We’re thrilled to announce that Volunteer Nation has been selected for the San Francisco Film Society’s fiscal sponsorship program. This enables foundations, grantmakers, and individuals to provide tax deductible donations to the project. From the SFFS site:
The program is run by former staff members of Film Arts Foundation, which enjoyed an excellent reputation over three decades as one of the finest fiscal sponsoring organizations in the country. Numerous funding sources put considerable trust in the program and many Film Arts fiscal sponsorship projects went on to considerable acclaim, including winning Academy Awards. The Film Society is now the keeper of that fine legacy and brings an organization-wide dedication to the stewardship of all its Fiscal Sponsorship projects.
To make a donation to Volunteer Nation via SFFS, simply click here.
Categories: IndieGoGo · San Francisco Film Society · Volunteer Nation
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.
Categories: Community Volunteer · Reconstruction Volunteers
Tagged: Construction Volunteer, Cumberland Plateau, Isha Foundation, Isha Vidya, Tennessee
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.
Categories: Animal Volunteer · Community Volunteer
Tagged: Animal Volunteer, Cherryland Humane Society, Humane Society, SPCA, Traverse City
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.
Categories: Public Works Volunteer · Volunteer Firefighter
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.
Categories: Reconstruction Volunteers
