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

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