities coming up, one of them at Harrington Elementary!
Global Youth Service Day is just around the corner- come to find out how our area teens can be a part of this world-wide event!
Want to learn more about AmeriCorps (the program that Anna's here through)? Well AmeriCorps week is in May, just a month away! We'll talk about the service project she wants to put together to celebrate all the folks in service to America!
It's National Library Week! Let's thank our librarians for all the fabulous things they do for us- including letting us have our VolunTEENS meetings in the library!

All that, plus the chance to socialize with your peers and grab a few cookies while we chat!

Want to be a part of the group, but can't make it on Wednesdays? My AmeriCorps e-mail is wiescho1@msu.edu and you can always call the office and let us know (517-629-5574). We'd love to keep you up-to-date on our projects and anything you can do to help!

Have a fabulous Monday- hope to see you on Wednesday!

~Anna.

We're Back!

2010-04-07T11:23:00.002-04:00

Hey, folks!

The VolunTEENS are back and we're gearing up for our first service project! We are meeting TONIGHT at the Albion District Library (5:45pm! We will have snacks!) to discuss the details for a food drive we're hosting- stay tuned for details!

~Anna.

Need help Saturday

2007-04-20T14:49:00.001-04:00

This Saturday the volunteer center is looking for some help to cleanup, paint, garden, and stuff to Holland Park. A few weeks ago we went out and picked up trash all over the site - this time we're going to plant flowers, pick up more stuff, and paint some of the equipment. The more help, the better.

Holland park is located on Cass and Albion Street.

It is this Saturday, 12 (noon) to 3pm.

If you come, bring a friend and/or some gardening tools.

Hope to see you there!Also, seniors, don't forget to pick up VolunTEENS applications from the High School office (or shoot me an email to pick one up here at the volunteer center).

Best,

Matt

Stuff.........

2007-01-17T09:25:00.000-05:00

So Saturday, evidently, was not a good day for us to meet. Only 1 person showed up to our January meeting. Not a good sign.

Before the meeting, I was very happily preparing things for us to discuss, some handouts on volunteerism (statistics and the like), making lists of volunteer projects, sign up sheets, and I even ordered 3 pizzas because last time we didn't have enough pizza! But alas, I got burnnnneeeddd. Nobody showed except for Jasmine.

So there's a definite problem here. Whoever thought it would be a great time to meet on a frozen Saturday night at 7pm has issues. I propose that from now on we meet AT the High School after school. Does anyone second that motion?

Now on to some Volunteer Opportunities:

Flyers to Hand Out - The volunteer center needs one or two volunteers to pass out information to local businesses. It is just a newsletter and another paper to inform local businesses of a couple WALL MURALS that are going to be done here in Albion by a local artist. Cool stuff - simple task. Will take maybe 1 hour.
Any takers?

AVSO Surveys - The AVSO is conducting a local survey to determine how we can best serve the community. The survey is brief (takes less than 30 seconds to fill out) and we're looking to get feedback from as many communities as we can. I'd like to formally ask any VolunTEENS to take some of these surveys into your classrooms and ask some friends, teachers, etc.. If you could, it would be a HUGE help to us!

If interested in either of the above,

Email me at vistamatt@gmail.com, msg me on MySpace or call the AVSO at 629-5574.

Best,
Matt

Meeting Tomorrow

2007-01-12T14:32:00.000-05:00

7pm at the Volunteer Center.

On the agenda:

1.) Parent Night

2.) Cardboard classic

3.) Volunteer Center surveys

4.) Volunteer opportunities

5.) Discussion of "Volunteerism: what it means to you"

As always pizza and drinks will be served!

See you there.

Matt

January Meeting

2007-01-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

We'll be having a meeting on January 13th and we'll be discussing "Parent's Night" for VolunTEENS. Good stuff. I'll post the agenda soon.

I hope everyone had a good New Year and a safe holiday and all that jazz.

-Matt-

P.S - Does anyone ever look at this? Let me know if you read this...

Canned Goods

2006-12-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

The Albion Volunteer Service Organization is sponsering a family for Christmas through the Albion Interfaith Ministries (AIM). I think it would be great for the VolunTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENS to help out. What do you think? Should be simple enough to bring in some canned goods here to the office and put them in a box...

Also, this is a reminder that there is a meeting on Saturday at 7pm. This is a perfect time to bring in some canned stuffs.

See you then!

Peace out.

Cardboard CLASSIC....

2006-11-29T12:19:00.000-05:00

We're meeting December 9th (that's a Saturday) to discuss some things. But most importantly, we're going to be discussing the CARDBOARD CLASSIC! Yeeehawwww. Can you imagine us building a LUGE out of cardboard? As Jean-Claude Van-Damm likes to say "I look forward to it."

Upcoming Agenda

2006-11-07T10:41:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone:
This weekend we will be doing a Soup Kitchen BLITZ instead of having a monthly meeting. We'll be trying something a little bit different - less meetings, more action! I'd like to start this month strong by getting at least 5 or 6 of us out together to volunteer at the Soup Kitchen this weekend. Soup Kitchen is Saturday from 4:30 - 7. Towards the end of the week, I'll be calling you to recruit you to come out. If you have trouble with transportation, I can arrange that to be taken care of.

I'll keep you posted on here about future activities. For now, let's just start simple.

Peace out!

-Matt-

Pavilion painting is AXED

2006-10-27T11:45:00.000-04:00

Okay, so because it is so cold, we're going to be leaf raking and doing community cleanup instead of painting the pavilion. The new plans are as follows:

Meet @ the AVSO @ noon and we'll organize from there

AVSO = 203 S. Superior St. between Citizens and the Bohm

See you there!

October Meeting Change

2006-10-20T12:15:00.000-04:00

The VolunTEENS meeting for October is tomorrow, October 21st, at 12:00pm (noon). Please note that the meeting time has been adjusted.

See you all there!

VolunTEENS meeting time adjustment

2006-10-20T11:52:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, Saturday October 21st at Noon is when the meeting is. Be there.

Development Team Schmevelopment Team...

2006-10-09T10:59:00.000-04:00

Alright, so we're going to try something a little new. We're going to institute a Development Team in the VolunTEENS group. The Development Team will consist of several elected members of the VT group who will assume a majority of the leadership and organizing responsibilities. In essence, they are in charge of "Developing" the VolunTEENS group by giving their input directly, instead of having to rely on me for all the answers.

Below is a list of positions for the Development Team:

Development Manager

Development Assistant(s)

Volunteer Opportunities Coordinator

And here is a picture of a would-be member of our Development Team:

We're jammin' now, mon.

-M

... It is happening.

2006-09-27T11:50:00.000-04:00

What? Pavilion Painting

Where? Victory Park

Why? Make a Difference Day

Date? Saturday October 28th

Time? 10am until whenever

What will it look like?

THIS!:

oh SNAP that looks great.

No soup for you....

2006-09-22T09:16:00.000-04:00

This Saturday (tommorow) begins THE SOUP KITCHEN... AGAIN!

So, just a reminder that this is an excellent and fulfilling volunteer opportunity that is recurring throughout the year. Technically, it is open at 5pm, but if you'd like to show up early and help set up, you can be there as early as 3:30 and stay as long as you need to. The location is Saint James Church @ 119 W. Erie St. and the Phone # is 629-8710. Perry says that he will be there, but sadly, I cannot because I have some prior committments.

Best wishes -

-M-

Let's Get Ready to Rumbleeeeeee!

2006-09-12T11:52:00.000-04:00

For the two of you that actually visit this site, It. Has. Happened. That's right - The VolunTEENS of Albion are now adventuring into MySpace!

Que the music. A new era has dawned.

http://www.myspace.com/109342794

Enjoy.

P.S - The MySpace account was created about... 4 minutes ago, so don't be upset if there is nothing in the profile yet. It'll get jazzed up. Give it time.

Can you dig it?

-Matt

Youth Legislative Day....

2006-09-01T11:05:00.000-04:00

An event is being held Friday, October 13th 2006 where actual Michigan students are "given the opprtunity to introduce bills, hold committee meetings and debate actual legistlation on the Floor of the House of Representatives. Through participation in these activities, youth from around the state have gained a heightened awareness of public policy in an effort to stimulate their further interest in civic involvement. This year's event will focus on a variety of issues affecting youth (i.e. health, education, after-school programs, etc.), and will take place ... at the State Capitol Building in Lansing."

I think this would be a totally excellent event to take part in for VolunTEENS from Albion. So, more discussion on this event will take place at our first meeting for the Fall on Saturday September 9th. Remember, there will be pizza!

Because of a the registration deadline for Youth Legislative Day, we must determine who is going to the Capitol in our September meeting.

Who would want to miss going to Lansing on ... Friday THE THIRTEENTH of October?

This could be you guys on that day:

So DO NOT miss this awesome chance to do what our founding fathers did so bravely: argue amongst themselves for hours upon end =)

Peace,

-mm

Pizza and A New Face.....

2006-08-30T11:26:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone, my name is Matt and I will be co-operating with Perry with VolunTEENS for the next year. To introduce myself and prepare the VolunTEENS for the upcoming year we will be having a Pizza Party on Sepember 9th at 7:30pm right here at the AVSO Headquarters. So...show up, have a little food, and let's kick off the Volunteering for the year on a high note.

Best wishes!

-mm

VolunTEENS Meeting.....

2006-08-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

Our next VolunTEENS meeting is going to be this

Saturday August 19th at 11 am at the volunteer center.

We haven't gotten together for awhile so I think it's pretty important that we do so.

There are a few things that we have to do for the back to school celebration to help out.

I'll see y'all there,

- pt

Girls Only.......

2006-08-07T13:34:00.000-04:00

Awhile back I made a post about starting a Girl Talk chapter in Albion.

Now I'm happy to report that, with the help of a few community members, that idea has picked up a lot of steam.

So if any girls are interestd are being involved in this program, please let me know and I can give you as much information as I have right now.

peace,

- pt

Big shout out....

2006-08-07T13:30:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give a big shout out to Josh and Jason Westbrook who joined me at Miss Hanke's apartment on Saturday morning.

Cutting the grass, pulling weeds and taking down trees with our bare hands definetely wasn't an easy job but it was one that had to be done.

Thanks guys!

- pt

Need some help........

2006-07-31T14:38:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Hanke, an old lady suffering from various diseases and ailments needs some help this weekend to clean up her lawn.

She has recently recieved a notice from the city warning her of fines if she doesn't clean up the yard.

Due to her physical conditions she is unable to clean up the yard and has therefore requested our help.

We will be helping Mrs. Hanke, this Saturday August 5 at 10 am on 706 S. Superior Street.

We need as much help as we can get.

I hope to see you there.

- pt

Volunteer Center and Johnson's goto the zoo.....

2006-07-17T15:09:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday July 11th the kid's from Johnson's Day Care and the staff from the Albion Volunteer Center went to Binder Park Zoo. Below are the pictures from our little trip.

A big thank you goes out to Adrian Brown who was kind enough to take all these great pictures.

- pt

VolunTEENS MEETING - July 15/2006

2006-07-05T09:41:00.000-04:00

Since I haven't recieved any feedback about the blog, I have no idea if any of your are actually seeing it or not. So I'm going to choose to be ignorant and continue to post on our website.

Our next VolunTEENS meeting is going to be on Saturday July 15 @ 11 am @ the volunteer center.

Make sure you wear comfortable, disposable, "paint clothes" because we will be decorating a wooden rocking chair. The chamber of commerce is conducting a program where the downtown shops are being asked to decorate chairs and put them on display during the festival of the forks. So basically, I think we should do it.

We will also be discussing:

- Girl talk

- Telephone Reassurance Program

- Youth grants

- NAACP Career Workshop

I hope everyone (or atleast a couple of you) can come. I haven't seen a lot of you in awhile and because of that we haven't been able to do much.

Give me a shout or stop by at the volunteer center anytime during the day.

Peace,

- pt

Little people help water plants

2006-06-21T10:38:00.000-04:00

So yesterday (June 20th) we had the students(othere wise known as little people) from Johnson's Day Care walk over to the volunteer center so they could help water the plants on superior street.

The kids had an absolutely great time (so did I).

I want to thank Adrian Brown, Sydney Downy and Lindsey Ohma for volunteering to help out with the kids.

Enjoy the pictures.

GIRL TALK.....

2006-06-19T09:08:00.000-04:00

Last week I got some information on this new program that's becoming pretty popular all across America. I apologize to all the guys out there, but this programs is called Girl Talk.

Basically, it's a middle school-high school mentoring program for girls. I'm going to copy the description and paste it below. I reccomend that some of our female VolunTEENS take a serious look at it and considering taking it up as an initiative for the upcoming school year. We don't have to follow things exactly as they are written below but we can talk about that later. Let me know what you think.

GIRL TALK

Description

- Girl Talk is FREE to any female high school leader that truly wants to make a difference in her school and community.
- Girl Talk chapters can be started anywhere - in your school, in your community, in any city or state.
- It is a student-to-student mentoring program that pairs middle school girls with high school girls.
- The high school girls meet weekly with the middle school girls to listen and to offer support.
- All of the information that a “new” leader needs to start a chapter can be found in the “Girl Talk Handbook.”
- The Girl Talk Handbook was designed to include step-by-step instructions to create and successfully run a Girl Talk Chapter. The handbook also includes many ideas, how-to’s, and fun games for the high school girls to use for their Girl Talk Chapter Meetings.
- The middle school girls are able to communicate their concerns, problems, and/or exciting news through the Girl Talk anonymous question box.
- The girls will all agree on a safe place to put the question box that will be available throughout the week. (Ex. Teacher’s Classroom, School Library, Counselor’s Office, etc…)
- The anonymous question box serves as a tool/reference for the high school girls and gives them topics to address in their weekly meetings with the middle school girls.
- In addition to the positive and fun weekly meetings, Girl Talk‘s mission is to empower young females, to promote self-esteem, and teach them the importance and value of community service.
- Each chapter requires an adult advisor to be present at ALL Girl Talk chapter meeting and events. This person can be the middle or high school’s guidance counselor, a favorite teacher, a female coach, a mom, a female college student or even an aunt! The ideas are endless!
- Each high school leader(s) is asked to sign Girl Talk’s Leadership Contract and it is the responsibility of the chapter’s adult advisor to make sure each leader fulfills her duties as a Girl Talk leader.
- Girl Talk is designed to reach ALL middle school girls! Therefore we welcome non-traditional chapters as well. Girl Talk currently has home school chapters, athletic teams chapters (ex. ---Dance teams, basketball teams, softball teams, etc) youth groups, and Girl Scout groups. We encourage high school girls to think outside the box if their school will not allow Girl Talk meetings to take place before or after school.
- Girl Talk’s Web site is always growing! We want to keep Girl Talk leaders, parents, teachers, administrators, and sponsors up to date about important information and statistics that relate to middle school girls as well as all of the exciting news about Girl Talk and the great things leaders are doing everywhere!
- We quarterly feature outstanding Girl Talk leaders from across the country who are making a difference in their communities on our Web Site. We do this not only to honor the Girl Talk Leaders, but we hope that their stories will inspire other girls to become leaders and we hope that it will also inspire current leaders to be even better!
- Our goal is to have Girl Talk in all 50 states by 2010 and with your help we know we will reach it!

Skills

- These are the five major expectations of a Girl Talk leader. Committing to being a leader in your community is a huge responsibility, and is not something you should take lightly. We suggest you re-read the Leadership Expectations section of the Girl Talk web site and review the main points below. Take time to truly think about this. If you believe this is something you really want to commit to, you will be one step closer to becoming an official Girl Talk leader in your community!
- I AM a female high school student (grades 9-12).
- I WILL commit to one weekly meeting with middle school girls as well as putting in at least one hour of preparation for that week’s Girl Talk with the other leader(s).
- I WILL commit to doing at least 10 hours of community service each semester OUTSIDE of being a Girl Talk leader. I understand that I can choose to do this alone, with the other leaders, or my chapter as a whole can come up with a community service project to meet this requirement.
- I AM responsible for keeping my chapter’s adult sponsor fully informed about events, my community service hours, and any ideas or changes I’d like to make in our weekly meetings.
- I WILL be a positive role model and a community leader at all times. I know that I will have to hold myself to high standards and that as a Girl Talk leader, any bad decisions I make will not only affect me but my reputation as well.

VolunTEENS Website!!!!!

2006-06-16T09:58:00.000-04:00

WOW! Look at this! This is the VolunTEENS very own website!

I don't know what this whole blogging thing's about so some you avid internet users may have to help me out.

Basically, due to the lack of participation at VolunTEENS meetings, we were looking for new way to keep communication open all the time rather than only twice a month with the newsletter and meeting.

Hence, the blog.

I know everybody absolutely loves using the internet so hopefully the VolunTEENS blog will be a daily stop for all you internet junkies.

I will be updating this blog with as much information as possible but your feedback is absolutely necessary. So please respond, comment and question any of the posts and information that is put on this site.

This tool can only work if you guys respond to it.

- PT