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Volunteer of the Week, Chaital N., Atlanta, GA

Volunteer of the Week, Chaital Naidu

The Sanskrit word ‘seva’ translates as ’service’ in 21st Century English, and it’s been an integral part of Chaital Naidu’s life since childhood. From her great-grandfather’s involvement in his local Indian village to her work with the national non-profits CARE USA and Mother’s Against Drunk Driving, Chaital’s service is an integral part of who she is. She also demonstrates ’seva’ through her practice of Karma Yoga – the path of selfless service.

It’s hard for me to see service as a sacrifice. It stretches me, and I often get more back than I give. It doesn’t feel like I’ve given up something to serve, it reminds me what I’m capable of.

Chaital has traveled all over the United States as both yoga student and instructor, primarily for the global non-profit Isha Vidhya. A firm believer in how volunteering can bring people together, Chaital actually met and fell in love with her husband Ravi while volunteering over a year’s time across the country. They’ve since traveled to the state of Tamil Nadu in Southern India, supporting Isha Vidhya’s local mission “to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India and to helping disadvantaged children realize their full potential.”

Closer to their Atlanta home, Chaital and Ravi are supporting Isha Vidhya’s efforts to build the largest meditation dome in the United States. Located on the Cumberland Plateau, an hour north of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the 33,000 square foot dome structure called Mahima is the most significant feature of the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences and is scheduled for completion later this year. That is, assuming volunteers continue showing up to help.

Since construction began in 2006, hundreds of global volunteers have served as construction crew, landscapers, and kitchen staff. Chaital has made many trips to the Institute, some with Ravi and some solo. She’s spent long weekends shoveling dirt, grading floors, and laying tile, among many other necessary but thankless tasks.

Service is a priority in our marriage. I guess we watch less TV than our friends … we don’t go to clubs or bars all that much. We make the time to do the things we want to do – help our communities flourish.

To learn more about the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences, volunteer for a weekend in beautiful Tennessee, and potentially find your true love, simply click here or send them an email.

Volunteer of the Week, Ryan K., San Francisco

Volunteer of the Week, Ryan Kolynych

Ryan is one with water – whether swimming through it or surfing on it. He swam competitively in high school, including a heat against a new kid on the scene named Michael Phelps. Ryan went on to All-American Honorable Mention swimming honors at Emory University in Atlanta. Despite the high level of athletic competition and challenging academic curriculum, Ryan took the time to share his passion for swimming with others:

I coached a Special Olympics team as a service project. We helped train the kids, get them ready for meets … just had a good time …. It was cool to see the smile on their faces when they’re just swimming around.

After graduation, Ryan headed west to the Pacific and the amazing surfing around San Francisco. We met Ryan at one of his favorite surf spots – Ocean Beach. He’d noticed an online post about a beach clean-up sponsored by the local Surfrider Foundation chapter.

Representing 50,000 members and over 70 local chapters in the US alone, the Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves and beaches for all people. The beach clean-up Ryan participated in was one of 600 clean-ups that Surfrider chapters across the country have held recently.

I’ve surfed this beach a couple of times. I definitely noticed it was kind’ve dirty … It’s pretty ridiculous how many cigarette butts you pick up on the beach … You’d think there wouldn’t be that many, but there are a ton.

Anticipating heavy summer beach traffic, the San Francisco Surfrider Chapter is hosting another beach clean-up at two different spots on Ryan’s Ocean Beach this Sunday July 5. If you’re not in the area or out of town for the holiday, find a local Surfrider chapter to get involved.

As a reminder, to find other volunteer opportunities or to register your own volunteer project, visit the new government site, Serve.gov. If you haven’t yet, see Ryan in action cleaning Ocean Beach along with several other incredible volunteers in our Season One trailer.

United We Serve – Summer Service Initiative

Volunteer of the Week, Crystal Y., Traverse City, MI

In August 2006 Minister Crystal Yarlott was practicing what she preaches to her Unity Church of Traverse City congregation – she was donating her time and talents to the community. On a volunteer shift at the local Cherryland Humane Society, she noticed one of the dogs, Armstrong, was limping. She asked the staff and was told he simply wasn’t getting enough exercise; the shelter had such a large volume that the pets weren’t walked or played with regularly. And an idea began to take shape:

I love animals and animals have always made a difference in my life. … I happened to mention [the need for dog-walking] to another member of the church, Sue Schwartz, who was retired. … Now, under her organization, volunteers walk dogs six days a week.

The dogwalking program, informally dubbed Armstrong’s Walkers for Unity, is only one way volunteers contribute at the society. Others come in to groom the animals, or to pet and play with the cats. But it’s the dogs that brings in Crystal, Sue, and 90+ volunteer canine walkers, six days a week for several hours at a time.

I do it because animals I think teach us how to love imperfect human beings. … We also learn so much about yourself when you volunteer. There are so many surprises that you can never expect. … I also get to take the calmness that I’m learning to have with animals and I translate that with people.

To sign up for a national animal volunteer database, visit the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. If you have the opportunity to visit northern Michigan and the beautiful Traverse City area stop by the Cherryland Humane Society and if you can’t adopt a pet, join Crystal and walk a dog or two.

Volunteer of the Week – Vaka T., Felton, CA

Volunteer of the Week, Vaka T.

Vaka Taimani is living a childhood dream – he’s riding in large, shiny red trucks, helping people out of threatening situations, all while wearing a cool uniform. Vaka’s a volunteer firefighter for the Felton (CA) Fire Protection District (FFPD), and he’s actively training to turn his volunteer passion into a full-time vocation.

We met Vaka at the immaculate Felton firehouse, just a block from downtown, and a mere eight miles from the coastal city of Santa Cruz. He was participating in a monthly training session and stayed late to chat. We quickly learned that Vaka’s glad he started his firefighting career as a volunteer, and that he hopes to bring the volunteer spirit with him as a professional firefighter:

We volunteer to do this, it’s out of passion and want … it’s nice to be able to do something that means more to me personally than just it being a 9 to 5.

The title of Vaka’s blog, Faith Life Soul, represents his core beliefs and summarizes his quiet but driven demeanor. Like many of his peers, he’s given countless hours to Felton Fire and the community. Since getting accepted to FFPD early in 2007, he’s thrown himself into the rigorous firefighting certification and training process while juggling family responsibilities:

When I first got on, I spent months of my own personal time down here, I just wanted to learn everything, and its really paid off …. I know that I need to balance my family life with this work life but in a sense, it feels like this volunteering is part of family as well.

Like most departments, Felton Fire is first responder for medical emergencies, and given its location at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains, FFPD also runs the region’s Large Animal Rescue program. In the middle of it all, Tongan Vaka handles each new situation with a consistent desire to serve others.

You can see Vaka in our Season One Trailer, and if things are quiet in Felton, he may be online in the Twitterverse.

Volunteer of the Week – Kathy G., San Francisco

While a realtor’s mantra is location, location, location, Kathy Guerra is all about community: community services, community improvement, community livelihood. Kathy works for a local non-profit by day and volunteers for a range of community organizations in her spare time. We caught up with her on a brisk San Francisco afternoon, restoring a mural for UCSF’s New Generation Health Center (NGHC). Kathy and the fabulous, vibrant mural are featured in our trailer – third volunteer and location profiled – and her sense of giving back echoes what we’ve heard from so many:

Helping is one thing, but when you’re able to give your time and create something or restore something that is so important to so many different people – for me it’s a wonderful feeling. It makes me feel complete, helping people and in turn, that help helps them.

While this was her first day on the mural, Kathy has volunteered at the Center many times over the years and done the AIDS Walk with them every year. She thrives on working with the youth and teens NGHC provides services for and was thrilled to give her afternoon:

I could’ve been sitting on the couch or getting my nails done or spending useless money versus coming out here and helping … painting taps into creativity of my own. You know it means a lot to me to be a part of something that I’ve driven by for 10 years … and now I’m here painting it.

The mural Kathy’s restoring is a decade-old collaboration between NGHC and inner-city community-based mural arts organization, Precita Eyes. The painting reinforces NGHC’s mission of empowering “youth to make informed, positive decisions about their health and future, particularly related to their reproductive health and planning their families.”

Kathy feels her mural restoration afternoon was a simple, tangible way to give back after all the Center has done for San Francisco’s highest-risk communities. Whether you’re a local or visiting the City by the Bay, stop by the mural, or better yet, give the NGHC a few hours of your time and support Kathy’s community.

Volunteer of the Week – Adam W., New Orleans

Meet Adam Weingarten, our first Volunteer of the Week

We met Adam in New Orleans last November where he was serving a year with Rebuilding Together New Orleans through AmeriCorps as a Housing Captain. By that time, he’d already helped rebuild several homes that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Since then, he’s had a hand in finishing many more and witnessed their owners return.

Adam’s featured in our trailer – second volunteer profiled, red Rebuilding Together sweatshirt – and his experiences exemplify what thousands have felt while helping rebuild NOLA:

I was originally working for an accounting firm in Chicago. I’ve never been to New Orleans, I just wanted to help people. I knew it was bad down here, but until you come and experience it, you don’t know how bad it is.

Adam started his AmeriCorps year in late August, leaving his accounting job with Ernst & Young in Chicago for the Big Easy. Here’s what he had to say in late December about the experience:

It has been over four months … since I’ve been gone and I can honestly say that joining AmeriCorps and moving to New Orleans was the best decision I’ve ever made. Every day here is a new day and I’m having experiences that I never imagined.

Not only is Adam managing teams of rotating volunteers from City Year, local universities, and schools, he’s also an amateur musician. After scraping off the paint and bandaging sore hands, he’s enjoyed the swingin’ sounds of Bourbon Street on the weekends. To read more about Adam and his experiences, check out his blog and drop him a note.

For you Chicagoans, Adam has a special request:

If anybody wants to send me a couple of frozen deep dish sausage pizzas from Lou Malanatis, send them to Adam Weingarten, 5836 Willow St., New Orleans, LA 70115.

National Volunteer Week

It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference. ~Tom Brokaw

We’re kicking off National Volunteer Week with exciting news … updated website and the official release of our Season One Trailer! We’d love to hear from you: sign up for our newsletter or find out how you can get involved with Volunteer Nation.

Have a fabulous week giving back and taking part!