Community Service Opportunities Over Winter Break

If you're one of the many students looking for how to get some community service hours over the break, check out these six opportunities: 

*Remember to pick up your community service form BEFORE you leave for break! You can get a form from Ms. Hutchinson in the Main Office. 




1. Food and Friends is in Fort Totten and has holiday volunteer opportunities: http://www.foodandfriends.org/site/pp.asp?c=ckLSI8NNIdJ2G&b=7968713

2. Neighborhood Farm Initiative  is a farm right near the Ft. Totten metro station, and students can email Kristen Georger to see if they need any help over the break:

http://www.neighborhoodfarminitiative.org/volunteer/volunteer/

3. You can also email wangarigardens@gmail.com and ask Josh Singer or Sarah McLaughlin if they have any volunteer opportunities at Wangari Gardens, a community garden in NE DC, near the Washington Hospital Center. 

4. We Are Family DC has the following volunteer opportunities over Winter Break. To sign up, go to: www.wearefamilydc.org/calendar and click on the “Volunteer” button next to the date you want to volunteer.

Holiday Gift Wrapping Party

Tuesday, December 18 – 5pm-8pm

See Volunteer Spot sign up for location details

North Capitol Grocery Delivery

Saturday, December 22 – 10am-1pm

Meet at the Metro Community Church, 474 Ridge Street NW

2.5 blocks from the Convention Center metro, near 5th & M Sts NW

Holiday Gift Wrapping Party

Tuesday, December 23 – 3pm-6pm

See Volunteer Spot sign up for location details

Holiday Gift Delivery

Tuesday, December 25, 10 am – 1 pm

Meet at the Metro Community Church, 474 Ridge Street NW, 

2.5 blocks from the Convention Center metro, near 5th & M Sts NW

5. Books to Prisons: Information is Hope!

Location: Foundry Methodist Church

Address: 1500 16th ST NW, Washington, DC 20036

Date: Wed, January 2^nd  5:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Description: Come spend an evening reading letters from prisoners and answering their book requests, some of which are very interesting! We will select books according to these requests from prisoners around the country and package them for sending.

Other Info: Please bring any paper grocery bags that you have at home and don't need. They use them to pack the books and have a tough time getting enough. The books we most need right now are African American books (about or by), Westerns, Spanish learning books, Native Americans, dictionaries, GED, math, basic literacy, drawing, and science paperbacks - donations are welcome!

Since 1999, a concerned all-volunteer group of individuals has been responding to requests from prisoners around the country for books. They also develop and support local prison libraries. Unlike many programs, they do not limit requests to a particular geographic area or, for example, to women. Thus they receive a tremendous amount of requests from prisoners around the country and are truly swamped. In the past twelve months, they have sent out close to 4,000 packages containing over 10,000 books. These packages have gone to prisoners in 150 different prisons in all 50 states. The U.S. has one of the highest incarceration levels in the world (1 in 37 adults), but many prisoners have little access to books or educational material. Many face substantial barriers and are cut off from family and friends on the outside. While some prisons have libraries, many do not. Of those that do, access and selection can be extremely limited. Often, prisoners are not allowed to receive books from friends or family.

Transit: Located 2.5 blocks east of Dupont Circle. To get there via metro, one can either take the red line to Dupont Circle, leave via the south entrance, walk partially around the circle to P St. and go east 2.5 blocks. To get there via the blue/orange line, one can go to McPherson Square, leave via the White House exit, walk one block west on I St. Once you get to 16th St., wait for buses heading north (come about every 5 minutes or so, before 7:30). When the bus goes through the tunnel, pull the "stop requested" wire and get off at the next stop which is the intersection of P St and 16th St.

Please Note: Once you get to the church (door on 16th St.) ring the doorbell to be let in, then go downstairs to the basement. Turn left, go to end of hall, then turn right, and we are the last door on the right after the bathrooms (B2). There is not a parking lot, but it is generally not too difficult to find street parking if you look around a bit.

1500 16th ST NW, Washington, DC 20036

6. 2011 Holiday Gift Wrapping Fundraiser Arms Outstretched Ministry

GIFT WRAPPING SERVICE FUNDRAISER..VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!

Event to be held at the following time, date, and location:

Dec 7 through 24

Mon-Sat: 12:00-9:00 p.m.

Sundays: 10:00 am-6;00 p.m.

Dec 24th: 8:00 am-6:00 p.m. To sign up, email:

armsoutstretchedministry@yahoo.com

Fashion Center At Pentagon City
100 South Haynes Street
Arlington, VA

View Map

We hope you can make it!

All proceeds benefit our wounded warrior and Adopt a Soldier programs, along with other programs to the community through ARMS OUTSTRETCHED MINISTRY, INC. Learn more about our cause and programs at www.armsoutstretchedministry.com armsoutstretchedministry@yahoo.com

Calling all Green Thumbs to Wangari Gardens THIS Saturday!

Guess What? It's Fall!

A Fall Pumpkin Growing at Wangari Gardens!

Come celebrate the season with Wangari Gardens, a community garden and public park in near Washington Hospital Center. This Saturday, September 29th, Wangari Gardens will be working with other DC organizations to plant trees, fall gardens, and more!
Lunch will be provided.

No need to call ahead, just show up with your community service form in hand! (Ask for Josh or Sarah.)

Need a community service form? Come to the Programs Office (Room 210) or get one in the Main Office!

Volunteer with America the Beautiful and Take Home Free Seeds!

Free Veggie and Flower Seeds Available from America the Beautiful Fund! 

 

Volunteer at the America the Beautiful Fund seed warehouse and take home all the veggie and flower seeds you could ever want! If you or your group are interested in volunteering at least 4 hours during the week or weekend helping us to sort seed packets, please contact Katie at katie@america-the-beautiful.org to set up a day! No skill required, everyone 10 and over welcome!

Give Back Outside: Volunteer at the National Arboretum

March 24, 2012: Do you enjoy working with people and being outdoors? Are you a lifelong learner? The U.S. National Arboretum seeks volunteer guides and docents to share their love of plants and the Arboretum with visitors from around the world. 

Arboretum docents enhance the visitor experience by providing valuable information and answering questions at the front desk or at outdoor information stations; Guides connect visitors to the Arboretum through interpretive tours, including walking tours of individual collections or bus tours of the entire grounds for individual and group visitors. Volunteer trainings are ongoing, the next training is March 24.

For more information, visit the National Arboretum volunteer page or email the Volunteer Office.

Make History at the Tudor Place Historic House & Garden

Ongoing Volunteer Opportunity: Tudor Place Foundation, whose mission is to educate the public about American history and culture around the development of the Federal City and the Nation's Capitol Region, seeks volunteers for its historic Tudor Place property, located on five and a half acres in the heart of the District's Georgetown area and home to Martha Washington's granddaughter and six generations of her descendants. Current volunteer opportunities include shop staff, docents and garden assistants. 

For more information, visit the Tudor Place volunteer page or email Jeralynn Graham.

Community Service Clubs: Green Club

Want to get outdoors once final time before the semester ends?

Good news! Green Club will have their final meeting of the semester Thursday, December 8th after school in Room 111 (Ms. Mabry's room).

Students will be able to work in the garden, plan activities for next semester, and discuss the success of the Farmer's Market!

Want to hear even better news? Green Club is one of three TMA clubs that helps you earn service hours. That's right! Every meeting that you attend you earn 1-2 service hours!

Whether you're an expert gardener or still trying to figure out the difference between a plant and a weed, come to the meeting next Thursday. All TMA students are welcome!

Questions? Contact Ms. Boehle-Silva, Ms. Fried, or Ms. Lee.

Becoming a Regular Volunteer at DC Central Kitchen

Many students know that colleges look for community service hours when considering an applicant. But did you know that colleges increasingly look for students who've demonstrated a commitment to completing their community service hours at the same site over a long period of time?

But what if I don't want to do the same thing over and over again?

There are many service opportunities throughout the DC area that allow students to volunteer in many capacities at the same site. Students can gain experience in many different areas while still demonstrating to colleges that they are capable of making long-term commitments to a community organization. TMA's Community Service Guide will feature these organizations throughout the school year. (To find them, click on the long-term volunteering tab on the upper left hand side of the page).


DC Central Kitchen is one site that gives volunteers several programs to choose from!

DC Central Kitchen turns leftover food into millions of meals for thousands of at-risk individuals while offering nationally recognized culinary job training to once homeless and hungry adults.


 Their mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities.

They provide breakfast, outreach, and counseling services to chronically homeless people living on the streets, recycle 3,000 pounds of food each day, converting it into 4,500 meals distributed to 100 shelters, transitional homes, and rehabilitation clinics throughout the DC area. These partner agencies then refer clients to DC Central Kitchen's Culinary Job Training program, where they receive the tools to start new careers.

They also employ their graduates in their full-service catering company or by placing them in full-time jobs at restaurants and hotels throughout the region. Today, DC Central Kitchen are expanding their operations, partnering with local farmers to procure fresh produce and begin new revenue-generating social enterprises.

DC Central Kitchen provides several different ways for volunteers to get meaningfully engaged in their work to combat hunger and create opportunity.

To see DC Central Kitchen's many volunteer opportunities, click on this link: http://www.dccentralkitchen.org/volunteer/