It’s National Volunteer Week: Thank you to our volunteers!

You share your time, your expertise and your passion. You inspire us and the people around you. And, this community is better because of you. That’s really what it means to LIVE UNITED. In celebration of National Volunteer Week 2010, United Way of Elgin salutes the people who don’t just wear the shirt, they live it. Whether you volunteer for United Way, a local nonprofit, a school or your church, you’re making a difference.  And, thanks to you, we’re creating opportunities for a good life for all.

Celebrate National Volunteer Week by searching opportunities at Elgin-area nonprofits.

Volunteer to help Elgin-area education programs

We at United Way understand the importance of education. As we pointed out last week in our Education Highlight, it’s one of our three main focus areas, and we have several education impact programs and initiatives directed at helping children and youth achieve their full potential.

The recent district education budget cuts are disheartening for all involved, and have truly aimed a spotlight on available education opportunities in our community. We just want to acknowledge that, while the district is currently struggling, a lot is happening in the community to improve education and help children continue to succeed. With the budget cuts, some of the programs United Way of Elgin supports will be needed more than ever. Read up on those education programs we support here.

If you’d like to get involved and volunteer for various community education programs, here are a few current opportunities:

• Help kids with their homework at the Boys and Girls Club after school program.
• Tutor elementary students at the Salvation Army
• Teach basic reading or English as a Second Language at the Literacy Connection
• Be a classroom assistant for One Hope United

You can also donate $30 to sponsor free books for one child for a year through our Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

LIVE UNITED Story Search Concludes

In August, United Way launched the LIVE UNITED Story Search to find an authentic and moving story of how people are living united, right in their very own communities. Participants were asked to submit a short video – no more than 2 minutes – illustrating how they are working to improve the health, income and education of people in their neighborhood.  Participants uploaded their videos to LIVEUNITED.tv and then people voted on their favorites.

After voting by viewers as well as a review process conducted by a panel of experts, including partner teams from McCann Erickson New York and the Ad Council, United Way has found its winner. Ruth Rusie, a 91-year old former teacher, has captured the hearts of voters with her story “90 Years and Still Teaching.” Ruth shared the story of her love for reading with parents and their young children and received the most votes. As the winner, she will be featured in United Way’s national brand advertising in 2010. Learn more about Ruth’s story by viewing the video below or visit our website to see how you can LIVE UNITED in your own community.

New Elgin Volunteer Opportunities: Something for everyone

We’ve recently added several opportunities to our website in honor of Day of Action, the longest day of the year. Our hope is that the community will search for a way they can donate time this summer. And the great news is, the new opportunities that were listed offer something for everyone. Some highlighted opportunities:

For the factfinder, computer types: Internet Research for Grant Writing.

• Non-profit: Ecker Center for Mental Health
• Task: Internet research regarding demographics/incidence of mental illnesses and social issues related to mental illness. Find grants. If you’ve got experience, help write grants.
• Personality: Motivated, curious, detail-oriented. Excited about uncovering/organizing facts.
• Work environment preference: At a desk, anywhere with internet hookup. Directed by grant-writer, but works best when given a task to accomplish alone.

For the heavy-lifter, one-task, group types: Organize storage space.

• Non-profit: Salvation Army Golden Diners
• Task: An empty building has been used as storage, and it needs to be organized. Big, awkward boxes need to be moved.
• Personality: You have a group that likes a hands on task. You like to see the progress of your work as you go. You or someone in your group is muscly.
• Work environment preference: Group-oriented. You want to work, finish, and be done! You prefer hands-on work.

How are you celebrating National Volunteer Week?

April 17-25 is National Volunteer Week, and we at United Way of Elgin would like to encourage you to participate and celebrate! We encourage people to give, advocate, and volunteer all they can, and especially in these economic times, giving your time is sometimes the easiest of the three to do!

We recently read a positive story in USA Today (Positive news? What’s that?) calling the millenial generation the “Civic Generation”. In it, Michael Brown, co-founder and CEO of City Year, which places young mentors in urban schools, says “Community service is part of their DNA. It’s part of this generation to care about something larger than themselves. It’s no longer keeping up with the Joneses. It’s helping the Joneses.”

Wouldn’t that be nice if we could say that about everyone?

However, we believe the people of the Elgin area ARE more likely to step up and help out their neighbors than in a lot of places. We’ve seen it time and again, and especially during the past few years. Local nonprofits get several volunteer inquiries through our website weekly, and often the past several months they have been from people who comment, “I’m recently out of the job, and I have a lot of time to give. I can help your organization in any way.” Imagine that. People finding themselves in a tough situation, and they see it as a chance to help out others who might be struggling.

And even if you just have a few hours here and there to give, it will be greatly appreciated by our local nonprofits. During National Volunteer Week, or anytime. Here are a few ideas for ways to help next week:

• Contact Senior Service Associates and see if there are any local seniors who could use your help on a project at home, or with driving for errands.
• Contact the Crisis Center to see if they need you to pick up food from local restaurants to sort for their pantry.
• Contact Habitat ReStore to see if they need help with any store organization or fixing donations, if you’re handy.
• Contact Kids Hope United to see if they have any outside projects (it’s nice out!) or indoor work projects to help beautify their building.

For more opportunities in Elgin, visit our website.

Elgin people love to live united

We are constantly impressed and proud to be a part of Elgin, where people go out of their way to help others every day. Over the past weekend, the Gail Borden Library held a “Change Your World” volunteer fair,  where 29 non-profits gatheredand distributed information about their volunteer opportunities. And over 400 people showed up to check out the event. Some news coverage about the event is here, including quotes from several participants.

We are impressed, but not surprised. We have people signing up for volunteer opportunities on our site weekly for various opportunities at agencies around Elgin. And mostly the comments that come with the sign ups are, “I want to help. What do you need me to do?” or “I have a small group of people I’d like to bring in. How can we help you?” You all are so willing to give up your time in order to help others. And we just want to say thanks. Thanks for making Elgin a better place to live.

If you have a story about how you live united that you’d like to share, or if you think someone you know should be featured on our blog, let us know by contacting us through the comments or on our site.