National Service Days

We're excited to remind you that we have a few national service days that you need to participate in during your VISTA year! These are fun days for you to get involved and perform some direct service.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day:

The state will be organizing an MLK Day project in January, and we encourage all of you to get involved. I believe it will be a hygiene item drive, and when we have specific details, we will pass them along to you. You are also welcome to do another project for that day or week, and please let me know what your plans are.

AmeriCorps Week:

Another service week during the year will be AmeriCorps Week in May. We will send you more details on our project’s activities in a few months.

Make a Difference Day:

This is coming up on October 23. This is not a required service day for you to participate in, but I wanted to let you know what the Utah County VISTAs are planning for that day. The VISTAs here are planning a Halloween Carnival for the Nebo Legacy Mentoring Program, and it will be held on Friday, October 22 from 5:30-7 pm at Taylor Elementary School in Payson. We will have different booths with games and activities, and the mentoring program will provide pizza. The students who are mentored are in 4^th and 5^th grades and are at-risk youth. This will be a great opportunity for our VISTA members to enjoy some direct service and spend time with the youth. We cannot cover the mileage for our VISTA members outside of the Utah County area to attend, but everyone is invited to participate. If you would like to participate, please let me know!

Welcome!

We'd also like to welcome our newest VISTA members to the Volunteer Empowerment Project. They are:

Deborah
Joseph
Sonali
Malinda
Molly


Thanks for dedicating a year of your life to serve! We're excited to have you work with us.

Thank you and Farewell!

We've had many changes on our VISTA project this past month. We'd like to say thank you and farewell to all of our great VISTAs who finished their terms of service.

Thank you to our wonderful summer associate VISTAs:
Matthew
Samantha
Lee
Jeremy
Sonali
Heather
Kayla

We appreciate all of your great work this summer! We'd also like to thank our full-time VISTA members who completed one year of service to the community:
Rachel
Kristin
Allen
Alyson
Stephanie M.
Stephanie I.





Please keep volunteering with us! We'd also like to give a special thank-you to Kristin, who updated this blog for us this past year. Thanks for keeping us informed and united!

Good luck to all of our former VISTA members!

Vote in the Photo/Video

Take a second to vote for your fellow Americorps members' entries!

Click here to see the finalist photos and videos!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July! Thank you to all of you great VISTAs who work so hard to fight poverty in our country and in our state. You really make a difference. Enjoy your holiday!

Summer of Service

I thought you might like to hear about Summer of Service so far! We have had 4 projects and they have all turned out great!

Our kickoff project was at Provo North Park. We made 11 tree aprons.


Our second project was at Community Action Services and Food Bank. We decorated 96 treat bags for Community Action clients and wrote 25 letters to the troops in Afghanistan.


For our third project, we had the opportunity to help CUCIL (a local nonprofit which helps people with disabilities) at their annual 5K race/fundraiser. We had a lot of fun and the event was a success for CUCIL!


And last, but not least we helped at the Community Garden in Provo yesterday. We were able to weed and water many plots.

Help United Way Win $100,000!

We need your help to win $100,000 for United Way of Utah County! (many of our VISTAs work here or with agencies that are part of United Way)

APX Alarm is hosting a project called APX Gives Back where participants are encouraged to vote for their favorite charities on Facebook. The charities with the most votes will be eligible to win either the grand prize of $100,000 or one of 5 runner-up prizes of $30,000. This means you can help us win part of $250,000 just by voting on Facebook in five simple steps.

We have already made it to the second round and with your help, we have a good chance of winning! Vote for us each day to help us advance the common good of Utah County.

1. Log on to your Facebook account and visit this link

2. Go to the Application

3. Click “Click to Start Voting”

4. Click “Mountain”

5. Scroll down until you find United Way of Utah County and click “vote this charity”

You can vote once a day, every day! Keep voting until August 23, when winners will be announced!

VEP VISTA Training

On June 15, all of the Volunteer Empowerment Project VISTAs gathered from across the state for a VISTA training. Topics included: life after VISTA: resumes and interviewing, strengthening supervisor relationships, evaluation and goal setting, VISTA Barriers, and Influencer training. It was a great day of learning, connecting, and socializing. Here are some photos from the event:

Jeremy, Amy, Stephanie, and Russell

More introductions with Sully, Rachel, Kayla, and Jill:

Barry, Carol, Kristin, and Sonali:

Lunch was a nice break from the training.
Here are Aly and Heather grabbing some pizza:

Lee and Jeremy:

Enjoying lunch outside:

Stephanie and Sonali:

Matt and Jill:

A training discussion between Allen and Jeremy:

Stephanie and Kristin:

Russell and George discussing projects:

Influencer training by Justin from Vital Smarts:

Thanks for your participation! We appreciate all of your great work as VISTAs and hope you will use this information to help you succeed in your projects.

Kick-Off S.O.S. Project

Last Saturday, we had our first Summer of Service project at North Park in Provo. The looming rain forecast made us nervous, but we lucked out! No rain, perfect weather for working outside, yummy food, and most importantly, LOTS of great volunteers. We are excited for the rest of the summer! If you have any ideas of some service projects for youth, let me know!


Look closely at Kristin's face. Quite beautiful.

Hardest workers' award.

Coolest hat award.

Coolest VISTA award. Not!

Volunteering!

Check out the article in the Tribune yesterday! Look closely at the picture and you might see a VISTA. Saturday was a really fun project and we had a great turnout. We'll post a little more about it later, but I just wanted to share the story.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_15302710?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

I think we are all really lucky to work in a state where people find volunteering so important.

Looking for Something to Do This Summer?

Do you think you'll get bored this summer? Even if not, do you want to get involved and do something meaningful with your months in the sun? I have the perfect solution. Summer of Service!

Summer of Service is a summer-long program designed to encourage youth to serve! To learn more, please join our Facebook group or visit our website.

Join us for our kickoff on June 12th!

When: June 12th 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Where:Provo North Park (500 N 500 W Provo)
What: Outdoor park cleanup and party- Pizza will be served and learn about our fun prizes!


Hope to see you there!

Help United Way Win $100,000!

A great thing is going on right now! APX Alarm, a local company, is giving away $250,000, $100,000 being the top prize. The contest is simple. Simply endorse your favorite charity on Facebook and if that charity makes it to the second round you simply just vote for the charity that you would like to see the grand prize. APX is giving the other $150,000 to the runner ups in the contest.

So we need your help! Every endorsement helps us get one step closer to $100,000!

Simply go to Facebook, and click on 'start nominating your charity' and then find United Way of Utah County and click on 'endorse this charity'

Take a second to help support us!

VISTAs in the news

I thought I'd share this news article about Help Me Grow. One of our VISTAs has helped to start this great program. Take a second to read the article and learn about a great program that our VISTAs are working on!

Read it here!

My other blog...

The other blog that I help update is United Way of Utah County's blog. Recently, one of our bloggers posted a really great article that I thought I'd share with you.

Ever worry about balancing your work life with your personal life? Do you feel busy and stressed? Read this post and maybe it will give you a boost.

The post is 7 Tips to Work Life Balance. Happy Reading!

Bowling for Americorps

I am sad Americorps Week is over. We had so many fun activities last week. We should have an Americorps week every week, but I guess that would take the fun out of it.

One of the fun things that we did last week was bowling, "Bowling for Americorps"

Very few of us are talented at bowling, but we still had a ton of fun.

Lisa, our newest VISTA was the champion in our group, bowling a 99!

Action shot!

Carrie, rocking her Americorps shirt

Thanks to Elizabeth (our VISTA alum) for generously providing the pictures!

Getting Things Done for Americorps Week!

The VISTAs in Provo have been busy this week. We are definitely "getting things done". This week we have celebrated Americorps week by setting up a booth at a local grocery store and giving information to customers, giving presentations to local university students and participating in service projects.

Rachel and Stephanie at their booth

On Tuesday we were able to participate in a fun day, completely devoted to Americorps. We started out the day by meeting at the state capitol, where the Lt. Governor signed a proclamtion declaring it Americorps Week.

The group at the Capitol

We then headed over to a local community garden to help weed and give the garden some tlc. Despite the rain and the mud, we were able to do a ton. It was fun to see the difference we made in the garden. We took a ton of pictures also to celebrate the day!

It's Americorps Week!

Happy National Americorps Week! As part of our celebration, I filmed some of our local VISTAs about their projects. Check out what they had to say.





Rachel talking about her project at the South Franklin Community.



Daniel will finish his second year as a VISTA in May. He shared what he would miss most about being a VISTA.

More on Americorps Week!

Finally, the anticipation period is almost over! Next week will be Americorps Week! Earlier I posted about some of the activities that we had planned, but since the the week is fast approaching I thought I'd share a complete and updated list of all the activities that we will be participating in!

(We are also doing some events this week too)

May 4th @ 7 p.m. Springville and Provo City Council Meetings

May 7th @ 3 p.m. Americorps week planning meeting here at United Way

May 11th @ 10:30 a.m. Service project and lunch at the State Capitol

May 11th @ 6:00 p.m. Orem proclamation at the Orem City Center

May 13th @ 7:00 p.m. VISTA Bowling Night at Miracle Bowl (1585 South State St. Orem)

May 14th @ 12:30 p.m. VISTA Potluck Lunch here at United Way

and remember any of your presentations you have that week...

Should be a fun week!!

New VISTA

This week, a new VISTA joined our team at United Way. We are excited to welcome Lisa, our new group volunteer VISTA. She will be working with large group volunteer projects as well as working as a 2-1-1 specialist in the Volunteer Center.

We are excited to have a new face in the office and look forward to working with her.

Here's a picture, so you can put a face with the name!

Americorps Week

Americorps Week is fast approaching! I just wanted to share some of the things that we are planning to do for this week of fun!

We are focusing on raising the community's awareness about the Americorps program. To do this we are focusing on educational events (but of course with a little fun thrown in there too) Some of the things we have planned are:
-Presentations in classes at local Universities (BYU and UVU) and presentations to the a more mature population. We plan on presenting information about Americorps at some assisted living facilities.
-Booths at grocery stores or other locations in Utah County. We hope to share some information with the community at places were they shop and visit.
-Attending city council meetings where the Mayors in Provo, Springville and Orem will sign a declaration, declaring May 10-14 Americorps Week.
-Hang up Americorps signs in stores
-A Thank You breakfast for those who support Americorps programs (United Way of Utah County)
- And finally, a fun bowling night for VISTAs and VISTA alumni

This should be a fun week! Make sure you are ready!

A little of this and that...

Mountainlands Association of Government is looking to hire an Americorps VISTA!

The position: Develop volunteer respite program for Utah County caregivers. Create tools to recruit, screen and train volunteers for respite breaks to primary caregivers. This is a great position for a recent college graduate or a person seeking re-entry employment. Full-time VISTA (1 year)- Health Care-Choice of $5,350 Segal lAmeriCorps Education award or a $1,500 end of service stipend. Contact glehnardt@mountainland.org by May 1, 2010 with a resume and cover letter.


Also, I want to remind everyone that it is National Volunteer Week. Today is reach out to someone. So I encourage everyone to participate. Visit our Facebook page for information on the daily challenges.

National Volunteer Week

This week is National Volunteer Week. To celebrate, United Way of Utah County is asking everyone to participate in a service challenge each day this week. The theme of this week is "Serving Close to Home" They are encouraging simple acts of service to make Utah County a better place.

Participate with us each day this week. Visit our website or Facebook to see our daily challenge!

Have a little fun by celebrating National Volunteer Week with us!

Looking for a Job this Summer?

We are currently looking for Summer Associate VISTAs. Positions are available from St. George to Provo.
Summer associates are "summer" VISTAs who dedicate themselves to service from June 7- August 13.

For more information about the position, visit the listing.

Goodbyes

We will be saying goodbye to another VISTA this week. Elizabeth, who's charge was the Volunteer Care Clinic, will finish up her year of service on Friday, April 16th. Everyone at United Way and the clinic will miss her. We will also now need to find someone new to water our plants.

If you see her before Friday, wish her good luck and a Happy Birthday (which is Friday too)


Thanks, Elizabeth!

VISTA of the Year and Conference on Service

This week I was able to attend the Conference on Service in Salt Lake. This was a great chance for me to be inspired by other VISTAs and by engaged citizens. I also learned a bunch to help improve my project and my experience here at United Way.

Tuesday was mostly for Americorps members. When we arrived at the conference we were overwhelmed by a sea of yellow polos. Later, we found out that all Americorps members had received these yellow polos and had decided to wear them to the conference. I felt quite left out, but I guess VISTAs don't get to have yellow polos. The day was filled with uplifting speeches and then informative breakouts. If you want to know more about what we actually learned. I'd be happy to share with you. (there are too many notes for me to share on a blog post)

Yesterday was also a informative day full of breakout sessions on a myriad of topics from how to engage baby boomers to stress relieving techniques.

The real highlight of the experience was the banquet on Tuesday night. Senator Orrin Hatch spoke to us and then awards were presented. We were so happy to have one of our own, Brian Wayment win VISTA of the year.

Brian with the Senator

No acceptance speech was given (though we would have liked it), but Brian was honored in front of a large crowd and some kind words were read about him as he accepted his award. He also got to pose for some photo ops with the Senator and the Lt. Governor.

We are proud of Brian and all of the VISTAs!

Census Day!

Have you filled out your census yet? Did you know that if you don't fill yours out and send it back, the government has to send someone to your house and count you in person. As you can imagine that would be super expensive. In fact, this could cost us (taxpayers) up to $1.5 billion! So it is worth it to take a second to fill it out and send it back and tell everyone you know!!

This fun site will tell you the participation rate of every area of the country!

Successful Cesar Chavez Day!

Volunteers donated more than 240 hours of service this past Saturday for Cesar Chavez Day. The day was a great success and volunteers helped clean the grounds of one park, one cemetery and one middle school. They also volunteered with the elderly and threw a Easter Egg Hunt for children. Finally, volunteers helped clean up the South Franklin Community Center and helped referee and score keep for a soccer game.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who woke up early and gave their Saturday to improve the community!

Go to United Way's Facebook page to see all of the pictures of the projects!

The hardworking volunteers at Dixon Middle School!

Working hard at the Orem City Cemetery!