Our Blog has moved!

Thank you to all of our readers for following our Volunteer Marin blog!  With the new version of our new website-www.volunteermarin.org-we have switched to a Wordpress Blog, so you can see the most recent posts on our website homepage.

We invite you to view our new website and browse through our new blog- www.volunteermarin.wordpress.com.  Also, if you ever have a topic about volunteerism in Marin that you would like to hear about, please email us at volunteermarin@cvnl.org.  We would love to feature your idea or post on our blog!

In service, 

-The Volunteer Marin Staff

Harness the Power of the People this Earth Day!

Although the last-minute budget deal that averted the chaos of a government shutdown comes as a relief, it also bears with it the solemnity of imminent and painful cuts. President Obama warns us that the federal budget deal comes with difficult tradeoffs.

Our pressing economic crisis demands that we find new ways to make use of our available resources. One of our most abundant and underused natural resources is the power of volunteers. In these challenging times, the value of volunteerism is more important than ever. In homage to the significance of volunteerism, President Obama designated the week of April 10^th to the 16^th National Volunteer Week, calling on Americans to get involved in service.

Let us also never doubt the power in numbers and the power of collaboration to strengthen our communities. The success of the 2010 Coastal Clean Up Day clearly embodies the power of volunteers. On September 25^th, 2010 over 2,000 volunteers participated in Marin and managed to pick up over 8,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from Marin’s watershed. Coastal Clean Up Day inspired the concerted efforts of the My Earth Day Marin Coalition to create a county-wide Earth Day cleanup event. The My Earth Day Coalition is a collaboration of the Marin County Parks and Open Space District, the City of San Rafael Volunteer Program, the San Rafael Clean Program, Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership, and the Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program. Dedicated to providing meaningful opportunities for people to get involved in their community and environment, the Coalition is promoting its own Earth Day projects as well as those of many amazing organizations throughout Marin.

You can make a significant difference and help change the Earth's future by participating in this year's Earth Day cleanup.

>> Click here to learn how to volunteer this upcoming Earth Day!

Help Support Our Marin Students

There is no denying that public education nationally and locally is in a major crisis. And sadly our quality of education continues to spiral down as we see school funding cut, class size increased, teachers’ salary and benefits attacked, and the student programs and services we offer slashed. California’s public schools in particular are in a sad state. Quoted from the California Teacher’s Association, “California continues to lag behind the national average in per-pupil funding, has some of the largest class sizes in the country and ranks dead last in the number of counselors and librarians in our schools” (http://www.cta.org/).

Due to lack of funding our students don’t have the resources nor the attention they need and deserve and therefore are denied the opportunity to succeed in school. To ensure our students achieve we must make sure they receive as much extra help and support as possible. All the projects offered through our Flexible Volunteer Program (Flex) are designed to meet pressing community needs. Through Flex you can help at-risk kids succeed in school by volunteering at our Play a Game, Learn, and Read with Kids projects, helping out at an after school program and giving kids the one-on-one attention and homework help they ought to have.

Our Flex program is also very excited to offer a new project, Share Your Mind, aimed to help get Spanish speaking parents involved in their child’s education. Volunteers will help support parents to become more involved in their child's learning and ensure their child succeeds in school by working with students along side their parents. You will be giving Latino parents who would like to be engaged their children learning the opportunity to do so. Children need encouragement and support to succeed in school, and there is no better source for that support than from the family. The project will be a rewarding experience for the volunteer and for the student and their parents.

>>Click here to learn more/register for the Flex Share Your Mind project.

>>Click here to learn more/register for the Flex Play a Game, Learn, and Read with Kids project - Marin City

>>Click here to learn more/register for the Flex Play a Game, Learn, and Read with Kids project - Fairfax

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Support Japan with a Cause that you Believe In

The aftermath of the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis has been ever present on the news.  We have seen the immense devastation and the vast need for resources and donations.  It is sometimes difficult in these times to know where to lend aid-multiple organizations are doing great work to help, and it can be hard to sift out the causes we feel might have the most impact.

If you are a volunteer that donates your time or a nonprofit that utilizes volunteers to run its services, you know how essential an extra pair of hands can be. Spontaneous volunteers (volunteers who do not have search & rescue skills) are lending their hands and hearts in Japan.  Our affiliate through the HandsOn Network, HandsOn Tokyo, needs our help in order to keep connecting these volunteers/donations with the organizations that need them most.  Please consider lending aid to HandsOn Tokyo as they work to support their community from the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

>>Donate to HandsOn Tokyo 

(This link will take you to HandsOn Tokyo's ebay page.  To learn more about HandsOn Tokyo please visit their English Language Website at http://www.handsontokyo.org/en/home)