CVN Monthly Update, Nov. 2009: More than 50 of You at Community Residences!

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, Happy almost-Thanksgiving! With Thanksgiving this week and the end of the year around the corner, and we just want to give everyone our quick monthly heads-up on upcoming events. Before doing that though, a few quick notes. First, many thanks to everyone who came to help out with our Race Against the Odds event, and to the big crowd that came out for our annual Community Residences event--50 of you came out to support us for that, making for out biggest event of the year! Check out some great pictures of it on Flicker here (and a special shout-out to Vin Menon for coming up with the most inventive way to collect leaves--take a look here, then here). Also, we have a number of folks who filled out our online form to show interest in leadership positions with CVN--if you weren't able to, we'll take names until the end of this week here.  If you did let us know you were interested: first, thanks, we appreciate the support; otherwise, we will plan to be in touch shortly if we haven't already. We won't be able to place everyone in the position they're interested in, but we will definitely get you involved in some way or another if interested! CVN EVENTS: December Monthly Meetup - Thurs., Dec. 3 (7-9 pm) @ Capitol City Brewing Company in Shirlington | Come join us at this, our last Meetup of the year! If you are willing and able, please bring an unwrapped toy and/or wrapping paper to the meetup to support our Dec. Christmas Angel event with OAR (see below). Find out more, RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/CVNMeetup-2009-12  Holiday Elves - Sat. Dec.12; Sat., Dec.19; Sun., Dec.20 (7 shifts total) | Come help the Arlington Jaycees take pictures of children coming to see Santa. You'll also be helping to raise money for a camp for children and adults with special needs. Find out more, RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/JayceeElves  OAR Christmas Angel Wrapping - Thurs., Dec. 17, (6:30 – 8 pm) | Join OAR's Project Christmas Angel in ensuring that no child of an incarcerated parent goes without a gift this holiday season. CVN will be attending the annual wrapping party where CVN will wrap donated toys for the children. Find out more, RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/OARWrappingEvent OTHER ARLINGTON OPPS:  Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot - Thurs., Nov. 26, (8 am) l Want to burn some calories before the big meal and help strengthen the safety net?  Join 2,000 of your neighbors for a fun run on TG morning.  Find out more here: http://bit.ly/2yrxxd  Holiday Gift Wrapping to Benefit Literacy - Everyday until Christmas l Sign up with a friend to wrap customers' gifts at Barnes and Noble or Borders in a fundraiser for the Literacy Council.  Find out more here: http://ow.ly/Dls9  Other Volunteering Opps - Find some other volunteering opportunities you might be interested in here.  Holiday Volunteering Opps - Find some other volunteering opportunities you might be interested in here: http://ow.ly/ETgb If you want to get reminders about CVN events and information about other volunteer opportunities on evenings and weekends, follow Sharon, our County Liaison, on Twitter @CVNLiaison Thanks again to everyone who has gotten involved with CVN, we look forward to finishing strong here in 2009, and getting a running start into 2010! Best, Brendan -- Brendan O'Connor Community Volunteer Network (CVN) Chair