Saturday, November 17th !!

National Family Volunteer Day is a day for families across America to work together in volunteer service to strengthen their families, communities, local businesses and non-profit organizations. This year's theme is "Time Together-Time to Act".

This year the National Family Volunteer Day service project is being coordinated by the volunteer based student organization S.W.O.T (Students Working Onward Together). S.W.O.T is an established student organization here at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, that encourages students to be engaged with their community through service.

On Saturday, November 17th volunteers will be heading down to the city of Detroit to lend a helping hand to the Parade Company! The Parade Company is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to funding, creating and executing the best family events in metro Detroit.

The Parade Company is pleased to announce that the theme for the 81^st America’s Thanksgiving Parade^® is Hats Off Detroit! The theme celebrates the exciting rebirth of downtown Detroit, the development of our Riverfront and the remarkable success of our hometown sports teams.

America’s Thanksgiving Parade^® is one of the country’s oldest and most celebrated. Hundreds of thousands of parade-goers will be watching America’s Thanksgiving Parade as it makes its way down Woodward Avenue.

http://www.theparade.org/

Volunteers will assist The Parade Company in a variety of ways: helping with float construction in The Parade Studio, sew costumes for The Parade, help at any of the many events and march in The Parade! There are so many ways to become involved!!

If you are interested in volunteering with us on Saturday, November 17th please register via our online process http://www.umd.umich.edu/310301/

For more information please feel free to contact via email umd_swot@yahoo.com
or contact Randy Dillard rdillard@umd.umich.edu

UM-Dearborn Admissions Staff Volunteers in New Orleans

While participating in the annual Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) conference through the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers (AACRAO), members of the Office of Admissions and Orientation at the University of Michigan-Dearborn volunteered in New Orleans at an elementary school. This Post-Katrina Community Service Project was offered in conjunction with City Year, a division of AmeriCorps and was a part of the nationwide "Make A Difference Day."

A part of 45 conference go-ers who volunteered, UM-Dearborn staff joined more than 75 volunteers to lend a hand painting at the Live Oak School. Urana Pridemore, Deb Peffer, Farhan Latif and Christopher Tremblay painted indoors and outdoors. Projects included painting interior doors and walls, exterior benches along with painting on the playground, which included a kickball court, hopscotch and four-square. This four-member team painted alongside Louisiana State University students and other college volunteers on Saturday, October 27, 2007.

Make a Difference Day 2007

Make a Difference Day 2oo7!!

On Saturday, October 27th UMD students, staff and faculty participated in the third annual Make a Difference Day service event coordinated by our university. Make a Difference Day is our countries largest national day of service and was created by USA Weekend Magazine.
Over 3 million people across America participated in the charity event, held on the fourth Saturday of October. Of those 3 million, over 70 volunteers from the University of Michigan-Dearborn came out on a rainy Saturday to lend a helping hand.

This year the University of Michigan-Dearborn partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to register volunteers for the event. Volunteer efforts were divided between the Greening of Detroit tree planting project and Vista Maria in Dearborn Heights.

The Greening of Detroit exists to reforest neighborhoods and parks in the city of Detroit, while Vista Maria was established to assist girls age 11 to 17 with mental health issues, problems with substance abuse and trauma recovery.

-information reprinted with permission from the UM-Dearborn Michigan Journal-

2nd Annual Gandhi Day of Service

On Saturday, October 6th 2007 over 50 volunteers from UM-Dearborn, the Michigan Health Academy (a local Charter High School), and a number of individuals who just wanted to help out came to together for the 2nd Annual Gandhi Day of Service.

The volunteers helped community agencies throughout the Metro Detroit Area, agencies included The Greening of Detroit, World Medical Relief, Arts & Scraps, and Gleaners Community Food Bank. If we use the calculations provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics the estimated value of service that volunteers poured BACK into the community on just this ONE Saturday was $3,334.24. The State of Michigan could use many more volunteers like the service oriented individuals that showed up to the UM-Dearborn campus bright and early eager to lend a helping hand.

Here are some thoughts from the individuals that took time out of their busy schedules to volunteer:

"It was a very humbling and enlightening experience, I would recommend it to everyone."

Andrew Kunys
UM-Dearborn, Senior majoring in Biochemistry

"I thought it would be a good way to help out in the community. I think it is important for everyone to donate their time."

Cara Niemann
UM-Dearborn, Freshman majoring in Elementary Education

The vision and goal of this annual event is to inspire and empower people around the world through civic engagement and community service and by unifying people through the common goal of serving communities in need. Volunteers are united through Gandhi’s common values of equality, tolerance and nonviolence.

Habitat for Humanity: Collegiate Build Day 2007

Laying down new grass

Volunteering for me seems to get more exciting and fun as I do it. This past weekend, I participated in "Collegiate Build Day 2007" with Habitat for Humanity. An event that was coordinated by Volunteer Dearborn and the Student Activities office, I must add that I had a blast and it was one of my all time high experiences.

When I woke up on Saturday, I wasn't quite sure whether or not I wanted to participate in the event with Volunteer Dearborn. The previous day had rained a lot and the news had projected more rain on that day. However I was determined to be engaged with the university for Habitat for Humanity and having a chance to meet new people.

Arriving on the east side of Detroit, I was amazed by how many new homes had been built in this particular community by Habitat for Humanity. When we stepped on the construction lot we needed to register for the event and hear the necessary precautions to watch out for. Then we were off to our project for the day.

The task for the day was to spread soil on top of the hard dirt, so new grass could be laid down around the two homes. The process was very slow and tiring but everyone made the best of the event by getting to know each other and telling jokes.

For the second part of the day, we continued the same process and we tried to speed up because the clouds forecasted rain. First, the rain came down slowly and full enough to rinse the dirt from your arms but it picked up fast and before we knew it we were working in rain at full strength. We did finish the two homes before we left but their were more homes to be worked on if the rain didn't stop the event.

All in all I had a lot of fun. The University of Michigan-Dearborn represented in great fashion by having a presence of more than 20 participants. There were some people that I knew before the event and others of whom I got a chance to meet. I am very happy I got up to partake in this event because I would have surely missed out.

Adam Harris
-Senior, Business Management

Ask Randy Dillard (Student Activities Supervisor)

REFLECT ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH VOLUNTEER DEARBORN
HERE
Group Photo of Metro-Detroit Youth Day 2007

If you would like to write a post to the Volunteer Dearborn Blog page, please email Randy Dillard (rdillard@umd.umich.edu) for information and requirements for a post. Volunteer Dearborn would like to encourage all students who experience events and participate with Volunteer Dearborn to blog about their experience.