As much as we love and encourage spontaneous acts of volunteerishness, organized volunteer service projects are our bread and butter. Volunteer teams will accomplish more when they have a clearly defined set of goals, the proper supplies, snacks, and most importantly, a confident leader.

But volunteer leaders don't grow on trees! They are dedicated and energetic community members who love Being The Change and have decided to take the next step in volunteerism - recieving leadership training, working with nonprofits and community organizations to identify needs that can be met through volunteerism, and organizing projects to meet those needs. In fact, many of our partnered organizations have some potential service projects already planned out - they just need someone to help them get the ball rolling! This could be you!

This Saturday, March 3rd, Hands On Twin Cities is hosting a free Project Leader Training Session. This 2-hour class from 10 am - 12 noon is the first step to being an effective volunteer leader. Learn from Hands On Twin Cities staff about to effectively develop, plan, and manage volunteer projects.

Don't just be a part of The Change. Lead The Change!

Before we go nuts about snowstorm volunteerism stories (assuming the people in internetland send us some), we'd like to offer highlights from our Valentine's Day Volunteerism Challenge, in which we challenged you to engage in volunteerism (conventional or otherwise) on February 14th and then tell us about it in exchange for free Hello Kitty rub-on tattoos.

Recognition for most heartwarming and most bittersweet goes to Christy and her son John, who were on their way to have a Valentine's Day lunch with seniors at a local nursing home (extra points because they found said nursing home using our website) when they got a flat tire (in February!) and then waited 2 hours for the AAA Cavalry to arrive. By that time, sadly, lunch was over. But remember - it's the thought that counts!

Recognition for most misunderstood goes to Jake, who, following our suggestion for cash-strapped Valentine's Volunteerism, gave each of his co-workers the biggest smile he could muster. Unfortunately, said co-workers were confused by Jake's Valentine spirit (perhaps mistaking it for a sign of aggression?), and stopped smiling back. Maybe some people just can't handle the love, but that doesn't mean we should stop giving!

Finally, recognition for most far away from the Twin Cities goes to Sarah, who wrote to us from Pennsylvania (where they also celebrate Valentine's Day!). Sarah distributed gifts of cereal and candy to all of her friends, thereby fostering a greater sense of community among these special people. Way to spread the love!

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We love it when you write to us. If you have a volunteerism story, share it! Email jack@handsontwincities.org. We'll send you treats/freebies, because you're good person and you deserve it.

There is a delicious foot of snow on the ground here in the Twin Cities, and the nice people on the radio tell us that more is on the way! So why are we excited? The simple (and unproven) fact that winter storms, while cold in a strictly physical sense, have a way of lighting the fire of volunteerism and community involvement that is sometimes absent from our neighborhoods.

This could be because:

(a) All of the snow reminds us of the greater Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa holiday season, which is also a time to extend random acts of kindess.
(b) Snowstorms are often an occasion for missing work and school, which can lead to increased feelings of child-like wonder and excitement.
(c) Minnesotans love to shovel - it brings out the pioneer spirit in each of us that lies dormant for most of the year.

Driving around the city this weekend, we saw dozens of motorists in the act of randomly helping others who were stuck or stranded. In several of these cases, so many kind strangers stopped to help that some of them had nothing to do but offer encouragement (which is still very important).

One-half of this blog recieved some much appreciated assistance from a friendly, shovel-wielding neighbor in freeing her car from its car-shaped snow tomb, while the other half, after dutifully shoveling the sidewalk, engaged in unbridled snowball warfare with his roomates and passers-by (not volunteerism, of course, but he makes the argument for enhanced community spirit).

Did you give or recieve some winter assistance during this weekend's storm? Write to us (jack@handsontwincities.org), and we'll send you a pretty certificate (decorated with snowflakes) to commemorate your participation in our state's unofficial pastime - community involvement! We might send some candy, too, if your story is particularly moving/hilarious.

Or maybe you didn't get a chance to get in some good on-the-spot volunteerism during this weekend's storm. It's not too late! As February is Meals on Wheels Month, we should remind you that delivering Meals on Wheels in the midst of a blustery snow storm is nothing short of a cinematic adventure. Why, only a crazy person would deliver meals with this much snow on the ground!

You can be that crazy person - crazy about helping your neighbors.

Without arguing for or against the merit of quality control standards in our society (and how they are everywhere), let us say that Hands On Twin Cities is an official nonprofit and that we submit to the official judgement of the recognized authorities so the volunteer (and potential donor) may be assured that we are legit, that we actually do what we say we do (i.e. promote and facilitate volunteerism and volunteer activities), and that we don't have a secret account in the Cayman Islands where we are hiding embezzled funds.

So, we announce with great pride that we at Hands On Twin Cities have earned the Charities Review Council "Meets All Standards" Seal.

The Charities Review Council of Minnesota is a 60-year-old watchdog organization that exists to educate the citizenry and hold charities and nonprofits accountable for the money they recieve from sponsors and donors. There are tons of scam artists out there, and many of them masquerade as charitable organizations to pull your heartstrings and get access to your wallet. The Charities Review Council recognizes Minnesotans' desire to help people in need, and provides a user-friendly website to help donors make informed desicions.

The CRC website also has tons of other cool features, including a listing of organizations that accept donated goods. You can search by the kind of goods you have to donate (there must be someone who could use that old car), by which organizations will come and pick up your donations (because that old car is totally dead), or by what the organizations will do with your donation (but the parts could fetch some cash).

In fact, just by using this old dead car example (we're picturing a '74 Buick), the CRC website helped us locate 24 Minnesota Charities that sell donated cars to raise funds, 14 of which will come and pick it up! This website is awesome.

Kinda makes us wish we had a '74 Buick to donate for charitable sale. Do you?

Move over, Thanksgiving - as you wonderful people out there in internetland have demonstrated, Valentine's Day is one of the biggest volunteer days of the year!

We're still recieving tales of Valentine-inspired volunteer acts in our inboxes, which means that we will probably run out of Hello Kitty rub-on tattoos (but please don't let that stop you from emailing us). Next week - highlights from your great stories!

Speaking of holidays: this coming Monday, February 19th, is Presidents Day, in honor of the two greatest leaders this country has ever known, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington (neither of whom was actually born on February 19th). In honor of this day, we will be staying home from work (yes! blogging is work!), reading biographies of the founding fathers.

It was in one such book where we learned that George Washington was one of America's Greatest Volunteers. George didn't want to be president. No, sir. After the Revolutionary War was over, George had all kinds of retirement on his mind. But we needed him, because he was the only national figure our divided country could agree on for that all-important First Presidency. Naturally, he really didn't want to stay on for a second term, but the people said "George, please - one more." So he stuck it out, and led a young nation through its birth pangs and into the glorious era of two-party politics (which continues to this day).

President Washington may have been paid for his work - thus disqualifying him from official volunteer status - but he wasn't in it for the money. He did what he did because the people needed him to be the leader that he was, and he loved the people, so he obliged. Remember - we are a great nation of volunteers.

Happy Presidents Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Giving a hug/kiss/card/candy/cookie/glass of wine/cup of cocoa/compliment/friendly smile/etc. counts as official volunteer work today only!

Write to us [jack@handsontwincities.org] with evidence/accounts of your Valentine's day volunteer work, and we'll send you a certificate festooned with pretty hearts and a Hello Kitty Valentine + Temporary Tattoo.

We're not kidding. And we only have 10 Hello Kitty Temporary Tattoos left, so act now!

Volunteer Expo 2007 - The Aftermath

This past Saturday, February 11th, we put on the biggest event we do all year (and the largest of its kind in America) - our second annual Hands On Twin Cities Volunteer Expo at MOA.

Soon - possibly even later today [it actually took us until the next day - ed.] - there will be a webpage posted on handsontwincities.org detailing the happenings of the event, and featuring lots of eye-catching pictures.

Until then, we thought we'd use the blog to list a few observations and lessons learned from this year's Expo, in no particular order:

• As an experienced volunteer center, we have long stood by the "rule" which states that about 80% of registered volunteers will actually show up for a service project. On Saturday, the person who devised this statistic was once again proved to be a genius. Exactly 80% of our registered event volunteers arrived to make the Expo happen!
• Hip-hop dance teams (courtesty of Neighborhood House) are a total crowd-pleaser.
• The North Suburban Chorus showed us that we remember far too many of the lyrics to Disney songs, as we were able to sing along with "Bippity-Boppity-Boo" in its' entirety.
• Single Volunteers of the Twin Cities are the friendliest, most efficient team of volunteers an event organizer could ever hope for.
• When there is an act on stage, and a big-screen projection of said act is right next to the stage, we can't help but watch the screen, regardless of the fact that we're 20 feet away. Why do we do that?
• Meticulously planning for an event for 3 months and having 2 heart attacks per week seems worth it when the big day arrives and everything runs smoothly.

Are there fewer volunteer opportunities in the winter than in the non-winter?

We are leaning towards "yes", because (as far as we can tell) the number of indoor-ish volunteer opportunities listed through Hands On Twin Cities in the summer matches the number in the winter. They are just more popular in the winter. Also, the large-scale outdoor service projects that are so popular (and fun!) in the summer are impractical to organize between October and April in our great state of Minnesota.

So what is an interested potential volunteer to do in the winter? Our suggestion - come to our Volunteer Expo! That's right - the second Annual Hands On Twin Cities Volunteer Expo at Mall of America is this Saturday, February 10th at Mall of America from 10am - 4pm.

At our Expo (which is the largest of its kind in America) you can meet with representatives from 111 different Twin Cities-area nonprofits that use volunteers in their everyday operations. There will be food shelves and shelters, counseling organizations, wildlife rehab organizations, senior homes, neighborhood associations, park restoration organizations - if they use volunteers, they'll be at the Expo!

So come in out of the cold and warm up your volunteering muscles by checking out the many ways that you can help your community! It's all at (we can't stress this enough) Mall of America - Saturday, February 10th from 10am - 4pm.

There will also be prize drawing and live enterainment. Come see! No excuses!

Item: According to the Pew Research Center, 8% of internet users are also bloggers.

(Read the article! The girl in her PJ's with the cat looks exactly like us - except Jessica hates cats)

We're still waiting on the figures that indicate what percentage of bloggers talk about volunteerism in Minneapolis-St. Paul. A part of us hopes that it's low - otherwise we wouldn't be as unique as we sometimes think we are.

On the other hand, if you do lots of volunteer work and you're a bloggist/bloggista, talk about it! Nothing encourages others to volunteer more than the success stories of other volunteers (and sooner or later we will find a statistic to prove that)!

It can't be a coincidence that the coldest month of the year is also (mercifully) the shortest. Yay February!

National Grapefruit Month is a dynamic one, indeed. It begins with the meteorological prophecies of a large rat in Pennsylvania (Groundhog Day - today!), picks up steam on the 14th (Valentine's day), promptly looses steam on the 15th (Singles Awareness Day - seriously), and ends with America's favorite celebrity recognition ceremony (The Academy Awards). And best of all, it's the only month where we don't scratch our heads on the 30th, wondering if we have one more day to write our rent checks.

February is also Meals on Wheels Month. Makes sense, right? Given your typical Minnesota February, this is the hardest time of year for people with limited mobility. It is also important to consider that many citizens with limited mobility also live at or below the poverty line. This situation is especially dangerous for seniors, many of whom have to leverage high monthly medical bills with a fixed income.

Meals on Wheels may be one of the most-recognized non-profit organizations, and for good reason! People all over the country rely on Meals on Wheels to deliver a hot meal and a friendly face every day. America is an automotive country, and it's easy to get disconnected if you don't have access to a car. Meals on Wheels volunteers fill a vital role in our society by helping our elderly and disabled citizens stay connected and cared for.

Now, Meals on Wheels does even more! After discovering that recipients of Meals On Wheels were sharing their meals with their pets, Meals on Wheels chose to launch a national Pet food drive called “Season of Suppers, a Pet food drive for Pets in need.”

It's easy to help! There are Meals on Wheels locations all over the Metro Area. Even if you can only deliver meals a few times a month, you can start a team of Meals on Wheels drivers and share the same route. If you've got a car and a smile, you can make a difference.

Check out the Metro Area Meals on Wheels website to learn more about becoming a volunteer.