Volunteer opportunities bursting at the seams! Read all about it and step up!
Newsletter February 11, 2023
Spreading the Love
Volunteer Opportunities
This newsletter is all about opportunities to volunteer. So many of you have told us that you want opportunities to get involved in our community in South SLO County. South SLO County Womenade has developed a number of projects that we would like to start or to continue.
Hands on volunteer work can be very rewarding. There is often too much yakking about the problems in our society but precious few opportunities to make a difference in person. Come spread the love!
For all the projects below if you are one of those people who have been searching for a way to help out, we need you to let us know what projects you would like to help out with, and whether you would like to lead a project. Don’t be shy! There are lots of needs, some ongoing every month and some once a year. We need your help to make this happen. We will provide guidance and training. You can let us know how you’d like to become involved at sslocwomande@gmail.com
Laundry Pop-Up – a new project we would like to start in south SLO county. Clean clothes are important! Clean clothes are critical to a person’s sense of dignity, yet remain financially out of reach for so many.
We hope to start off with a Pop-Up Laundry once a month (more frequently possible, depending on the success of the project and funding). We are in the formation stage of this project. It would run for about 3 hours at a local Laundromat, and we would pay the cost of laundry for people in need during that 3 hours or until the money runs out for that day. We would need about 5 - 6 volunteers each time with one of them the project leader. We would work with the leader to plan out the project.
Clothes Closet at Families In Transition – The Families In Transition (FIT) program in Lucia Mar is developing a clothing closet for families in their program. As a reminder, the FIT Program serves our families facing housing challenges, meaning those who lack "a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence”.
The closet will be in a repurposed C-train shipping container. This will be a larger version of the Wolf Den at Lopez High School. We will need a team who will work with the FIT program to repurpose, source and organize clothing. The project is in the formation stage and will need volunteers to help set up the container and keep it stocked and organized.
Other Projects – we have conducted projects on an ad hoc basis for the last three years and have decided which projects to continue and have developed a schedule for each of these projects. We need your help to make these happen. Please to let us know which project you’re interested in and if you’re willing to lead it.
January – Sock Drive – January is the beginning of our “rainy” season. We will collect socks during the month of January. Imagine having to live out in the elements and you have cold wet feet. In the winter months socks are a very often requested item. Need a project leader.
April – Admin April and Raffle – To help us pay for our expenses (they are very low – mostly insurance – no one will serve on a board without this - and accounting software) we hold a special fundraiser in the month of April to raise funds for expenses. All other funds raised go to meet urgent needs in our community. No one gets paid! The board runs both these projects.
May – toiletries and feminine hygiene – hygiene poverty is a big problem for lower income people. We have run very successful toiletry drives over the last 3 years. It’s one of the top items that clients need and request. Imagine washing your hair and clothes with soap and not being able to attend school at “that time of the month”. We need a leader for this program.
September – “missed the bus” – school supplies for teachers – There are many programs to collect school supplies for students throughout South SLO county but teachers often pay out huge amounts to pay for supplies in order to teach students. They are constantly supplementing the supplies of students who don’t have the necessary tools in the classroom.
October/November – Thanksgiving baskets – This project has been very successful the last 3 years and has grown to feeding nearly 200 families. We need a leader and lots of volunteers and lots of food! This is such a fun and rewarding
project to get involved with.
November/December – Winter break food baskets This project started in 2022 and we reached 85 families. The winter break in our school district lasts for 3 weeks. With school out the children don’t get breakfast and lunch during the break and household incomes are often reduced because of the weather. We will need a leader, lots of volunteers and lots of food.
Monthly – Weekend food for students who don’t eat on weekends – need drivers and packers – this is an ongoing program throughout the school year and started as a backpack program. It has evolved over the years to providing food to food insecure students with a jam-packed large sandwich bag every weekend. We provide 55 medium sized brown lunch bags for kids every week at 3 middle schools, 4 elementary schools and 30 at Lopez High School. The kids pick them up on Fridays. During the summers for the last couple of years the school district has made food available to students.
We are expanding this program to more and more schools. We need volunteers to organize a central place to store and organize a team to pack and deliver the bags every week. At the moment we have a strong team in place but as the program grows we will need to systematize the process. Please let us know if this project speaks to you. Help get food to these kids on the weekends.
Future Potlucks – look for Evites closer to the dates!
March 16 – A Tea Party at Lopez High School 1055 Mesa View Drive, Arroyo Grande – Open to all
April 13 – Admin April and Raffle at An McDowell’s 1793 Farroll Rd. Grover Beach
May 16 – at Linda Fibich, Arroyo Grande – closed group
June 15 – at Mariam Shah’s home 2410 Green Place, Arroyo Grande
July 18 – at Deb Sherry’s home, Nipomo - closed group
December TBD at Candace Guldeman’s, Arroyo Grande for their fully decorated Christmas extravaganza
As you can see there are opportunities for a couple more potlucks in late summer through the fall. We’d love to spread the love to more areas in our community. Let us know if you can host a potluck!
HOW TO DONATE:
To make a donation write a check to South SLO County Womenade and mail to:
South SLO County Womenade, 1793 Farroll Rd., Grover Beach, CA 93433. We encourage you to become one of our monthly or regular donors. This can be easily done through your bank or charitable foundation. Please remember that if your company has a matching grants program to include us. As you make you update your wills please consider providing us or adding us with a legacy gift for our future sustainability.
or go to our website sslocw.org
Our email is: sslocwomenade@gmail.com
Our website is: sslocw.org
Our EIN# 27-0809744
Phone number: (805) 270-5751
Copyright © 2023 South SLO County Womenade, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you asked to be on our mailing list.
Our mailing address is:
South SLO County Womenade1793 Farroll Rd. Grover Beach, CA 93433
Comments