Filed under Stillwater, Volunteer Opportunities
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Dear Joyce,
Your family goes to bed hungry every night. You scrape just enough money together each day to feed them, but today at the market, the prices of basic foods like rice have jumped. What do you do?
Give your kids less? Eat less yourself?
This dilemma is real. Food prices in recent years have hit record levels, causing riots in 25 countries. Farmers who are producing the world’s food can no longer feed their families.
Our food system is broken…but not beyond repair. Oxfam is launching a major campaign to take on the policies and corporations that control how much food gets produced, where it goes, who eats and who doesn’t – and we need your help.
Hunger isn’t about too many people and too little food. Our world produces enough food for all of us. So why does one in seven people still go to bed hungry each night?
A small handful of corporations control the vast majority of the food we eat. Local elites and frantic investors are grabbing up land we desperately need. Crops are being turned into fuel for SUVs. The causes are complex, but the solutions are pretty simple. And every one of us can make a difference, right now.
Together, over the coming months, we’ll push for a few simple but powerful changes to ensure our planet is ready to feed 9 billion people by 2050. Here’s how we’ll do it:
We aren’t saying it’s going to be easy. But together, we can make sure there is a place at the table for 9 billion people.
Sincerely,
Vicky Rateau, Campaign Manager, GROW
Oxfam America |
Filed under Community Partner, National, Volunteer Opportunities
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Noon Lions Club is recruiting civic-minded college students starting now!
The group meets once a week at noon on Thursdays at the Highland Park Methodist Church. The student group on campus is headed up by Kien How.
Students may join by calling the Service-Learning Volunteer Center at 405-744-515.
A few details about Noon Lions Club:
Activities include:
Want more information? Go here.
Filed under Community Partner, OSU, Stillwater, Volunteer Opportunities
The Stillwater Public Library needs volunteers for the Library of Congress Touring Museum Exhibit, which is June 7-8.
Volunteers will work a two hour shift…
The library is looking for 16 volunteers to help out.
To volunteer, contact Stacy DeLano at sdelano@stillwater.org or 405-372-3633 ext. 124.
Filed under Stillwater, Volunteer Opportunities
Filed under Community Partner, Stillwater, Volunteer Opportunities
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R otaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they’re sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true “partners in service” and key members of the family of Rotary.
As one of Rotary’s most significant and fastest-growing service programs, with more than 8,400 clubs in about 170 countries and geographical areas, Rotaract has become a worldwide phenomenon.
All Rotaract efforts begin at the local, grassroots level, with members addressing their communities’ physical and social needs while promoting international understanding and peace through a framework of friendship and service.
Rotaractors may also
Rotaractors are encouraged to keep their club’s contact information current.
For more information about Rotaract in your area, contact your local Rotary club, or e-mail RI staff.
Rotaract Constitution and Bylaws (PDF)
Rotaract Statement of Policy (PDF)
Current Quarterly Worldwide Rotaract Statistics (PDF)
The New Generations monthly e-newsletter provides news and developments regarding the Interact, Rotaract, and Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) programs.
Filed under Community Partner, OSU, SLVC, Volunteer Opportunities
A group of OSU graduate students recently hosted a program at Grace Living Center for the residents. Check it out here.
To volunteer at Grace Living Center and meet some super cool folks in Stillwater, call 405-372-1000 or drop by the center at 1215 West 10th.
Filed under Community Partner, How cool is that?!, OSU
*By Sandy Scott
Joplin, Mo. — In the wake of the nation’s deadliest tornado in six decades, more than 80 AmeriCorps members are working night and day to assist first responders and victims in the recovery efforts in Joplin, Mo.
With the death toll at 126, more than 700 people injured, and thousands of structures destroyed, the EF-5 tornado that struck Joplin last Sunday flattened everything in its path, leaving residents to scramble to find missing family members and find immediate shelter.
AmeriCorps members have traveled from near and far to Joplin to help coordinate relief efforts. Among the first on the ground was a group from the AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response Team, an AmeriCorps program that acts as a multi-functional rapid deployment group that has provided immediate and long-term disaster response to disasters in 29 states over the past 17 years.
As soon as word came of the devastation in Joplin, a team of AmeriCorps St. Louis ERT members packed their equipment and drove through the night to Joplin, arriving at 2:30 a.m. on Monday, not knowing where they would sleep but ready to get to work.
They quickly went into action to open a Missing Persons Hotline for individuals to register a profile of those who have not been accounted for after the deadly tornado. By 5:30 a.m., the AmeriCorps team had set up a 24-hour Missing Persons Hotline with the help of IT staffers at Missouri Southern State University.
Megan MacDougall, an AmeriCorps member who set up and is now overseeing the call center, said thousands of calls have been logged since the hotline opened. Callers give a detailed description of missing family or friends that goes into a database accessible to the Sheriff’s Office, Highway Patrol, Family Assistance Office, and search and rescue teams. The Missouri Department of Public Safety, which oversees the missing person’s effort, yesterday released a list of 232 individuals for whom an official missing persons report had been filed.
“We’ll stay here until we’re no longer needed,” said MacDougall, who hopes to find a job working on disaster relief when her year in AmeriCorps ends.
AmeriCorps members are also in the community, with teams of AmeriCorps members leading groups of 40-50 volunteers into Joplin to clear roads and debris to ensure first responders can maneuver effectively in search and rescue missions. AmeriCorps members are also registering and managing volunteers, overseeing a donation warehouse, and conducting needs assessments.
Stephanie Jackson, an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team leader from the Denver, is managing the donations warehouse at Missouri Southern State University. Her team, one of four NCCC teams in Joplin, had been working in St. Louis for the previous three weeks responding to the Good Friday tornado when they were redeployed to Joplin on Monday night. Jackson said her team got two hours of sleep the night they arrived by didn’t mind as they were eager to get to work. “We couldn’t wait to get here to help. It makes me feel alive and I know I am making a difference.”
Twelve AmeriCorps members from Skagit and Yakima counties in Washington State are also serving in Joplin. These AmeriCorps members, part of the Washington Conservation Corps, were redeployed from St. Louis and are assisting in the distribution center, volunteer intake center, and clean up efforts.
The AmeriCorps members in Joplin are part of a much larger national service response to the devastating floods and tornadoes that have struck the South and the Midwest this spring. Hundreds of AmeriCorps members and RSVP volunteers are serving in Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which oversees AmeriCorps, is working closely with FEMA and state officials in Missouri and other states to effectively use national service resources. The agency is deploying four staff members to Missouri to provide assistance to deployed AmeriCorps service projects including project development, logistical support, safety assurance, coordination among voluntary agencies, and support in the various federal and inter-agency disaster offices.
“This spring has seen an unprecedented series of disasters for our country. I’m proud our national service participants have put their skills and training to work to provide critical assistance to our fellow Americans who are facing such devastation,” said Kelly DeGraff, senior advisor for disaster services at CNCS. “AmeriCorps members were on the scene within hours after the tornado struck, and we’ll be there for the long haul.”
Learn more about ways to donate or volunteer to support Joplin by clicking here. For more information on national service disaster response, visit our Disaster Services webpage.
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The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
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Filed under Community Partner, National, Volunteer Opportunities
OSU encourages all groups to record their service hours for not only organizational recognition and awards but also to celebrate what the OSU community as a whole does.
But what do you do if you’re the group service chair and have no idea where to begin?
Here’s your handy dandy guide to recording group service hours. Seven simple steps to success.
Filed under OSU, SLVC, Volunteer Opportunities
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Filed under OSU, Stillwater, Volunteer Opportunities
