Posted March 20th, 2009 by admin
Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
Given the fact that we had a 9 PERCENT INCREASE in this year’s campaign, we had a lot to celebrate!
We wrapped up our 2008-2009 campaign with a $5.9 million total. We celebrated this with the many, many people who made this happen at our Experience Event last week.
Our thanks goes to the people, businesses, civic organizations, volunteers, really, the ENITRE community, who made this happen. We’re not surprised that the people of Treasure Valley would dig deep to give to their neighbors in need in this down economy. What we are is very honored and proud that more than 12,000 people chose United Way to make a difference.
Posted February 24th, 2009 by admin
Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
Every Thursday night you can find 15 high school kids at United Way taking time from their very busy schedules of school, college searches, music lessons and soccer practice to invest two hours of brain power to plan Break Through with Farmway Village, this year’s alternative spring break project. In addition to the 30+ hours they have already invested, these students will spend two full days of their spring break getting down and dirty creating community gardens, renovating housing units, fencing a basketball court, painting and doing trash pick up. This is tough stuff; we’re talking about breaking up concrete and hauling it away with wheelbarrows and buckets. Like that.
Which might lead you to ask–who does that? What high school kid, already juggling a hundred responsibilities, spends every Thursday night talking about sponsorship needs and concrete cutters?
These are kids like Mara Truslow. Mara is a senior at Riverstone International School. Mara is completely and totally dedicated to service, and not because she’s building her resume, but because, in her words, “What else is there?”
It is this spirit that helped seperate Mara from 350 other candidates to be selected for the Ingram Scholarship, a full tuition scholarship at Vanderbilt University, specifically for students showing and outstanding commitment to service and volunteerism. This scholarship is just the next step for Mara, who will go on to create, serve and lead people in ways that make the world a more livable place for everyone.
I am honored to know Mara, just as I am honored to know the rest of these amazing students who are giving so much of themselves, many just for the fun of doing it. This is one of the coolest parts about being a part of United Way–there’s a lot to do out there, and a lot of different ways to do it. And I think we’ve struck gold with the alternative spring break project and the process of planning it.
My thanks and admiration to Kylie, Maddie, Karl, Adam, Monica, Ali, Carol, Daniel, Janelle, Linda, Lucas, Shannon and Tamara. It is an honor to work with you.
Posted January 28th, 2009 by admin
Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
United Way was contacted on Christmas Eve day by the Idaho for Obama folks who were looking to create an unprecedented participatory inauguration. They wanted to capture the enthusiasm surrounding the historic event and direct it into service to the community. So the Treasure Valley, along with thousands of other communities, got busy directing people’s good will and excitement into a massive volunteer workforce that would go to work improving things right in our own neighborhoods.
United Way is uniquely qualified to pull off such an event; we have fantastic partnerships with dozens of non-profit agencies, businesses, and civic organizations. We also have the technology to organize, manage and promote the event through the Volunteer Center website. But still. We were shooting for projects for hundreds of volunteers with less than two weeks to plan them. It seemed like a Volunteer Impossible assignment.
But you know what happened? Ten different agencies throughout the Treasure Valley leapt up to the plate and pulled together 14 different projects that would take place on Martin Luther King Day, the day before the inauguration. And so, with just two weeks to organize, these agencies found themselves host to more than 250 volunteers who sorted food donations, painted buildings, performed maintenance at facilities, spent time with Veterans and donated blood. And the best part? About 90 percent of these volunteers were first timers. And that’s awesome.
Posted December 19th, 2008 by admin
Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
This week we marked a momentous achievement for our community–the announcement of the signing of a joint powers agreement to build, fund and provide for the operation of a community detox center.
The need for a detox center has long been recognized, but what it took to make the vision a reality seemed too large of a project for any one entity to take on, which is where United Way’s unique position in the community could be of greatest service. As a convener, United Way could pull together our friends in the business community, the human services sector, elected officials and state agencies to come to the table and stay there until we had a plan.
We stayed at that table for almost a decade. The project required intricate funding and operations planning for it to be successful and sustainable. And now, because of that commitment, the visionaries of this vital community service will see groundbreaking in April, 2009 on a 9,200 square foot facility that will begin operation in 2010.
The detox center is a testament to the caring power of this community, and at United Way, we are very proud to be a leader in service to this community that knows what it means to give back. Thanks, Treasure Valley.
Posted December 2nd, 2008 by admin
Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
Holiday business is booming in the non-profit sector. Agencies are working seven days a week in a flurry of need, generosity, food boxes, coats, cots and cookies.
It’s a good time of year to be employed in this field. It keeps you honest, humble, thankful. The human condition is played out so visibly this time of year–hope, care, love, suffering, need–at every turn there’s something that reminds you that life can be simultaneously unpredictable, tragic and glorious.
In a time of such economic insecurity, it’s no surprise that need is up dramatically. The Salvation Army gave away a record 204 food boxes last week, with 30 percent of them going to people accessing services for the first time. The Boise Rescue Mission tells us that the line for dinner goes out the dining room and down the hall. At their City Light Shelter for women and children, they are providing emergency housing for two families who recently lost their house after the primary wage earner was laid off. In the last month they’ve provided emergency housing services to three infants, one of them just a few days old.
Times are tough, but people are tougher. This year I have seen such incredible examples of people who faced unexpected tragedy and hardships who, with the help of others, are moving forward and into a better lot in life.
Which is why I feel so lucky every time the phone rings. Nine times out of ten the person on the line is calling to help. Often they are looking for a volunteer opportunity their whole family can do together. In the last six weeks alone I have set up group volunteer projects at the Idaho State Veteran’s Home, Idaho Botanical Gardens, Boise Samaritan Village, Boys and Girls Club, Life’s Kitchen, Ronald McDonald House, Idaho FoodBank, Taft Elementary, Boise Rescue Mission and Agency for New Americans. Volunteers are everywhere, doing just about anything asked of them. It is a remarkable display of the caring power of our community.
So this holiday season, a season that is also overshadowed by economic insecurity, consider an investment in service. Ring a bell, serve a meal, knit a scarf, adopt a family, (make a donation to United Way!) and see if you don’t feel about 100 percent better about the world. Celebrate the season with service and lift your spirits.
Get started here!
