'Voluntourism' on the rise - CNN.com <-- Check it out.

Wouldn't you feel a little more refreshed if you only spent 2 days of your vacation hanging out on the beach, and the rest doing some good 'ol fashioned volunteer work? Your brain may need a few days of blissful inactivity, and that's fine, but your soul is rejuvinated by the benevolent activity of doing good deeds. Trust us.

There are all kinds of organizations and programs that take caring go-getters like yourselves and put them to work on Volunteer Trips (or 'Service Vacations', or whatever - there's a lot of new vocab being tossed around this concept). An obvious and semi-local (i.e. in the United States) destination would be the Gulf Coast. Even a year and a half later, this region is still struggling to recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and they could use volunteers.

Check out our webpage on how to contact Hands On New Orleans and Hands On Gulf Coast. They will feed you, clothe you, and put you to work. Rejuvinate that soul!

* * *

Lastly - this is what happens when you come to work on your birthday.

You get a visit from Birthday Dog Hat.

Happy 25th, Jessica!

Beneath the goofy hat and coppery mane is a dynamo of community engagement!

One of Hands On Twin Cities' newest affiliate organizations is the National Marrow Donor Program. Marrow and blood donation programs are always interesting for us because, while they're well-known needs (who hasn't seen a Give Blood ad? And we're not talking about those Give Blood: Play Hockey t-shirts, because we're pretty sure the ice doesn't need it), they're not really thought of as being "volunteer opportunities".

And yet, marrow and blood (and whatever else you've got to spare) donation is, in some ways, the ultimate volunteerism experience. Rather than donating your time, your skills, and your hard work to help people in your community (directly or indirectly), you are donating a part of your body to be given directly to another person's body to help them recover from illness or injury. Heavy...

Please understand: we are not belittling the countless volunteers who brighten the lives of hospital patients with friendly visits or rake their neighbors' yards or deliver Meals on Wheels or what-have-you. There are many levels and styles of volunteerism, and they are all important. Bone Marrow Donation is just one of the most intense (which is why you can't do it every day), and it yeilds some of the most amazing results (i.e. someone gets to recover from lymphoma).

We are ranting about this today because one half of this blog's older brother (Skip) recently donated bone marrow. While in college, he was tested and entered into the national database because the volunteer spirit compelled him to. And then he moved to South Carolina, forgetting to leave a forwarding address for the Marrow People. A few months ago, the National Marrow Donor Program invoked the power of the internet and tracked him down, because it turned out he was a perfect match for a teenager with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

When we were informed that Skip was going to have marrow removed from the back of his pelvis, we were proud (of course), and a little frightened for him. From his pelvis? - we said to ourself - isn't that a bit invasive? And the truth is, after marrow extraction, some patients can hardly move for a week. So we were concerned - Skip is an active man, and if he's not currently "on the go", he's busy planning his next go. While jogging in place.

Turns out, Skip was able to walk out of the hospital 4 hours after the procedure, and felt good enough to watch his favorite football team, the South Carolina Gamecocks, get totally annihilated (as usual) at Williams-Brice stadium (metal bench seats!) 3 days later. While his recovery went a bit more smoothly than some, you would be hard-pressed to find a bone marrow donor who thought the trouble wasn't worth it. The knowledge that your discomfort is the result of helping to save someone's life can be a powerful natural painkiller. Almost as powerful as the drugs they send home with you.

Anyway - blood, bone marrow: we're pretty sure you've got some. (Hint.)

For more information on marrow and blood donation in the Twin Cities, visit these websites:

• National Marrow Donor Program
• Memorial Blood Centers
• American Red Cross, North Central Blood Services

Have you ever said to yourself, "I wish there was a really fun and potentially relaxing volunteer opportunity that I could do in my own home. Like babysitting a cat for a couple of weeks. And hanging out with that cat would somehow be volunteer work. But that's silly, right?"

Wrong! Our Hands On Twin Cities volunteer opportunity of the month for March happens to be "Feline Foster Care Provider".

Feline Rescue, Inc. of St. Paul needs cat lovers to care for cats with special needs while they wait for adoption. These may include sick or disabled cats, kittens, nursing mothers, pregant cats, elderly cats, or cats that just need a more quiet place than the shelter.

This is a great opportunity for cat people (obviously) and caring persons who want a pet but aren't quite ready to commit years of their life to a single animal. Be a volunteer, help your community (particularly songbirds) by keeping cats off the street, and enrich your life with a fuzzy feline. Contact Feline Rescue, Inc. today!

Boy, cats sure are wacky. And fun! Be a feline foster care provider!

Today we realized that it has been 10 days since we've updated our blog! You know what that means? We've had far too much real work to do.

Such as...

Attending the Hands On Network Leadership Conference '07 in scenic and culturally significant New Orleans, Louisiana. Several members of our staff (including one-half of our elite blogging team) got togther with over 660 Hands On Network representatives from across the globe to learn volunteering and community involvement techniques from each other and participate in some huge service projects to help out New Orleans neighborhoods (many of which still have a long way to go before they're "recovered").

In fact, if you have any interest in helping out with the continuing recovery of the New Orleans, we're working with Hands On New Orleans to get more information on how you can head down to the gulf and get your hands dirty. There's still a lot to do! Keep checking our homepage, we'll have that information up soon.

Also...

We're working with the City of Minneapolis to present the Great City Take Action Forums. This is a series of 4 forums designed to educate and involve Minneapolis residents, empowering them to help make our city an even better place. More information about these fun, informative, and free events can be found by clicking here.

Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak and his fantastic staff have been outstanding partners for the planning of these forums, and we were thrilled to be in the audience for the Mayor's State of the City Address at the McNamara Alumni Center (which is a giant spaceship cleverly disguised as a building on the U of M campus) today when he officially announced the Great City Take Action Forums. Thanks, Mayor Rybak!

(Make no mistake - we love you too, City of St. Paul!)

And lastly...

This wouldn't be a proper blog entry if we didn't mention a direct instance of volunteerism in action.

These week's example is taken from the entertaining, family-friendly, and slightly dangerous neo-sport of Roller Derby. While attending a Roller Derby match on Friday evening, one-half of this blog noticed that injured and ailing Roller Girls are dutifully attended to by Volunteer EMT's!

Kudos to you, Roller Derby Medical Personnel! We at Hands On Twin Cities applaud any instance of skilled professionals donating their time to help the community; no matter how fast-paced, dimly lit, and alternative that community may be.

Volunteer Speed Match at the Minnesota Zoo! This latest edition to the growing scene of volunteerism is so zany and fun, we just had to be a part of it.

On Tuesday, March 20th, 2007, you'll get the chance to meet with 15 different volunteer-based organizations (including Fairview Hospital, Kids 'n Kinship, Lifeworks, Hands On Twin Cities, and more) for 3 minutes each. It's up to them to impress you with the quality of their program and the ways that you can make a difference in the community by volunteering with them. If you meet with an organization you really like, you can schedule a "second date" with them and start volunteering!

(This is also a great way to meet some of the hotties in the volunteer administration field.)

To fit the lifestyles of busy volunteers, there will be 3 sessions: 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30 pm. Plus (and we cannot stress this enough), it's at the Minnesota Zoo - home of some totally sweet animals, like the Mouse Deer. So, if you're interested in (a) finding meaningful volunteer opportunities, (b) meeting fun people, or (c) the Mouse Deer, there is just no excuse for missing Volunteer Speed Match! Click on the link to learn more and register!

Have you ever thought about how to end homelessness? Either what you, personally, can do, or what we, as a great Minnesotan society, can accomplish?

We sure have. Especially if you live in the Cities, homelessness is hard to ignore (though many of us try). At freeway exits and busy intersections, on downtown streets, even in the alleys behind our houses, the separate world of people experiencing homelessness touches ours all the time. Though, really, it's not a separate world at all. We are just as connected to people experiencing homlessness in our community are we are to our next-door neighbors. The difference is, our next-door neighbors probably don't need our help quite as badly.

As with most complex issues in our complex society, an organized effort is needed so that concerned individuals can work together to make a difference. That's why tomorrow, March 6th (a Tuesday) at 7 pm we'll be hosting a Hands On Twin Cities Volunteer Cafe at the Loring Park Dunn Bros. in Minneapolis. We'll have representatives from the following 4 local organizations that deal with homelessness, Loaves & Fishes, Our Saviour's Housing, Lutheran Social Services, and The Link, to tell you about what they do and how you can help.

This event is free, and open to the public (of course). The first half-hour or so will feature speakers from the above organizations, followed by an open discussion. Come meet the Hands On Twin Cities staff and community-minded people like yourself, drink some delicious coffee (which, sadly, you will have to pay for), and learn how you can be a part of the solution to homelessness.