CVN Monthly Update, Feb. 2009: The 2009 Leadership Team

Below is our most recent email--please let us know any feedback. Also, if you aren't getting these in your inbox, sign up on the County site (be sure to check the box that you're interested in CVN and in receiving emails): http://tinyurl.com/CVN-register Dear CVN volunteer, I'd like to extend a warm welcome into 2009 to all volunteers and potential volunteers from all of us on the new Leadership Team for the Community Volunteer Network (CVN), formerly Community Role Models. In our often transient age range, and in a fast-moving metro area like ours, it can be tough to learn about the history of your community, let alone the groups within it. CVN has grown from an idea for a mentoring program into a group so key that it was recognized nationally in 2008 for what it has now become: a civic-minded, social network of 20 and 30 somethings aimed at helping our community for the better through volunteering and civic engagement. As the new CVN Leadership Team, we hope to build upon the work of the team that came before us to lead and drive innovative efforts to actively engage Arlington young adults in their community. To this end, we need your help and encourage you to get more involved. Who knows, your own ideas for events or initiatives may just help us to further stretch the limits of volunteering and community engagement in Arlington.  So, with no further ado, allow me to introduce the new team: Meredith Clayton, Vice-Chair / Social Lead Jon Bunger, Membership Lead Lisa Acker Dorsey, Program Lead Tim Riley, Events Lead Brendan O'Connor, Chair We'd love to chat with you all in a non-electronic fashion, so we invite you to come out to the February Monthly Meetup in Ballston tomorrow at Pinzimini, from 7-9 pm (please note that this is a change from the original Union Jacks location, though we plan to head there in the next few months). We're excited to have guest speaker Max Barger, the volunteer coordinator for the estate planning program at the Whitman-Walker Clinic, a non-profit that provides services and support to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.  In terms of volunteer events for February, consider going out for poker, blackjack and some lunch with residents at Cherrydale Health & Rehabilitation Center on Saturday, Feb. 14th. These visits are a great source of encouragement for the residents and, given the agenda, it should make for a fun afternoon. Find out more information and sign up here. We're also in the midst of planning another volunteer event for February, so stay tuned. Special thanks to the outgoing Leadership Team for all of their hard work growing CVN to where it is today and for the ongoing assistance and help they will be providing throughout our transition.  From our new Leadership Team to all of you, we look forward to a full, meaningful next year for CVN! All the best, Brendan PS - We're looking to encourage you all to realize the breadth of what can be accomplished by a committed group of folks, so we're offering the chance to anyone interested to join us in reading a book that provides a dozen examples of how ordinary people came together to help their community. The book, Better Together, by social scientist Robert Putnam, is a quick read and we'll look to offer the opportunity for CVN volunteers to come together and discuss it at least once in March, so watch for that if you're interested. -- Brendan O'Connor, Chair Community Volunteer Network www.arlingtonva.us/cvn