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By Lauren Kelly

This past Thursday, Mrs. Baldacci (along with Time Warner Cable and the Maine Commission for Community Service) presented five Service Learning Project Awards to Maine Schools and/or community programs, working with children (k-12), focused on STEM activities (science, technology, engineering, math).
As I begin to learn more about Service Learning, I started to think about how it ultimately plays a role in molding, shaping and developing our future volunteer pool. Service Learning combines classroom instruction with community service and a focus on civic responsibility which presents students with opportunities to be involved in activities that address local needs. Those are all important factors that could foster a dedicated and active pool of volunteers. And the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Just take a look at these interesting local (research done here in New England) facts about how students benefit from Service Learning:

• 80% of students reported that they were more sure they wanted to graduate high school and complete a college degree,
• 68% reported that they try harder when in class at school,
• 79% believe they can make a difference in their community,
• 80% reported that they are more likely to vote in national elections when they are adults,
• 71% said they learned that it is important for everyone to be concerned about state and local issues,
• 73% reported that they learned to accept responsibility for their actions, and
• 84% reported that they are more likely to take action on causes they believe in.
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I really enjoyed attending the ceremony, meeting the winners, and hearing about their Service Learning projects. They are an impressive group and, quite possibly, your future volunteers!
I encourage you to read more about the winners and their Service Learning projects at the link listed here: http://www.maineservicecommission.gov/news/release.php?nID=1379

Lauren Kelly is a Marketing VISTA at the Maine Commission for Community Service and a guest blogger.

*Center for Youth and Communities, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Assessing the Impact of the KIDS Consortium, KIDS Living Democracy, and First Year KIDSCAN Programs: First Year Findings, (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University, December 2005.)

To learn more about Service Learning, visit http://www.servicelearning.org/
To learn more about the STEM Education Coalition, visit www.stemedcoalition.org/

By Tamara Whitmore

Years of volunteering as a way to gain experience in my chosen field, Environmental Education, culminated in an 11 month term of service with Americorps through Maine Conservation Corps and working for the Department of Environmental Protection in the Watershed Division. That experience, which also served as my second practicum requirement for graduate school, directly prepared me for my current position as the Director of Education with the Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed (Friends), an actual year round paid position in which I use both my education and volunteer experiences on a daily basis. I thought I had finally graduated from the volunteer realm and was now a member of what once felt like a distant, unattainable goal – a financially viable career in the profession I love.

But I was dead wrong. Not in that I don’t have a paying job (and I count my blessings everyday that I am able to do something in which I feel like I’m making a difference and pay my bills) but that I was wrong in thinking that I was, for the most part, done with volunteering. If anything, my volunteering schedule has picked up steam! However, instead of unpaid internships, or volunteering for this event or that chaperone needed for a school field trip, I am now volunteering my professional expertise to planning committees and organizational boards. To the point that I sometimes feel I have two full time jobs – my “day” job at the Friends and my personal commitment to two organizations that help promote Environmental Education in the state of Maine (Maine Environmental Education Association or MEEA) and throughout New England (New England Environmental Education Alliance or NEEEA).

As a member of the Board of Directors of both of these organizations for the past two years, I have become intimately familiar with the dedication and time it requires to support organizations that are run solely by volunteer boards. Organizations that do not have paid staff are directly dependent upon their active members (board and general) to make every detail happen. A variety of skills can be useful to organizations: e-mail marketing, website development and management, grant writing, budgeting, event planning, membership data management, strategic planning… the list goes on and on! I’ve realized strengths I didn’t even know that I have through my work on these volunteer boards and I continuously gain the opportunity to gain experiences in new skill areas.

One might think, “What’s in it for me? I have the job I want, why spend my limited free time doing the same thing I do all day?” And while I do, admittedly, struggle to achieve balance in my life, there are a multitude of reasons why I continue to choose to serve. In respect to both MEEA and NEEEA, these are two organizations that help to promote the field of environmental education (a good thing if I want to continue to be employed) and provide me with opportunities for professional development. In addition, connecting with other environmental education professionals provides me the opportunity to stay abreast of advances and resources in my field in a much shorter time frame than it would take if I monitored or researched these issues on my own. Also, I am able to network with other professionals, introducing myself and the Friends to individuals throughout the state and the region. Lastly, I am challenged to develop skills that broaden my skill base and in turn, benefit my organization.

The two reasons I most frequently hear from people who feel they cannot get more involved in an organization are time and that they do not have any knowledge or skills to contribute. I’m not sure I have an argument for lack of time – they are probably more balanced individuals than I am. But regarding something to contribute I argue that the most important trait of a professional volunteer is willingness. Willingness to become involved and put forth the effort to further the mission of the organization, willingness to share the skills you already possess, and willingness to face the challenge to develop skills that you don’t.

I am constantly reminded of a phrase I gleaned from the website of a nature center in Hawaii: “Komo maikau mapuna hoe” “Dip your paddle in” ~ Join in the effort!
So yes, I choose to continue to “dip my paddle in” and I am proud to be a “professional volunteer”!

Tamara Whitmore is the Education Director at Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed and Board Member, Maine Environmental Education Association, Board Member and incoming Treasurer, New England Environmental Education Alliance Committee Member, Southern Maine Children’s Water Festival Planning Committee Committee Member, Gardiner Conservation Committee, and a guest blogger!

By Michael Aiguier

We have heard admonitions about how to best use talent, and most of it has to do with skills that are more immediate. Some of the less immediate, but probably more important skills are people skills. When someone comes to us and says that a certain demographic that we deal with is who they best know, do we listen if they aren’t able to interface with us as easily? A person who is more comfortable with inner city youth or rural farmers might not have the same social skill set someone dealing with businesses for fundraising has, but that doesn’t mean their social skill set is worse, just different.

Many of us are in agencies that deal with multi-faceted parts of the community, but we try to deal with all of them and don’t have the ability to switch modes of communication easily. Like using the phrase “switch modes of communication easily”. What most people hear when you use a phrase like that is “I am better than you are because I don’t feel the need to just say what I mean.”

When you recognize that you have done this, one of the worst things to do is go overboard and only use volunteers in the “community” that they are affiliated with. Acknowledging publicly that you are doing so is even worse, since it points out to the others that, in your opinion, all that the person is worth to you is helping you to avoid dealing with that group of individuals. Introducing programs or situations in a way that they can feel ownership in the process is the best way to get them involved.

Maine is an easy place to lose sight of differences in demographics because of what we view as the sameness of everybody. Mostly white, mostly old and working poor are the typical ideas of who we deal with on an ongoing basis. Widening the impact of who we are reaching takes all types of people.

Having people that volunteer with us from many walks of life doesn’t just mean we can say to the greater community that we work with people from all walks of life. It means people from all walks of life work with us and that many different groups are encountering people like themselves that are affiliated with our agencies. If what we do is worth anything, then having everyone in our community be able to associate with it is important and we ignore the importance of putting volunteers with different life experiences in important positions at our peril.

Michael Aiguier is an AmeriCorps VISTA with the VolunteerMaine Project serving at the United Way of Eastern Maine.

By Corrie Hunkler

There has been a lot of talk about technology lately. After Facebook left the college campus and was open to high school students, then adults the social networking site broadened its audience and its uses. College kids, in the meantime frantically edited their privacy settings so the numerous pictures and status’s depicting an active and questionable lifestyle was not seen by parents, family and teachers.

The connections posted on this high traffic website is supposedly changing advertisement and involvement all together.
Q-So what does Facebook have in common with Volunteer Maine?
A-More and more people are using the internet for research, and communication, and the access of up to date, interesting, and pertinent information has moved to the web. If you want to volunteer tomorrow, it isn’t necessary to browse your local weekly paper, call the career center or the small handful of organizations you already know to see if they happen to have anything coming up. Now, all you have to do, is log on to a website. Put in your information, search what you want and sit back maybe even stretch while your computer feeds you the many different areas where you can go to volunteer tomorrow, next week or even next year.

Here are some simple How To’s on Volunteer Maine:

Register. Put as much or as little information. You can always go back and change it. Remember to write down you user name and password somewhere findable because that is kind of important.

Search. Search by keywords (what you are specifically looking for), regional area or just browse by looking at the calendar feature or agencies.

Get Involved. Looking to volunteer? Find an opportunity and get connected. Want to donate? Look at the donations page (it is coming up on the holiday season after all). Or, just read VolunteerMaine blog, news articles and other great resources.

Remember the easiest way to figure out the nuts and bolts of the website that is packed with opportunities and information, is to login and explore.

Are you an organization looking for volunteers? Get your information and opportunities out there!

Corrie Hunkler is an Americorps VISTA with the University of Maine Cooperatve Extension and a guest blogger.

by Carla Ganiel

I’ve seen some big changes since my last post. A couple of weeks ago I moved to Washington, DC to start my dream job in national service. While I was gearing up to make this change, and before I landed the dream job, I consulted life coach Louise Franck Cyr for some advice.

At one point Louise asked me what I would do if I won the lottery. I replied, a bit sheepishly, “probably nothing.” I figured I started working at the age of ten, and I’ve been working or going to school pretty much continuously since then. So what I’d really like is a break.

Louise said, “What if you gave yourself a year to do nothing?”

“That would be great,” I said, “except I have this little problem of needing a job and a roof over my head.”

Louise clarified. “Sure, you have to work, but what if outside of work you gave yourself the gift of a year? No other commitments. Just resting and taking care of yourself.”

It sounded like an interesting—and attractive—proposition, but I put it on the shelf as I worked on landing the dream job. Now, though, I find myself in a brand new city where nobody knows me. I have no commitments and no expectations. There is not a single person or organization here that wants something from me. At the same time, I’m still figuring out what I want out of this new life I’m in the process of creating. If this isn’t the perfect time to give myself that year, I don’t know what is.

So that’s what I’m going to do. (This will, therefore, be my last blog post, by the way.)

One thing that’s sure to happen during the next year is that I’ll slowly be getting to know my neighborhood and my new city. Although I’ve promised myself not to make any commitments for a full twelve months, you can bet that I’ll be spending some of this time shopping for someplace to make a difference when the time is right.

I bet you’ve got people in your community right now who are shopping for volunteer opportunities. What are you doing to reach them? What is the message you are sending them? Is it a hard sell? A sob story? We spend a lot of time thinking about how we can find and recruit new volunteers, but I’m not sure we devote as much attention to the bigger picture of how we are framing the major issues our programs seek to address and how we are positioning our organizations in the community at large.

I’m not talking about marketing. I’m talking about messaging. Right now I don’t want anyone to ask me to volunteer. I want someone to bring clarity to the chatter that finds its way to my newspaper, television and internet. Learn how to control that conversation and the marketing will take care of itself…and maybe a year from now someone like me will want to buy whatever it is you’re selling.

Carla Ganiel is a Grants Officer with the Corporation for National and Community Service and has been a featured blogger since the inception of the VolunteerMaine.org blog! Thank you for your support and wonderful insights Carla!

By Elizabeth Cole

The Maine Commission for Community Service is gearing up for the 2010 Leadership Institute for highly experienced managers of volunteers (8 + years) and we want your input on this year’s theme. The Leadership Institute is a three day conference that delves deeply into an issue or area of particular interest to managers of volunteers. Please help us meet your needs! Take the following interest survey and let us know which topics would best help you advance personally and professionally as a manager of volunteers.

The survey should take less than five minutes to complete and is a great opportunity for you to help shape professional development opportunities for managers of volunteers within the state.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2ft0hvEJRJZgQaWnDrayhWA_3d_3d

Please share the link with your peers and let your voice be heard. We greatly appreciate your input and time!

Elizabeth Cole is a AmeriCorps VISTA with The Maine Commission for Community Service and a guest blogger.