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