Welcome to the Volunteer Center Serving Howard County

Service Nation

Thanks to everyone who joined in the Day of Action as part of the Service Nation initiative! Volunteers collected 171 pounds of food for the Maryland Food Bank (special thanks to the Fulton Elementary School PTA/Fall Festival). Volunteers also made cheer cards for Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland, collected additional food for Grassroots Crisis Prevention Center, and assembled hygiene kits for the Gulf Coast disaster relief effort. Due to the inclement weather, other outside projects were cancelled. Keep your eyes on the calendar for other days of service, or consider registering with our 1-800-Volunteer.org system for notification when similar projects occur in the future. Again, THANK YOU to everyone who made a difference during the Day of Action!

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Current Volunteer Opportunities!

Check out our online calendar to find great one-time and flexible volunteer opportunities! Or you can sign-up now with 1-800-Volunteer.org, the Volunteer Center Serving Howard County's new online, searchable, 24/7 accessible volunteer opportunities database! Click here to visit the Volunteer Center's 1-800-Volunteer.org website, or enter your zip code or key word in the search box above.

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Volunteer Center Serving Howard County on Facebook! Become a Fan today!

Show your support of the Volunteer Center by visiting our page on Facebook and clicking on "Become a Fan" in the upper right-hand corner!

Volunteer Opportunities for Teens - September 2008

Access the Volunteer Opportunities for Teens - September 2008 update of our most popular publication and learn about local non-profit agencies with opportunities for young volunteers.

Guide to Mentoring 2008

Want to volunteer to be a mentor, tutor, or educator and looking for the right volunteer opportunity? Click on our latest Guide to Mentoring to discover wonderful opportunities at local non-profit and governmental agencies!

Volunteer Recognition

Know a great volunteer? Consider nominating them for the Daily Points of Light award! Learn more at www.pointsoflight.org.

Do you know a young hero who should be profiled in the National Service Briefing?
Nominate a young person between the ages of 5-25, who you think deserves to be profiled as a young hero. To submit a Young Heroes nomination, please send the name, age, city, and state of the young person you are nominating, as well as a brief description of their involvement in service to change their community. Self-nominations are accepted. Send nominations to nsbinfo@ysa.org with the subject line NOMINATION.

What will you do when disaster strikes?

Sign-up now as a volunteer in order to make the best use of your skills and talents following a disaster. Contact Pam to learn more about our upcoming disaster volunteer orientations or trainings for Volunteer Mobilization Center volunteers (see schedule below)- she can be reached at pam@volunteerhoward.org or by calling (410) 715-3179.

Consider attending an orientation or training session.

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Non-Profit Job Opportunities

Recently updated

Learn about local agencies:
New agency: Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning
Updated agencies: AARP Tax Assistance Program, African Art Museum of Maryland, AIDS Alliance of Howard County, AIPT/IAESTE United States, Guiding Eyes for the Blind

Home Page:
Added information on helping those affected by recent hurricanes. Added Facebook link, added logos for Hands on Network and Points of Light Institute

Agency Services:
Under Volunteer Recognition, added information about the Casey Willis Award.

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Upcoming Orientations and Trainings

Please RSVP to (410) 715-3179 or e-mail pam@volunteerhoward.org if you plan to attend or for more info! Although the programs below are free, registration is required in order to ensure adequate supplies and materials.
Cancellation Policy: If Howard County Public Schools are closed due to inclement weather or an emergency, the program will be cancelled.

Date	Time	Location	Type of Orientation/Training
Oct. 21 (Tues)	6:30 - 7:30 pm	Volunteer Center	Disaster Volunteer Orientation - free but registration required
Oct. 28 (Tues.)	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Volunteer Center	Volunteer Mobilization Center - Volunteer Training free but registration required
Nov. 6 (Thurs.)	6 - 9:30 pm	Savage Branch - Howard County Library	Sheltering, Feeding and Bulk Distribution offered in partnership with the American Red Cross - free but registration required
Nov. 20 (Thurs.)	6:30 – 7:30pm	Volunteer Center Serving Howard County	Disaster Volunteer Orientation - free but registration required

Our Mission is to stimulate and expand volunteerism in the community through connecting people to nonprofit and public agencies in order to improve the quality of life for all people in Howard County.

The Volunteer Center Serving Howard County would like to thank the following organizations for funding our services and programs: the Columbia Association, the Columbia Foundation, the Horizon Foundation, Howard County Department of Citizens Services, the Maryland Governor's Office for Service and Volunteerism, and the United Way Community Partnership of Howard County. Thank you for visiting www.volunteerhoward.org!

The Volunteer Center Serving Howard County is an affiliate of the Hands on Network and Points of Light Institute and part of a network of more than 350 volunteer organizations.