Kristen Lewis's Blog
Hey all!
So on Monday, October 19th, IBM had a project at Grace Centers of Hope, which is an awesome organization that we do a lot of projects with (check them out on our website if you want some more information about them - www.volunteersolutions.org/uwsem/volunteer!) and it couldn't have gone any better!
The volunteers did such an amazing job! They painted one of the classrooms and an entire hallway...you should see how bright and inviting it looks! It really made a difference. Between the six volunteers, they generated 48 hours of service, which gave $972 back to the Baldwin Center and its surrounding community! How cool is that?! This just goes to show that individuals CAN make a difference, and you don't need a large group of people to change the world :]
So on Monday, October 19th, IBM had a project at Grace Centers of Hope, which is an awesome organization that we do a lot of projects with (check them out on our website if you want some more information about them - www.volunteersolutions.org/uwsem/volunteer!) and it couldn't have gone any better!
The volunteers did such an amazing job! They painted one of the classrooms and an entire hallway...you should see how bright and inviting it looks! It really made a difference. Between the six volunteers, they generated 48 hours of service, which gave $972 back to the Baldwin Center and its surrounding community! How cool is that?! This just goes to show that individuals CAN make a difference, and you don't need a large group of people to change the world :]
Make a Difference Day was this past Saturday, October 24th, and it was awesome! I had so much fun being able to interact with the volunteers from HFCC and UMD and to see how excited they were to volunteer. I also got to check out both Greening of Detroit project sites to see how things were going, and I couldn’t believe how many people were there! I found out afterwards that 127 trees were planted on Saturday!! Great work, you guys! I know it was kind of cold out, but no one cared…everyone just wanted to make a difference!
Another shout out I need to give is to the agencies that participated for Make a Difference Day – they were PHENOMENAL! Thanks to: Accounting Aid Society, Baldwin Center, Beyond Basics, Grace Centers of Hope, Greening of Detroit, Lighthouse Path, Looking for My Sister, Oakland Livingston Human Service Association (OLSHA), Salvation Army Echo Grove Camp and Stanford House!!
Lastly, the volunteers got SO much work done at 10 different project sites. The coolest thing though is the impact of the volunteer hours that we all gave. There were 242 volunteers, and through those volunteers, 726 hours of service were generated…which gave over $14,000 back to our local communities! And what you maybe didn’t know was that it wasn’t just HFCC and UMD that had volunteers participate…it was also Schoolcraft College, Oakland University and Oakland Community College! As a fellow college student from UMD, I really want to thank all of you that participated this year! You each made a HUGE impact in our communities and I couldn’t be more proud to be a student volunteer…you guys ROCK and I hope to see you all out on MLK Day in January!
Another shout out I need to give is to the agencies that participated for Make a Difference Day – they were PHENOMENAL! Thanks to: Accounting Aid Society, Baldwin Center, Beyond Basics, Grace Centers of Hope, Greening of Detroit, Lighthouse Path, Looking for My Sister, Oakland Livingston Human Service Association (OLSHA), Salvation Army Echo Grove Camp and Stanford House!!
Lastly, the volunteers got SO much work done at 10 different project sites. The coolest thing though is the impact of the volunteer hours that we all gave. There were 242 volunteers, and through those volunteers, 726 hours of service were generated…which gave over $14,000 back to our local communities! And what you maybe didn’t know was that it wasn’t just HFCC and UMD that had volunteers participate…it was also Schoolcraft College, Oakland University and Oakland Community College! As a fellow college student from UMD, I really want to thank all of you that participated this year! You each made a HUGE impact in our communities and I couldn’t be more proud to be a student volunteer…you guys ROCK and I hope to see you all out on MLK Day in January!
This past Saturday, 10/17, was the UBS project at Maybury Elementary School in Detroit. The project couldn’t have gone any better! We had 40 volunteers who, overall, gave 200 hours of service in one day that generated $4,050 volunteer dollars back to the school and its community; how amazing is that?! The volunteers painted the entire 2nd floor hallway, three classrooms, and ¾ of the fence outside of the school…along with sorting and organizing hundreds of books. The visual impact of the improvements the volunteers made are going to seen by more than just the children who attend Maybury; the neighborhood is going to notice the change, too. Overall, it was a great experience for everyone involved and I can’t wait to see what projects come up in the future!
This past Sunday, 11/18, was the Free Press marathon that had individuals running a full marathon, half marathon, 5k and a team relay – and what an amazing race it was! We had 31 volunteers who gave 124 hours of service in one morning that generated $2,511 back to the Detroit community…what an awesome way to spend a Sunday morning! The runners really appreciated the cheers that our “spirit station” volunteers gave, too; we even got emails from some who thanked us for the support! Overall, it was a great event and I’m really excited to see how much bigger and better the marathon is next year!
Posts