MLK Day of Service

Dear Friends!

It is time to get moving with our big plans for the Martin Luther King Day of Service event. We are very excited to announce that we are doing a big project with our community partners The Telling Room and The Portland Housing Authority. We will be training USM students, members of the NAACP Youth Council and community members to run work shops at the Riverton and Kennedy Park study centers.

These workshops will be focused on creating 6-word memoirs and narratives, where individual youth will use the images, words or lessons of Dr. King to write their own 6 word story. All volunteers who go through the training will then volunteer a couple of evenings at either the Riverton or Kennedy Park centers towards the end of November or in early December.

For more info, come by the Farm house or go the following web page:

http://www.mlkday.gov/

Winter Kids Volunteering

Do you have an interest in outdoor winter activities and with working with children? This organization has lots of different events and on-going projects in need of volunteers.

check it out: http://www.winterkids.org/Development/

Another 1 Day Service Opportunity

The People's Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) is hosting a Giveaway Day on October 10th and we would like to send volunteers!!

From 10 am 'till 2 pm at the Parkside Neighborhood Center (85 Grant St., Portland) PROP will host the giveaway for community members to come and get anything from clothing to household items to books. It's a great chance to help put one of Portland's most active organizations and interact with the Parkside community.

If you are interested, just stop by the Community Engagement office on the Portland campus anytime!!

DaveB

September 11 - Day of Remembrance and Service

Portland, Maine – In April 2009, President Obama signed legislation establishing September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. The hope is that citizens will pledge to do just one good deed during the week of 9/11. In this way, we honor those who so tragically passed while reaffirming our shared lives as a community. (Visit www.911day.org for more information about events nationwide.)

Here in Portland, Maine, we are honoring our country and those who died with a group service project with Hour Exchange Portland, the City of Portland, United Way and USM. There will be a clean-up/beautification effort of Deering Oaks Park open to anyone who wishes to get involved. Participants will clean-up the park and paint city garbage receptacles from 11am to 4pm. The City of Portland will distribute the garbage receptacles throughout the city. Tables will be set up to do ribbon writings for those lives lost on 9/11. The trash cans, paint and most other materials will be provided to us by the city of Portland.

WHO: Hour Exchange Portland, City of Portland, United Way, USM, and Community Volunteers.
WHERE: Deering Oaks Park bandstand in Portland, Maine.
WHAT: Remembrance Ceremony and Park beautification/clean up with city garbage receptacle painting.
WHEN: September 11, 2009, 11am - 4pm.

We made the Times!

There is an article on the NY Times webpage about about Americorps!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/us/07land.html?hp

As you will see, it is a bit more romantic than what most of us in Americorps experience, but its not a bad read. It also addresses the important question of "why serve" through the personal stories of a few of the volunteers.

Enjoy!
DaveB

United We Serve Day of Service 9/12 in Portland

Cant make it to the 9/11 day of service at Deering Oaks Park? Then checck this out:

"Spend the day in Portland helping Bayview Heights, one of our affordable housing complexes for low-income seniors in Portland. We're looking for help with the annual yard sale, including cashiers, help with set up and break down, and staffing the bake sale.

WHERE: Bayview Heights, 158 North Street, PORTLAND
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
DETAILS: Help staff the annual yard sale at Bayview Heights. We'll need help with setup and breakdown of the yard sale, cashiering, and the bake sale.
RSVP: Click here to RSVP "

Visit this link to see the opportunity and with who to contact for more questions:

Coastal Cleanup

Friday September 18 mark your calendars!

We will be headed to Crescent Beach and Kettle Cove to participate in the Maine Coastal Clean-Up.

Help us tidy up the beach and then kick back and relax on a job well done!

Rippling Waters Organic Farms

Hey everyone,

We had such a great time at Rippling Waters Organic Farms on Sunday that we scheduled another visit! Friday September 25 we will be returning to help with the harvest. Same time (noon to 3pm). And check out our photos on facebook to see how dirty our hands really got (Facebook Profile = Comm Unity Engagement)

Thanks to all who came and helped out! We look forward to seeing you again!

- DMC

Rippling Waters Organic Farms

Its not too late!

Sunday August 30th (this Sunday) we will be joining with a team of USM students to visit Rippling Waters Organic Farms from noon to 3pm. Rippling Waters Organic Farm is a non-profit entity which provide community gardens, school gardens, grows food for the local food pantries, and increases the educational aspects at the farm for visitors. We will learn about their community outreach program and roll up our sleeves in the fields and get a bit dirty!!

Transportation will be provided via a bus leaving from the Gorham Campus at noon from the athletic complex.

Please feel free to send me an email at dcimato@usm.maine.edu if you are interested!!

-DMC

Maine Coastal Cleanup

Hey everyone,

USM will be participating in the Maine Coastal Cleanup ---

https://www.maine.gov/spo/coastal/projects/coastweek/cleanup.htm

Friday September 18 at 9am, will be the date. The specific beach to be announced...

-DMC

Mozilla Service Week September 14th-21st

Hi Everyone -

I came across this service opportunity on idealist.org, and figured it might interest the more tech-savvy of you interested in community service.

http://mozillaservice.org/learn_more/index/en_US

Web browser Mozilla Firefox is calling on everyone to do community service through, or around, the internet between September 14th and 21st. If you follow the link above you will see a few of their suggestions for what to do.

If you do take up this call to service, let us know and log your hours!

Cheers,
DAB

Fall Events Lineup!

Hey Y'all,

DMC here with some volunteer opportunities available for this fall:

9/11 - Deering Oaks Park Cleanup
9/12 - 9/19 - Maine Coastal Cleanup
9/24 - American Red Cross Blood Drive in the Planetarium
10/9 - Habitat for Humanity Build
10/17 - Iris Network White Cane Awareness Walk

All these are great one time events to get involved with. Look for something coming up in the next week or so in Gorham Maine too!!

And if you have not heard, we will be at the Big Brother Big Sister Yard Sale tomorrow all morning in the USM Portland Campus Athletic Center. Help out a great mentoring organization and get some really cool stuff for cheap prices. Then I will see you at the beach!!

Over and out.

New School Year!! And Service Year!!

We are back and in action!!

This is David here, but since there are two David's in the office, I will just go by DMC to make it easy. I am the volunteer coordinator for USM and will be posting on here as often as I can.

Along with me, Lauren, Alicia, David (DB) and our counterpart Brittany in the SGA office are tackling the new school year full-steam ahead. We will be managing our facebook and email accounts, so feel free to send us messages and invites. We want to be included!!

So I hope everyone enjoyed the summer, I actually can't wait til it cools down!!



And FYI:

September 11 will be a National Day of Service in our nation. We will be joining in a Deering Oaks Park Clean-Up with the Hour Exchange Portland that day. If your in the area we would love to meet everyone and spend what will be a great day together. More details will follow in the coming weeks..

-DMC

Happy Summer!

All has been quiet on the blog, I apologize. The end of the school year and the start of summer was a crazy time here! We said goodbye to students, put on our thinking caps and revamped a lot of what we do. Speaking of which...

We are now the Office of Community Engagement!

Snazzy, eh? We decided that our other name was too much of a mouthful, and we followed the advice from other offices like ours around the state. Brevity is the source of wit!

To boot, I am upgrading our Facebook so that we now have a Fan Page, not just a profile.

USM Community Engagement on Facebook

This summer still has many changes for us. I am finishing my VISTA year quite soon, so this will be my last post! Alicia is staying at the OCE to continue her work with the Multicultural population and with service learning courses. Mike is off to grad school at CUNY, Jennifer to Washington state, and Janice to Illinois!

We will be welcoming three new VISTAs at the end of August.
Lauren will be taking over my position and working with the mentoring project,
David will be working as a volunteer coordinator and systems manager, and
David (that's right, two Daves) will be working as another volunteer coordinator in the multicultural field.

There will also be a VISTA working with the SGA and Chris O'Connor, and all the VISTAs will be working to create a shiny Civic Leadership Series for the fall!

It's been a fun year and I hope you will all continue to be engaged, wherever you may be!

Best,
Amanda

Awards night!

Happy April!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the tulips are blooming!
SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Which brings me to this:

SPRING into ACTION!

The last few weeks are here, get your butt into gear!

STRIVE is always looking for volunteers for their Friday night dance socials. Contact ebuckley@pslservices.org for more info.

The 23rd Annual Chocolate Lover's Fling is THIS WEEKEND!
Seriously, you should go. Volunteers are needed for various tasks, such as greeting guests, serving chocolate, and helping with kids. This event is a huge fundraiser from SARSSM (Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine) and they need our help!
Please contact Marla Stelk at marla@sarsonline.org.
I bet they'll give you free entry tickets... :)

Boys and Girls Club Auction

Got mad auction skillz? Or not? The Boys and Girls Club needs helpers for their annual auction on April 4^th from 9a-10p at the Portland clubhouse. It’s fine if you don’t stay all day; any amount of time is a great help! Tasks might include helping set up, making gift bags, modeling the items, and packing up items. Shoot an email to katherine.sanborn@maine.edu to sign up or get more information.

Wayside Food Drive

Staff a food drive April 10-11 (Friday and Saturday) from 8:00- to 4:30 at the IGA in Cape Elizabeth. Staff from Wayside’s food rescue program will be there. Your job: hand shopping list to people, load truck. Call Wayside to schedule at 775-4939.

Habitat for Humanity

Get outside and break out your tool-belt! Habitat for Humanity is starting construction on a house in Portland on April 17^th, from 9a-3p. No experience is necessary; there are tasks for everyone! Transportation can be provided. Contact rachel.a.putnam@maine.edu for more information.

COMMUNITY SERVICE = STUDY BREAK!

Flowers! Sunshine! YAY!

Girls Rock! Awards

Here is a state-wide chance for you to nominate a girl or young woman who has made a difference in her community!

Girls Rock! Awards
Hardy Girls/Healthy Women will be giving out their first ever Girls Rock! Awards to 5 girls who are using their voices in bold and powerful ways to make Maine a better place for all girls to grow.

We're looking for girls ages 12-19 who are making a difference in these areas:
1. Title IX Champion
2. Health Advocacy
3. Against the Odds
4. Community Organizing
5. Entrepreneurship

Winners of these awards will receive a $250 savings bond and statewide recognition for their incredible contributions. All selected Girls Rock! recipients must be available to accept their award at the Girls Rock! Award celebration on April 17th.

To learn more about the awards and nominate a girl, print out a nomination form or fill it out online.
Nominations must be received by April 3.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Did you know that blue was the color originally associated with St Patrick? If you're wearing blue jeans with your green and/or orange, breathe easy!

We've been busy here at the office, and blogging has fallen behind. We have been giving the Civic Leadership Series, as I discussed in the last post, have been presenters at Change '09!, and held a Community Arts Gala!

Break is coming up next week, and we'll have two great volunteer activities. One will be a project focusing on poverty, hunger, and homelessness, and will be led by the Interfaith Chaplaincy.

The second activity will be with The Kids' Consortium, and it's the Student Summit on Service Learning. The conference will be at USM Thursday, March 26th and Friday, March 27th. Volunteers are needed from registration to facilitation of team building activities, and you'll get lunches and a tshirt for spending time volunteering with middle and high schoolers! You can volunteer all or part of both days.

For those of you runners, Colby and Hardy Girls/Healthy Women are sponsoring a 5k to benefit HGHW! First 25 registrants get a free tshirt! Run run run!

Upcoming is the last-Monday-of-the-month dinner at the Ronald McDonald House. I'll be headed over at 4:30 on March 30th.

In other news, the Red Cross is holding its annual "Real Heroes Breakfast" on Thursday, March 19th, and I'm going! Wee! I'll share the fancy details with you upon my return!

Shamrocks and Celtic knots,
Amanda

I am a SLACKER. Here are updates.

Ugh, I have had some CRAZY weeks. I want you all to see the Civic Leadership Series link we've been developing!

http://www.usm.maine.edu/studentlife/communityservice/leadership.html

These workshops are for students who are leaders or who are interested in leadership. We ran them last semester and had some quality conversations, so we invite YOU to join us this semester!

You can be a student leader of ANY kind, or ANYONE interested in boosting their own leadership skills! (Can I get that across any more blatantly?)

Hope to see you there!


In other news:

Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund has been giving inner-city children the joy of a summer vacation with volunteer host families and at Fund camps, creating unforgettable memories and fresh possibilities.

They are now accepting applications for counselors for this coming summer of '09! The Fresh Air Fund islooking for college-aged men and women who love to work with children to fill a wide variety of fields.

For more information, please see
www.freshair.org and http://freshairfundcounselors.smnr.us/

Positions fill VERY quickly, so get your application in ASAP!


As always, we are looking for people to staff STRIVE's Friday night socials, and dinner will be served at the Ronald McDonald House on the 23rd.

Amanda

Mentor Celebration Rescheduled

Due to MASSIVE amounts of snow and ice, the Mentor Celebration has been rescheduled to next Wednesday, February 4th. It will still be 4-6pm in the Woodbury Ampitheatre.

Please come and share your story!

:)
Amanda

Mentor Celebration!

The Greater Portland Mentoring Partnership and I are inviting you to a Mentor Celebration to be held in the Woodbury Campus Center on Wednesday, January 28th from 4-6pm. I am inviting you to come for part or all of this time. There will be light refreshments and a few USM students will be talking about their experiences as mentors. In addition, Sue Steele from the Portland Public Schools will speak about the wonderful connection between USM and the local schools.

This celebration is intended to recognize the fantastic work mentors do within USM and the Greater Portland community. January is National Mentoring Month, and I think you all deserve a big thank you!

If any mentors are compelled to share a mentoring experience at the event, they are welcome to do so! Parking is available in the garage across the street from the Campus Center, and I will have vouchers available if you need them.

Please forward this information to anyone you see fit, and I hope to see you Wednesday!

Amanda

MLK Day!

Martin Luther King, Jr Day is fast approaching! To read our event description and sign up, go here:

http://www.usaservice.org/page/event/detail/weekendeventsjanuary17or18/wc2

Happy January!