Volunteers Needed for 2 Events

As the second half of January begins, we have posted two new volunteer opportunities for this month and could really use your help!

A-SPAN Point-in-Time Survey - Wednesday, January 25th, 4am - 10pm | A-SPAN is seeking volunteers to help take surveys for the annual Point-in-Time survey of homeless people in Arlington. Shifts are available throughout the day and training will be provided at a mandatory orientation on Sunday, January 22nd. We encourage CVNers to get involved in any shift that fits your schedule. Click here to see the shifts and learn more. To sign up, please contact Sarah Morse directly at smorse@a-span.org or 703-842-0168.

Kindergarten Information Night - Monday, January 30th, 6:15pm– 9:15pm | Volunteers will assemble program packets, greet parents, and collect evaluation forms. CVN has participated in this event with Arlington Public Schools for the past few years and it is a great opportunity to help parents prepare for their child's enrollment in kindergarten. Register here.

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February Monthly Meetup @ Frontpage (Ballston) – Tuesday, February 7th, 7-9:00pm | Please be aware that due to Valentine's Day, our February meetup has been moved to 2/7, the first Tuesday of the month. RSVP here: February 7th Meetup

Hope to see you soon!

Garry

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Garry Knobler, CVN Chair
cvn.chair@gmail.com
www.arlingtonva.us/cvn

CVN: Year in Photos

Thank you to everyone who volunteered with the Community Volunteer Network in 2011! Here's a quick recap of our year in pictures.

  

  

   

  

  

  

 

  

 

 

To see more photos from 2011, visit CVN's Flickr page.

Community Volunteer Network: Survey

It’s time for the Community Volunteer Network’s bi-annual survey where we learn what is working, what needs improvement, and how we can better meet our mission of making a positive difference in Arlington through volunteering, building networks, socializing, and developing leaders.

Whether you’re a current volunteer, a past volunteer, or looking to get involved, we’d love to hear your opinion.  The survey will take 5 – 10 minutes to complete and all responses will remain anonymous.  Click here to complete the survey.

By completing this survey, you will be entered into a raffle for a $20 gift card to a local restaurant!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.  We hope to see you at an upcoming event!

Tiffany
CVN Liaison

If you have difficulty with the survey link above, paste the link below into your browser to complete our survey regarding the Community Volunteer Network: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?pli=1&hl=en_US&formkey=dF9nUTdteV85MHM0ZkdjZDBqdGFLZUE6MQ#gid=0.

Setting a Course for the Year

This weekend was the CVN Leadership Retreat where CVN's volunteer leaders discussed what they had learned in 2010 and created a plan for even greater success in 2011.

One of the retreat outcomes was to set a date for a Volunteer Leader Training.  We want you to be more involved with CVN and hope you can join us for this opportunity.

Check out this visual representation of where we are headed:

Mural Created by Diane Cline, www.othconsulting.com

You Could be the next Educational Program Assistant at the Women's Center

As many of you know, and more will find out tonight at CVN's Monthly Meetup, I am leaving my position as the County Liaison for Community Volunteer Network.  My last day is January 21st.  Not only am I leaving CVN and Volunteer Arlington, but I am leaving the area, to take a year long volunteer road trip, so I must give up my own volunteer commitments as well.  One of those commitments is as a volunteer for the Women's Center in Vienna, VA.  I have volunteered for them as an Educational Program Assistant for a few months now and have really enjoyed the position.  It is the perfect volunteer role for someone that enjoys learning new things and having an independent volunteer role.  This could be you!

ABOUT THE POSITION

As an Educational Program Assistant, I would arrive 30 minutes before the training to prepare the room, welcome the presenter, and register attendees.  The Women's Center offers regular trainings on many different topics from resume building to preparing for a divorce.  The trainings are held in theevenings or on weekends in a few different locations around northern Virginia (particularly in Vienna, Manassas, McLean, Arlington, Fairfax, and Sterling).  Most are 2-3 hours, so the volunteer commitment is 3-4 hours.

HOW TO APPLY

I found this volunteer opportunity through Volunteer Arlington's Online Volunteer Connection (OVC) and contacted the Volunteer Coordinator using the OVC.  Check out the listing.   She then sent me an application and asked me to return it with a resume.  I met with her for a short interview and then reviewed the list of upcoming classes to see which ones were a good match for my schedule.

MY EXPERIENCE AT THE WOMEN'S CENTER

I enjoyed this experience because it was a chance for me to learn about a long-standing successful non-profit as well as attend classes for free.  I chose to volunteer for classes that interested me, such as Beating the Sugar Blues and Successful Resume Essentials.  These are classes I would not have taken otherwise, but I always learned something new.  The class participants were very engaged in the topics and the small intimate classroom setting allowed for a lot of discussion.

Two challenges I experienced were traffic and turnover.  The Women's Center building in Vienna is located right in the heart of Vienna, which can be a nightmare during rush hour.  The best work around was when it was warmer out I biked to the training using the WO&D trail which runs 1 block away from the center.  The second challenge was that soon after I started volunteering, the Volunteer Coordinator position changed hands.  Since I volunteer after hours, I have never had a chance to meet the new volunteer coordinator.  The transition was smooth in terms of getting the support that I needed (they prepare a folder ahead of time for you), but I feel a bit disconnected.

Check out a previous blog post, Lifelong Learner: A Volunteer Vocation, from September 2010 about volunteering at the Women's Center.

video: CVN Interview