Hands On Asheville-Buncombe Impact Report 2012

volunteer

give advocate

Hands On Asheville-Buncombe • 2012 Impact Report When our community wants to give back there is one place they can go to find volunteer opportunities based on their interests, skills, availability and/or location. That place is Hands On Asheville-Buncombe.

Hands On is the perfect matchmaking service for doing good, we: • • • • •

engage groups in volunteer projects, manage quick impact projects that engage individuals and benefit our partner agencies, organize large scale community service days, manage a professional development program for people who work with volunteers, and operate a Web site that is a clearinghouse for community involvement and change.

We are excited about our growth in the past year and the new opportunities that lay ahead. We hope this report gives you a better sense of our impact and vision for the community and our work.

- Bonnie Duncan Knit-n-Give at Home volunteer

In fact 84 people took advantage of 5 Portable Projects, giving 3,983 volunteer hours.

Total Volunteers by Focus Area If we boil down each opportunity to its core purpose we find that most of the volunteer opportunities 31% listed within our database fit well with United Way’s mission to improve our community in the areas of Education, Income and Health. Of course we list all kinds of volunteer opportunities, but this chart shows the percentage of total volunteers by focus area.

35%

11% 23%

Education Education

Income

Health

Income

Health

Other

Other

Let’s drill deeper... The top ten impact areas Health and Wellness

5,008

Hunger and Homelessness

4,047

Children and Youth

1,835

Schools

1,386

Senior Services

1,238

Environment

500

Animals

382

Family Services

355

Civic and Community

340

Arts and Culture

325 0

1000

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ice Provide

by Impact Ar

Bonnie wasn’t the only one giving back this way

= $350,470 donated time and savings for 125 organizations that got volunteers from Hands On

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Portable Projects are an innovative and fun approach to community service – right from home! Easy to do alone or with a group.

+ 16, 084 hours at 726 service projects

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I was overjoyed to find I could still contribute to our local community directly. I have now contributed more than 1500 knitted/crocheted items through the Knit-N-Give program directly to organizations who distribute them to others who need them. “

Numbers

Hours Of

I left my last job in 2008... I found Hands On Asheville-Buncombe about 2 weeks later through a brochure in a doctor’s office.

Big Picture 2,925 volunteers

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“Many years ago I was in a difficult financial position and was able to get a much needed service through programs supported by United Way. Soon after that I got a job that allowed me to “pay back” for the help I received and continued to do so throughout my 23 year career.

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Sometimes you need to hear things straight from those closest to the action... to really understand the impact of volunteering...

“In my job as a Supported Employment professional I assist individuals who have disabilities with "job sampling," but I am not always able to do this in a comprehensive manner at places of business, so FLEX projects are very helpful and useful to me.

I utilize volunteer opportunities to assess individuals' strengths, challenges, interests, stamina, social/ communication skills, etc. while we both do good volunteer work for our community! I love it!”

- Kari Kopp, Hands On Flex Volunteer

Flex Projects are meaningful done-in-a-day volunteer opportunities created in collaboration with our Partner Agency, and led by trained Hands On Volunteer Leaders.

These 1-3 hour long projects don’t require an ongoing commitment, giving people the chance to explore a variety of opportunities that impact our community.

In 2012 there were: 318 Flex volunteers 166 Flex Project opportunities 1,736 volunteer hours served

“So many of our older volunteers are always stating that this opportunity gives them a reason to live.” - Ellen Knoefel, director WNC Project Linus

Can you believe this? 2012 marked the 21st Anniversary of Day of Caring! Nearly 1,000 volunteers from 66 local businesses and the public completed 70 projects to support 65 local nonprofits, schools, and public entities.

What’s that worth? Although it’s impossible to quantify the true value of this service event to the community, volunteers contributed over 3,200 hours with an estimated savings to participating organizations valued at over $71,000.

“Day of Caring occurred on one of the busiest and most demanding days for our firm - in all departments. There was a lot of trepidation about the benefits outweighing the costs to us BUT the experience connected us to the community and to each other in a way no other firm activity has.

We were exhausted and refreshed at the same time. There was a lot of laughter and, at the end of the project, pride in our contribution to cleaning up the Erwin campus.

Loved the whole experience!

And we were able to tackle our normal responsibilities with vigor.

Definitely worth it.

Day of Caring has sparked new ideas about our next community project this season. Thanks so much!”

- Day of Caring Volunteer

Learn about our Community School Pilot Project @ Enka Middle School Hands On Asheville-Buncombe and United Way’s Middle School Success Initiative have partnered with the YMCA’s 21st Century Program and Enka Middle School to create a Community School pilot project this year.

First, a definition: community schools are schools that become community centers integrating academics, health/social services and community development.

During the 2012-2013 school year, our goal is to build the framework for what this Community School will be while working to enhance services provided to students and their parents.

Hands On is hosting two full-time AmeriCorps/VISTA members this year.

They are the key coordinators of our work at Enka.

So what has happened since our Americorps/VISTA members began in August of 2012?

• They’ve engaged 38 students in

service from the YMCA’s 21st Century Program on Make a Difference Day in October. These students didn’t just volunteer, they developed and led the projects.

• Held a community meal for 90

people (Enka Middle families, staff) where they discussed project ideas.

• Recruited 24 Advisory Council

members and are developing a variety of student enrichment programming to be added to the YMCA of WNC’s 21st Century Program and to other students at Enka Middle.

• They’re also busy coordinating

parent/family classes, volunteer opportunities and service days, and hosting “meet and greets” to get to know the faculty and staff at Enka Middle even better.

Not bad for 6 months of work... check us out

handsonasheville.org