Volunteer Network Newsletter | March 2017

VOLUNTEER NETWORK

NEWSLETTER

March 2017

outreach-international.org

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

As I’ve looked through the surveys we’ve received from you, our volunteers, I’m once again reminded of the fact that it takes a worldwide village to accomplish our work. It takes you, sharing our resources to educate others, holding fundraisers, and advocating for those who lack basic needs. It also takes the residents in poverty-stricken communities, working together to bring about change, which benefits the world. Service on behalf of one another unites us.

Volunteering is also good for us it saves our organization money, inspires others to help, is good for our physical, mental, and emotional health, and helps those in need. You can’t put a price on that scope of impact!

You, our volunteers, range in age from high school students to seniors, but you’re united in your focus on the goal of helping Outreach alleviate poverty in the world. Our work literally depends on volunteers like you whose goodwill, dedication, time, and generosity make our work possible.

April is National Volunteer Month, which is all about celebrating service:

Discovering and demonstrating our collective power to make a difference.

First established with a presidential proclamation in 1974, this program has grown larger every year, with volunteer projects and events scheduled throughout the month.

Do you know of someone who is invested in our mission and making an impact? A volunteer who inspired you? Who is your youngest or oldest Outreach advocate? Have you found a fun or unique way to engage with other Outreach supporters? Are you putting your Activity Planning Worksheet to use? Email us with your story! We’ll be featuring your inspiring stories online and in print in April.

Thanks for giving of your time, talents, and resources to Outreach. It truly makes a difference.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Warm regards,

Volunteer Manager Outreach International

Outreach International Volunteer Network Newsletter

• Brackets for Good 2 • Volunteer Updates 2 • Calendar Idea-Starters 3 • Spring Into Action 3-4 • Volunteer Surveys 6 1

JOIN OUR BRACKET FOR GOOD! Outreach is honored to have been selected to compete in this year’s Brackets for Good tournament, an exercise in “competitive giving” that involves some of the heaviest hitters in the nonprofit-iverse. It’s like March Madness, but for nonprofits: In head-to-head matchups, whichever nonprofit raises the most money moves on to the next round, and so on, until one is crowned the winner (though the real winners are the beneficiaries of all those donations).

The winner receives a grand prize of $100,000. Battling chronic poverty is a team effort. Join us!

Here’s how you can get Involved: 1.

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Invite your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors to support Outreach International in this nationwide tournament. Every dollar donated counts as a point towards our team.

Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter to stay updated on our path to victory.

Donate! See outreach-international.org/bfg

Want more info about how the tournament works? Check out: outreach-international.org/bfg_howtodonate

VOLUNTEER NETWORK UPDATE New & Returning Volunteer Representatives/ Advisors/ Partnership Contacts • Amy Phillips — VN Rep, Blencoe, IA, 11/9/16 • John & Melina Williams — VN Reps, Partnership Contacts, Albuquerque, NM, 1/4/17 • Tom and Karen Alexander — VN Reps & Partnership Contacts, Huntsville, AL, 9/29/16 • Vivian & Jerry Nash — Returning VN Reps, Eugene, OR 1/5/17 Retiring Representatives/Advisors/Partnership Contacts • Brennan Williams — VN Rep, Partnership Contact, Albuquerque, NM, 2/1/16 – 1/4/17 • Carolyn Wheeler — VM Rep, Eugene, OR, 2016 • Marietta Walden — VN Rep & Partnership Contact, Ridgecrest, CA, 9/16/04 – 10/5/16 • Mike Sahlberg — VN Rep & Primary Contact, Astoria, OR, 1/8/16 – 11/10/16 • Nancy Condit — VN Rep, Woodburn, OR, 1/8/16 – 11/10/16 • Joyce Barnhard — VN Rep, Oak Grove, MO, 10/27/98 – 10/5/16 • Robert Taylor — VN Rep & Partnership Contact, Huntsville, AL 11/26/07 – 9/29/16 • Tanya Burow — VN Rep, Battle Creek, IA, 10/30/08 – 11/9/16 • Vivian & Jerry Nash — Advisors, Oregon, 8/22/14 – 1/5/17 In Memoriam Glen Carlisle left a legacy of lifelong service as an avid, energetic volunteer and advocate for Outreach, his church, community, and country. Serving as a Representative and Partnership Contact for the New Philadelphia, OH Community of Christ from 3/31/05 – 11/7/16, Glen was also an Outreach Founder, supporting Outreach International since 1984. Many knew Glen for his “Kans for Kids” recycling efforts, which have collected over 250,000 aluminum cans for Haitian children. Donations in his memory were made to the children of Haiti via Outreach International.

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Outreach International Volunteer Network Newsletter

SPRING INTO ACTION!

What are you doing to engage your family, friends, youth group, colleagues, or faith community in making a positive impact on the world? How can you make our mission viral and sustainable? Here are some tips:

CHILDREN & YOUTH • Reveal a Need – Most children are compassionate, caring beings who love to help. Provide stories about children their age in need, and suggest ideas about how they can help by fundraising, then invite them to think of their own ideas.

• Invite Their Participation – Let them know they have the power to affect change. Affirm their ideas and encourage /provide opportunities for them to share their passion and enthusiasm.

• Help them be Successful – Provide background support and find examples of others close to their age who have been successful at fundraising or planning events.

TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS • Make it Meaningful – What are their interests? What do they care about? What type of fundraising efforts are they engaged in now? How can you connect these interests to the type of work Outreach International is doing?

• Engage them in the Process & Foster Competence – Creative, fun, and wacky ideas abound when you give people autonomy. Encourage fundraisers to share their passion and the reasons for their commitment, and then create their own challenges.

Outreach International Volunteer Network Newsletter

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SPRING INTO ACTION! • Make it Collaborative & Keep Them Motivated – Encourage a unified vision of working toward a common goal, and offer yourself as a sounding board, resource, and feedback tool. Provide images, stories, and videos of the impact they are making to give them reasons to stay involved.

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Utilize Savvy Social Media Skills – Want to get the word out? Make sure your communications are mobileoriented for the most successful feedback and actions. If that’s not your thing yet, go learn about it—it’s only a Google search away! Meanwhile, ask teens and young adults to post, or tweet about your event or activity to their peers to make the most of it!

ADULTS AND GROUPS • Illustrate Needs & Make it Meaningful – Everyone wants to make a difference. Encourage adults and intergenerational groups to become more educated on worldwide needs by utilizing our website and programs based on their interests, and to support Outreach based on those passions.

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Focus on Sustainability – Besides doing good, everyone wants to know that their support matters long-term, and monthly giving is a great way to support programs they care about. Give them the right tools, encouragement, and resources, and empower them to fundraise via the internet and social media.

• Utilize Gifts & Connections – What life skills could benefit your cause? Enlist the help of planners, active retirees, leaders with connections, and enthusiastic supporters, and utilize those skills to connect with their networks in promoting and supporting your cause and events. Are they connected with like-minded companies, foundations, or churches who might support the Outreach mission?

“Mentoring enables us to participate in the essential but unfinished drama of reinventing community, while reaffirming that there is an important role for each of us in it.”— Marc Freedman

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Need volunteer resources? — Visit outreach-international.org/resources Outreach International Volunteer Network Newsletter

SPRING IDEA STARTERS

MARCH

Host a yard sale benefit. Raise funds and awareness for your cause! For a personal touch, you can share stories, resources, or gift catalogs with shoppers.

Make sure to publicize that proceeds will go to Outreach International!

3/12: March Madness. The annual NCAA Basketball Tournament begins March 12th. Don’t forget to donate to Outreach International to help us with our Brackets for Good standing!

JUNE

3/12: Daylight Savings Time Begins. The light at the end of the tunnel! What will you and your group do with the extra sunlight to benefit Outreach? See our video about Manesh, and how electrical light benefited his education, at outreachinternational.org/a-light-in-the-dark/. Maybe it’ll make a light bulb go off over your head!

3/17: St. Patrick’s Day. Benjamin Franklin said, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” Our good luck comes when our collective preparations and commitment to our cause meet opportunity. What can you do to bring us luck? Whenever you do something for our mission, it is a lucky day for those in need!

3/22: World Water Day. Water is scarce in some areas. See and share our new water video banner at outreach-international.org/issues/water-new/

APRIL

Plan Your Summer Event. Share resources and stories at a church or family reunion, host a Team Challenge, Summit Challenge, create your own personal challenge, use our Vacation Church School resources, or plan a fundraiser! There are so many ways to mix Outreach into your fun in the sun! Check out your options online, or contact us at 888.833.1235.

4/7: World Health Day. Has your group used the Health Team Challenge? You can be part of the world sanitation solution while participating in fun activities for your group. See outreach-international.org/Team-Challenge_Hunger 4/22: Earth Day. Find out how groups in Malawi are participating in a sustainable reforestation project at outreach-international.org/reforestation-in-malawi/.

MAY

5/14: Mother’s Day. Make a tribute gift to Outreach in honor of your mom or another maternal figure who has made an impact on your life.

5/29: Memorial Day. Besides making a memorial gift in the name of someone worth commemorating, how can you best use this holiday to share our mission with those whom you will see during this holiday’s celebrations?

Outreach International Volunteer Network Newsletter

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OUTREACH CEO PAYS UP! Remember the survey we sent you recently?

In it, our CEO Kevin Prine challenged you, our volunteers, to complete and return it, and in exchange, he’d donate a dollar for every survey we received? We received 104 completed surveys by our deadline of Feb 20, 2017! That is the equivalent of providing an education for 3 girls, an acre of land, or a goat and 2 chickens for an individual, family, or community !

Thank you to everyone who completed this survey. Your input gives us a better idea of what’s going on in your area and what resources are most helpful to you. The donation provided by our CEO as a result of your responses will help those in poverty with whom we work. Thanks again to all our motivated, engaged volunteers.

HONORING OUR DO-GOODERS ADVENT STORIES INSPIRE GIVING Joy Harris, of the Canoga Park Community of Christ, reported that their congregation took up an offering each Sunday during Advent, using the packet provided by Outreach. “Our kids look forward to actual stories about a child or family,” she says. “I think the true stories touch our youth and adults alike, even though the 16 youth in the congregation are getting older.” She continued, “We had several other Outreach-type projects going at the same time, but are pleased to send $499 for this very worthy cause.”

Thanks to Joy and the youth of Canoga Park for your support! We are pleased to get your feedback as well on expanding the Advent Stable materials for maturing youth.

TICKLING THE IVORIES FOR OUTREACH G. Scott Lacy, a musician, vocal coach, recording artist, and award-winning musical director, has been performing and sharing his musical talent with others at free-will benefit concerts in support of Outreach International since 1989.

In 2016, his concert netted $2,384, and over the years, he has raised $16,596 for our mission. He also features Outreach on his own website, letting others know about his cause at www.gscottlacy.com/links/.

Although Scott is not a formal volunteer for Outreach, he is one of our most ardent and humble supporters, and his actions to promote our mission certainly mirror that of a 6

volunteer. “It has been my sincere honor and joy to perform and share my talent with others at these benefit concerts for the last two decades,” he says. “I believe in the beautiful work and mission of Outreach International and I hope to be in partnership with you for many years to come. Thank you for ALL you do in this world.”

We continue to be inspired and appreciative of Scott’s talent and generosity, and are thankful for all of you who utilize your talents to create a better world.

ARTIST’S PRINTS BENEFIT OI David Goehner, of Yakima WA sells 11"x17" art prints at comic book conventions, and last fall, debuted a new one of Jesus wearing Terminator-esque dark glasses accompanied by the words: “I’ll be Back,” offered to attendees for a donation amount of their own choosing to Outreach International.

The entirety of the proceeds from this piece for every show he does will be going to Outreach, and sent the first installment our way last December. Hasta la vista, chronic poverty!

ANSWERS + RESOURCES

Marsha Penrose

Volunteer Manager m.penrose@outreachmail.org 888.833.1235 (Toll-Free USA) Outreach International Volunteer Network Newsletter