Thanks!

I wanted to thank all the VISTAs who helped recruit Facebook fans. We are now over our goal of 1,000 fans! The little competition was a great success.

I also thought it would be nice to showcase some of the activities we are involved in. Brian has been doing an awesome job at the Angel Tree Warehouse. He has spent many hours sorting and organizing presents and handling volunteers who deliver the gifts! I made a rudimentary video of Brian at the warehouse. He kindly showed us around. If you are interested in seeing what happens behind the Sub for Santa scenes, just check out the video. I apologize for it being sideways. I will work on my editing and filming skills in the future.
The rest of the VISTAs, in United Way's office, have been busy answering Sub for Santa calls and taking donations. It has been fun getting ready for the Christmas season and great to see the generosity of the community. They are really stepping up to help with the all the children and families who need help this year! As of today we only have 92 families left!

Facebook Challenge

Calling all Provo VISTAs! I am issuing a challenge. One of my responsibilities at United Way is to run the Facebook fan page. My goal is to have 1,000 fans before the end of the year. I need your help! Become a fan yourself and suggest it to your friends. It is an easy way to help a fellow VISTA and best of all there will be a great prize for whoever recruits the most fans. The competition will end right before our VISTA party on Friday. Come on Friday ready to report the number of fans you recruit. Thank you for your support and good luck! May the best VISTA win!
Visit our fan page here.

Family Volunteer Day

On November 21st, more than 220 people, some 37 groups and families, gathered together to give service. Raquel Lopez, one of our Provo VISTAs, organized Family Volunteer Day, a national day of service. The day started out with a scrumptious breakfast of pancakes followed by many different service projects. Families helped rake leaves at the cemetery, decorate organizations for Christmas, helped disabled individuals make Christmas cards and decorations, helped build houses and much more. Many VISTAs attended and lent a hand making pancakes, registering volunteers, seting-up and cleaning. It was fun to see so many happy volunteers show up with a positive attitude towards service. It is wonderful that parents were instilling the values of service in their children at a young age. Good job to Raquel for working so hard to pull off this awesome day of service.

VISTAs Charley and Jill busy making delicious pancakes

Stephanie on pancake duty

Excited volunteers

Princesses volunteer too

Making Christmas decorations at TURN

Moving mountans or doors at Rural Housing Development Corporation construction site

To view more photos, please visit us on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=164947&id=48523063337

VISTA IST 2010

Please mark your calendars for the annual VISTA Individual Service Training (IST) Conference! The Conference will be held at the Provo Marriott on January 27-29, 2010. All VISTAs in Utah are expected to attend, and if you cannot, please let Carrie know ASAP. We are very excited for this skill-based training, and the theme is "Tools for Sustainability." Topics include: sustainability, stakeholders, social media, PR, evaluating your project, and more.

Please make sure you register for the conference online by this Friday by click on the following link:
VISTA IST Registration


All food and lodging will be paid for, and gas mileage round-trip will also be reimbursed. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let Carrie know. Get excited for this helpful and fun training!

November in the South Franklin Community Center

Every month the Community Center keeps on growing! More and more people are getting involved in their own community. Last week, there was the first of a series of Neighborhood Leadership Meetings. These meetings are the result of a collaboration between VISTAs and DCFS workers/University of Utah Social Work grad students. The meeting went well, with neighbors discussing what they liked about their community, and what they thought could improve. The second neighborhood meeting will be on Saturday, November 7th at 1:00 pm at the South Franklin Community Center (750 S. 650 W.)

Be sure to check out the community center blog (sfccboulders.blogspot.com) and Facebook Fan Page (South Franklin Community Center) for the November calendar of events as well as for updates on the Thanksgiving activity!

VISTA Project Pipeline

Every month Brian, our benevolent VISTA leader, compiles a newsletter full of tips, ideas and suggestions to help us in our jobs as VISTAs. I thought it would be fun to include parts of the newsletter in our blog.


Retain the One-time Volunteer

Many people this time of year are looking for the “episodic” or “one-time” volunteer experience, however even though this might be the initial desire of the volunteer, consider the following to help your project retain these volunteers:

Be a great place to volunteer, be prepared and make volunteers feel welcome.

Train sufficiently, set expectations and give them a purpose.

Recognize your volunteers!

Carefully screen and match volunteers to organizational tasks.

Be careful in how you supervise and communicate with volunteers, don’t make them feel like they are at their job.

Provide a culture that is welcoming to volunteers and allocate sufficient resources to support them.

Adopt practices that are directly concerned with satisfying volunteers to help you increase your rate of retention.

Brianstorm Opportunities

Brainstorm ideas of new volunteer opportunities. Many organizations get overwhelmed with volunteers, making any available opportunity a hot commodity. Be creative and get ideas from all members of your organization.

Plan Ahead

Think big and think ahead. The holidays are the perfect time of year to try and fill your wish list. Whether you need more volunteers, an in-kind donation or monetary contributions, by planning ahead and making the ask you have a perfect opportunity to tap into the resources in your community.

Get the Word Out

Make sure your volunteer opportunities accessible! Get the word out about how volunteers can help your organization this holiday
season. Use your local volunteer center or the state wide online services to help connect you to volunteers.

Look forward to next month's newsletter as well! Thanks Brian!

Family Volunteer Day

Each year VISTAs are encouraged to participate in several national service days. Family Volunteer Day is a great way to for us VISTAs to get involved in the community that we serve.

This November, Utah County will be among hundreds of communities nationwide participating in Family Volunteer Day. Locally, Family Volunteer Day is hosted by United Way of Utah County and gives families the opportunity to participate in improving their neighborhoods and communities.

“Family Volunteer Day is a chance for families to get together and experience meaningful service,” said Raquel Lopez, youth volunteer outreach AmeriCorps*VISTA with United Way of Utah County. “This is a good opportunity for parents to teach their children the value of service.”

On Saturday, November 21, teams of family volunteers will gather for a pancake breakfast and will then split up to serve in various locations. Projects include helping with home construction for families in need, making and setting up holiday decorations for elderly and disabled community members, cleaning at a special needs day care center and putting together charitable care packages for the children of disabled persons.

“It is neat to see families wanting to teach their children to appreciate what they have,” Lopez said. “It can be hard to find service projects for a whole family, and this creates a day for them to serve together.”

Last year, more than 130 volunteers donated their time to five projects including making stockings for low-income children and putting up holiday decorations at local nursing homes.

“Often volunteer opportunities aren’t designed for families or younger children,” said Brian Wayment, AmeriCorps*VISTA leader with United Way of Utah County. “Typically it is hard to include the whole family. We try to have family-friendly activities that include everyone.”

Projects are geared toward volunteers of all ages and skills to include every family member. Volunteers are assigned to projects depending on their interests and capabilities. Families of all sizes with children of any ages are encouraged to attend. Church and community groups are also welcome to participate in the day’s activities.

“It gives families the opportunity to learn something together,” Wayment said. “Children who learn to serve at a young age are more likely to be involved in their community in one way or another.”

Family Volunteer Day starts with a complimentary pancake breakfast at 8:30 a.m. at Community Action Services and Food Bank (815 S. Freedom Blvd., Provo). Service projects will be from 9:30– 11:30 at various sites from Payson to Orem. Interested families should sign up at www.unitedwayuc.org or call Raquel Lopez at 801-691-5330.

Make a Difference Day

Candy, costumes, pumpkins and spooky fun are all my favorite things about Halloween. I love all holidays. So when we decided to plan a project for Make a Difference Day on October 24th, we naturally wanted to do something centered around the upcoming holiday. We wanted to be able to share all of our favorite things about Halloween with the children of Utah State Hospital. In the end we decided to throw these youth a carnival full of Halloween activities. Doughnut eating contests, pumpkin and face painting, treat-or-treat bag making were just a few of our carnival activities.
We were given the wonderful opportunity to interact with these youth. It was a joy to see the smiles on their faces as they chowed down on doughnuts, glaze covering their faces, and as they sat waiting to have their faces painted. Equally entertaining were the grimaces and looks of disgust when they bravely touched the mysterious contents of the fear factor boxes. While our Make a Difference Day project may not have served a huge part of our community, we still had the opportunity to affect the lives of these select youth even if it was only for a couple of hours. Not only were we able to give service, but it was a great chance for the VISTAs to work together and with our community. Thank you to all who helped make this day a great success.

Stephanie taking care of the pumpkin painting station
Raquel, the face painting artist

The competitive doughnut eating contest
Sarah with her scary and gory fear factor boxes (We miss her already!)

Potraits of Service

Congratulations to this year’s grand prize winners of the Portraits of Service competition!! United Way of Utah County in conjunction with Bryant Livingston Photography, Provo Towne Centre Mall and Community Action Services and Food Bank encouraged high school students throughout the county to give service in their community. As students logged their hours between July 1^st and September 31^st and wrote a service reflection, they became eligible for free senior portraits and electronic prizes. Seventeen-year-old Colton Shumway of Lone Peak High School was the winner of a MacBook Laptop and $400 portrait package from Bryant Livingston Photography. Seventeen year-old Emily Knorr of Timpanogos High School won an iPod Touch and a $300 portrait package. Special thanks to our sponsor APX Alarm for their generous contribution and support of this service-based contest. Join the United Way of Utah County Facebook Group to learn about more service opportunities and competitions!

Grand Prize Winner, Colton Shumway

(Read Service Reflection)

Directed by Raquel Lopez, Portraits of Service was a brand new competition this year. They are hoping to hold the competition again next year, so spread the word about this awesome opportunity and the potential to win great prizes.

Second Place Winner, Emily Knorr

(Read Service Reflection)

The Daily Herald reports on a VISTA project.

http://heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/article_8b103bc4-dca8-5950-9dd2-376eb2628aad.html

Family Volunteer Day!

Family Volunteer day is not too far away! On Saturday, November 21st, families will gather for breakfast and then split off to engage in a variety of service projects throughout the county. For more information or to register your family, contact Raquel López. (rlopez@unitedwayuc.org) 801-691-5330

South Franklin End of Summer Bash!!

The South Franklin Community Center hosted a neighborhood End of Summer Bash at the end of August. It was a huge success!! Tons of people from the neighborhood came to enjoy a free BBQ, carnival games, entertainment and to get information on community resources!

The BBQ portion of the event delicious! We had hot dogs, chips, cookies, and drinks. A very big THANK YOU to Wonder Bread, Costco, Macey's, Harmons, and Community Action Services and Food Bank for your very generous donations!

We had a volunteer DJ who kept the tunes coming while residents visited booths to find out more about programs and activities going on in their community. The following were all there:
-South Franklin Community Center Book Club
-South Franklin Soccer Program
-South Franklin Community Center Health Class
-South Community Center Tutoring
-Centro Hispano
-Provo City Library
-Utah Community Credit Union
-Wasatch Mental Health
-Early Head Start
-BYU ROTC
-United Way of Utah County
-Central Utah Center for Independent Living

There was also lots of fun entertainment! Jump for Joy donated a Combo Bounce House/Slide. Living Legends came and performed four dances!

There was face painting, hair spray-dying, and incredible balloon animals! There was also lots of carnival games!

Thanks to everyone who came, donated, and volunteered!!!

Learn more about what's going on at South Franklin on Facebook! Just look up: South Franklin Community Center! You can also look up our blog: sfccboulders.blogspot.com

Our first training: In pictures and words

My vibrating cell phone woke me from the deep of sleep this morning. Usually completely reluctant to wake up and get ready for the day (I'm not a morning person), I noticed that today rolling out of bed was a little easier. I then considered my evening the night before, full of cooking, going to the gym, studying and shopping, there was no way I got more sleep than the usual night, but then it hit me. I was still enjoying the high from the day before. Not to sound corny or anything, but yesterday I was able to participate in the first semi-annual training for the Volunteer Empowerment Project, and I left feeling a bit more motivated, a bit more excited about my project and a bit more "warm and fuzzy".
Personally I had a great time getting to meet all the VISTAs on our project and to learn from each other and our presenters.
Here is a little recap of what we did:
First, we were able to hear from Ethan Shumway, the Communications Manager of Intermountain Healthcare. He graciously came to teach us all about public relations and how all of us can be more effective communicators in our projects and organizations. He gave a very fun and informative presentation, complete with prizes and handouts.
Next, Brian our VISTA leader, gave us a great presentation to help us brush up on our presentation skills.
Afterwards, we were surprised with a sumptuous lunch from Cafe Rio (props to Brian and Carrie for picking great food)
With full bellies, we were then able to go back to things we learned earlier in the day and practice our presentations skills. Everyone did a great job, and I think we all managed to learn important imformation with a laugh or two in between. I apologize to everyone for my group's less than polished improv act.
Lastly, with cookies in hand, we learned some important aspects of leadership.

Thank you to all that participated and especially to Brian for creating this awesome training. I hope everyone got as much out of training as I did and returned to work today armed and ready to take on the world, or if not at least their project!

Utah Comission on Volunteers

The Utah Commission on Volunteers has a new facebook page!

The commission has a theory that if you keep a community informed of service efforts there will be a better buy in from the general citizens of the community.

I invite all the VISTAS that have facebook to become a fan of the page and give us feedback on how well you think we are, or are not, keeping our communities informed.

Please follow us to keep updated on the state commission. The commission is home to 4 Americorps members 3 of who are Vistas. Our central goal is to promote and use volunteerism as a strategy to improve communities through service. you can reach the commission by emailing me directly at jwhudspeth [at] utah.gov.

Utah Commision on Volunteers

Promote Your Page Too

Day of Caring

Yesterday, as a VISTA working with United Way of Utah County, I got the opportunity to participate in one of their huge service projects called Day of Caring. More than a thousand volunteers participated to improve their community. It was amazing to me how much work went into a huge project like this, it was fun, exciting and even stressful at times (and I had no real assignments)
I was assigned to the Mountainlands Head Start location in Pleasant Grove. I had a great group that were excited to help out and make a difference in the community. The volunteers did everything from weeding and cleaning playground equipment to coloring educational kits. Armed with hoses, volunteers even sprayed down the building and climbed all over the roof sweeping off the leaves and debri, just to make the building look as clean as possible for the first day of school next week. Even though I didn't do much work myself, my experience was so rewarding. I loved seeing the volunteers taking initiative and making a project their own. I loved seeing the improvement to the building and the grounds afterwards, but my favorite part of all was seeing the gratitude of the director of the Head Start. Seeing that we really had helped her that day, something that she didn't know how she would accomplish on her own, was surprisingly moving. I hope that the volunteers had as good of an experience as I did, and I hope that they realized that they really did a service that day that was greatly appreciated and won't be forgotten soon.

The BBQ in Pictures

BBQ at The Boulders

Smiling faces, Polynesian dancers and hotdogs were just a few things seen at the wonderfully successful BBQ held last night at the Boulders Housing Complex in South Provo. Hosted by the South Franklin Community Center, this BBQ attracted neighbors, community members and volunteers alike. Some of our VISTAs worked very hard to pull off this event. Everyone who came out enjoyed games, entertainement and good food. From performances by the Living Legends dancers, to carnival-like games for the kids, to skateboarding for the teens, there was something for everyone. The BBQ was not only loads of fun and games, but it also provided many educational materials to the participants. With booths set up by Early Head Start and Provo Library, just to name a few, those in attendance were able to learn more about what is happening locally in the community and about programs they can participate in.