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Arlington Chamber Volunteer DayOver the past couple of weeks, the needs of our community have drastically changed and been redefined due to the coronavirus pandemic. Due to this, the Chamber has created a new format for our annual Arlington Chamber Volunteer Day to meet the current needs of our nonprofits, who’ve been especially hard-hit, and our broader community.
Arlington Chamber Volunteer Day will take place with a virtual kickoff on Tuesday, April 21 at 12:00 p.m. Congressman Don Beyer will be joining us for the kickoff and giving remarks. Following the kickoff, businesses will be paired with nonprofit organizations for projects from 1:00-4:00 p.m. that are virtual in nature for volunteers. The changes incorporated in this year’s event are in accordance with the CDC guidelines to ensure that participants are practicing social distancing. |
Project Options for VolunteersPlease see below the list of projects that volunteers can register to participate in for Arlington Chamber Volunteer Day.
AHC Inc.
Project 1 (Full): Due to the pandemic, AHC Inc. is moving its educational programs online. Volunteers can make a video of him/herself reading a children's book and showing the pages of the book while reading. AHC Inc. will put the videos on its YouTube channel and share them with families at home with early elementary school-age children. Project 2 (FULL): Volunteers can write letters to senior citizens living at Hunter's Park, an affordable housing unit for low-income active senior citizens. The letters could be a way for residents to "meet" the volunteer and learn more about his/her life or business. Some residents speak Spanish so letters written in Spanish would be appreciated. AHC staff will deliver the letters. A business group could have a virtual meeting to visit with each other while decorating cards and writing messages, or this project could be done individually.
Project 1 (FULL): From the comfort of your own home, help Bridges to Independence organize data so they are ready to run as soon as they can. You don’t have to be fluent in the specific systems, just ready and willing to help! A few examples of projects would be helping to export photos and logos from Constant Contact into a Google Drive, or help Bridges to Independence process applications in the volunteer database, or cleaning out all the bounce backs and duplicate emails in Constant Contact.
Project 2 (FULL): During this quarantine, Bridges to Independence has an opportunity to allow you to stretch your legs while still following social distancing rules. The lawn at their shelter needs to be mowed. There would be no human contact for your safety and our own. Bridges to Independence has a lawnmower (that will be wiped down before use), but do suggest you bring your gloves for an additional level of safety. The lawn is small and because of that, this activity would only take about 30 minutes.
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Project 3: With schools and daycares closed, one of the greatest needs of the families is ensuring that their children keep themselves and their minds busy. The volunteer(s) would create “Bridges Anti-Boredom Bundles” for our youth to do while they are home these next few weeks. The bundles would be a hands-on kit including all necessary items for the activity to be completed, instructions, and, if your activity has an educational component, a lesson to go with the activity. An example of this could be baking bundles, which would include break-and-bake cookies, icing, food coloring, sprinkles, instructions to make and decorate the cookies, and a lesson about the science of baking. This is just an example; the group can take this bundle and make it their own! The group would make enough bundles for each child to have their own. Please sanitize kits as best possible before delivering for the safety of the youth and families.
Project 4: Join Bridges to Independence for a (social distance friendly) food drive! You will be securing goods for local homeless families in need. Each volunteer will receive a shopping list of suggested items on the day of volunteering. These items can be purchased while you shop at home via Amazon, Peapod, or any service you use for grocery delivery; you can grab some of them while you’re out doing your grocery shopping; or you can organize your own socially distant food drive and bring the items you obtain to our shelter, dropping them off at our social distance friendly dropbox. The list will reflect the current needs of Bridges to Independence shelter during this disruptive time. The volunteers can choose how their items are dropped off at the shelter.
Project 1: Make masks for the residents of Culpepper Garden to help keep them safe during this time. Culpepper Garden will send the pattern for the masks to interested volunteers.
Project 2: Create social media posts to promote MLK Day Story Sharing resident stories as well as write a blog about the event.
Project: In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, EcoAction Arlington is organizing a virtual cleanup. Like other community nonprofits, EcoAction Arlington has responded to the need for social distancing to combat COVID-19, but is still offering the opportunity to make a difference and remove litter from local streets, sidewalks, and yards. Volunteers will gather supplies including gloves, trash bags, and a clipboard. Working with at least one partner can be helpful, while one person is picking up trash, the other person can tally the type of trash on the data collection sheet. Also, keep track of how many trash bags you fill-up. Report what you collect via EcoAction's online form.
Project (FULL): Junior Achievement of Greater Washington needs volunteers to host practice pitch sessions for their student companies. The student teams have prepared four-minute pitches and will be competing in a virtual pitch competition in May. Volunteers are asked to listen to student pitches, ask questions (to provide student teams with Q&A practice), and provide general feedback.
Project: Volunteer to sign up for a ‘shift’ to meet one on one with a shelter guest. Topics may range from mock interviews, to general talking, etc. New Hope Housing will provide talking points and information beforehand. The project will also include a virtual information/Q&A session of New Hope Housing.
Project 1: RPSV is seeking to build a series of databases for future outreach. For example, a list of area churches, including names and contact emails, a list of area foundations, corporations and businesses with strong Corporate Social Responsibility programs, etc. Help RPSV build these invaluable resources.
Project 2: Be a source of inspiration for individuals with mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness issues! RPSV welcomes and encourages your creativity to help encourage, inspire, and support those who may be having a difficult time coping with social isolation and the fear of COVID-19. Create personal videos that share a message of hope and to reassure individuals that they are not facing COVID-19 alone. Make your videos light-hearted, make them funny, make them serious, make them personal. Share your personal story. Touch our hearts! Write and share a short poem. Encourage your family to appear in the video with you if you like. Our goal is to help individuals, particularly those who are fearful and have anxiety about what’s happening in the world right now, that we are truly all in this together. Your videos should be up to 1-1:30 minutes long (unless you are teaching a skill or need to demonstrate an exercise routine or a hobby. For this, the ideal video will be three minutes or less, but we are flexible! If you need more time, please take it.)
Project 3: Host a GoFundMe program or a Facebook donor drive to raise money to support those that RPSV serves. Funds will go to the most immediate needs which includes feeding homeless adults in need at this time.
The Clothesline for Arlington Kids
Project: Organize a neighborhood or workplace clothing drive for The Clothesline! Clean out your closets and donate quality items your children have outgrown and are still in great shape. To better serve our community, please take the extra step to examine your donation for the quality standards on the attached flyer. You can also modify the flyer for use in your neighborhood. Please wash and fold clothes, bagging summer items into one bag and winter items into another bag. When we are ready to re-open we’ll put a call out for your summer clothes. Given our current limited storage, please also hold winter items until September.
Project: Organize a neighborhood or workplace clothing drive for The Clothesline! Clean out your closets and donate quality items your children have outgrown and are still in great shape. To better serve our community, please take the extra step to examine your donation for the quality standards on the attached flyer. You can also modify the flyer for use in your neighborhood. Please wash and fold clothes, bagging summer items into one bag and winter items into another bag. When we are ready to re-open we’ll put a call out for your summer clothes. Given our current limited storage, please also hold winter items until September.
Register as a Project Site
If you're a Chamber member nonprofit and you'd like to submit a virtual project, please fill out this form and send to Operations Manager Olivia McKay at [email protected].
