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VolunteerSpot Blog | Best of 2011

Blog Series, Guest Regulars and Wonderful Readers Made 2011 our Best Year Yet!

We want to celebrate and thank our guest contributors for a great year of all things service and giving back.  From insightful perspectives on school parent involvement,  non-profit success and benefit auction how-to's, to volunteer management and social media tips, teacher appreciation and fun class party ideas, employee volunteering and corporate responsibility news, faith group and community-building concepts and so much more - our blog proved to be an ever-evolving foundation for sharing timely and desired content.  

 
A favorite summer blog series, Teacher Tuesdays, was a thrilling opportunity to feature guest posts focusing on parent engagement in education from a teacher's perspective.  

 

Our Summer of Service feature gave us the privilege of featuring leading guest bloggers who shared their unique and personal perspectives on service, volunteering and citizen philanthropy.  Topics ranged from volunteering for kids and volunteer management, to the power of story-telling, employee service, supporting military families and so much more! 

 

The My School My Way campaign brought together over 30 bloggers sharing the highs and lows of parent volunteering, and how they did it their way in their school.  From humourous anecdotes to heart-warming insights, our My School My Way blog campaign had something for everyone, and we were honored to share these wonderful parents and writers with our readers.  Wrap-up and roll call.

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April Welch, our resident Mental Clutter Coach, joined us week after week for Tidy Thursday - bringing fresh ideas and bright new ways to approach organizing our lives!

Worship Wednesday guest posts from Sue Brage were a true blessing.  From a faith-based perspective, her thoughts and words shed light on growing one's faith group and the interpretation of service in doing so.

 

 

Sherry Truhlar of Red Apple Auctions LLC brought us countless helpful tips, ideas and strategies when it came to running a successful auction.  From publicitiy, to gathering volunteers, legal refreshers, and best practices, expert advice made auction fundraisers less of a dream and more of a reality for many readers.

 

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VolunteerSpotlights gave us a chance to shine a light on the amazing individuals and organizations who use VolunteerSpot to make a difference in their community.  From school parent leaders to festival organizers, conference coordinators to humane societies, congregational volunteer leaders to regional homeless shelter organizers - the willingness to do good was colorful and widespread and we were honored to share each and every story.

Additional Guest Regulars included:

Chris Jarvis of Realized Worth brought us insights into workplace volunteering, corporate social responsibility, and employee volunteer programs.

Andrea Patten of What Kids Need to Succeed illumined top tips, best practices, fun stories and helpful hints when it comes to running a successful nonprofit.

Myrdin Thompson of RootsandWings Library and MomCongress provided a keen and astute perspective from everything grant-writing, to literacy promotion, and advocating for more school involvement.

Susan Wells of SteveSpanglerScience joined us to share super creative and much-needed ideas incorporating science into the classroom, whether for a class party, school science fair, or the "dreaded science project."

A variety of incredibly talented and knowledgable contributors made our array of free e-books available as a highly sought-after resource for countless volunteers, organizers, teachers, team moms, and room parents!  From healthy snack ideas, to parent-teacher conference, class party, volunteer recognition, bake sale, school carnival, fundraising, talent show, and family volunteering ideas and tips, our e-books continue to be a fun and helpful resource for our readers and we are thrilled to be able to share them on our blog.

Family Friendly Volunteering: Service Project Ideas from A-Z

View more presentations from VolunteerSpot

There are so many more favorite posts and contributors in addition to these listed and we hope you take the time to look around.  Of course, our blog would be nowhere without our amazing readers and those who help promote and share our posts.  2011 was an incredible year and we are sure 2012 will prove to be even better - many thanks and here's to a New Year!

Summer of Service 2011 : Recap

This summer we were privileged to feature leading guest bloggers sharing their unique and personal perspectives on service, volunteering and citizen philanthropy. Summer of Service was so much fun -- we would like to thank each of our guests who made this inspiring summer series possible -- your contributions were well read and are very much appreciated!

Don't miss a single post in this inspiring series:

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre of It Starts with Us
  

• Supporting Military Families by Christina Jumper of the National Military Family Association

• Volunteering for Kids by Marilyn Price-Mitchell of Roots of Action

• CSR and Employee Volunteering by Michael Nealis of the Points of Light Institute

• Family Day with Rachel Matthews of A Southern Fairy Tale, Angela Ishmael of Swanky Moms, Kristen of We are THAT Family, Barb Likos of MomOffTrack, Jill Berry of MusingsFromMe, Angie Lee of SevenClownCircus, and Kristen of Dine and Dish.

• The Power of Story Telling by Tammi DeVille, author of Changing the World on a Tuesday Night

• Volunteer Management by Susan Ellis of Energize Inc.

• Turning Mountains into Molehills by Rabbi Will Berkovitz of Repair the World

We hope you are inspired to do some good this summer and are ready to explore possibilities for volunteering and making positive changes within your community.

Tips on How to Be a Good Volunteer | Summer of Service

In the latest installment of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service series, Rabbi Will Berkovitz, Vice President of Repair the World, shares insights on how to be a great volunteer. Thanks Will!

Turning Mountains into Mole Hills

By Rabbi Will Berkovitz

“I want to volunteer,” the caller told a colleague at a local social service agency.

“Great,” she said, “there is a elderly woman who returns from the hospital every Monday afternoon and she feels really down and weak from her treatment. She was just asking if someone could stop by.”

After a pause, the caller said, “Mondays are no good from me. I have a tennis lesson.”

“Ok. Well, we could really use some help in the food bank on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday mornings,” my colleague replied.

Again a pause. “That won’t work for me either. I am free from 2pm to 3pm the next two Thursdays. And then the following Wednesday from 4pm to 5pm. I’m not sure of my schedule after that. Do you have anything at those times?”

Exaggerated or not, I have heard similar stories from many professionals working in social service agencies. Well-meaning people want to volunteer, but they often don’t realize how much strain volunteers can add to an organization.

How can you feel great about volunteering and make sure that you aren’t causing extra strain on a nonprofit?

• Before even reaching out to an organization, reflect on how much time and what kind of commitment you can realistically make. We often look at our schedules a couple months out and see an ocean of extra time. But when we look back at the past month, we’ll often find that we barely had the time to brush our teeth.  Use your availability in the past as a predictor of your free time in the future.

• Do some research and have some conversations. Whether you want to volunteer as an individual, you are organizing a group of volunteers or you want to lead a donation drive, have a conversation—or several--early on with the agency you want to work with to find out their needs. Then, see if you have the skills to match those needs.

• Start from a place of humility. Don’t try to negotiate your way out of their training or set conditions on your service. While it can be challenging to arrange your schedule to make a regular commitment of service hours, the benefit is often much greater to the organization and more satisfying for the volunteer.

• Remember, you are there to help, and ideally learn. By learning about the needs of the agency with which you hope to work, you can greatly increase the odds of supporting real work without making more work for often-overtaxed professional staff.  Early conversations allow you to develop an understanding about what efforts are underway that you might be able to plug into. It is also an opportunity to share any specific skills you may have. For example, if you are a CPA or a web developer you may be most useful helping in the office and not the serving line. 

After the tsunami in Southeast Asia, I was told that among the highest points in one village was the mountain of molding blankets collected and shipped over – probably at great expense. The intention was beautiful and well-meaning, but the problem was they didn’t need warm blankets. They are in the Tropics. They needed a molehill of blankets, not a mountain of them.

Like all successful relationships, you have to listen, be willing to put in the time and make the effort for them to be fulfilling. And nothing is more satisfying than feeling your skills and talents are helping address the world’s greatest needs or relieving even one person’s loneliness.

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Rabbi Will Berkovitz is the vice president of partnerships and rabbi in residence for Repair the World (WeRepair.org) a national organization that seeks to make service a defining element of American Jewish life. He can be reached at will@weRepair.org and you can follow him on Twitter at @CitizenRabbi.

 

And please make sure to keep up with the rest of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service series!

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre
• Supporting Military Families by Christina Jumper
• Volunteering for Kids by Marilyn Price-Mitchell
• CSR and Employee Volunteering by Michael Nealis
• Family Day on Summer of Service
• The Power of Story Telling by Tammi DeVille
• Volunteer Management by Susan Ellis

 

Volunteer Management | Summer of Service

In the latest installment of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service series, Susan Ellis, President of Energize Inc, shares three international truths about volunteer management. Thanks Susan!

Three International Truths about Volunteer Management

By Susan J. Ellis, President, Energize, Inc.

Some form of volunteering exists in every country in the world, even if the community needs and the institutions with which volunteers serve are very different from one another. And if there are volunteers, there are leaders of volunteers, too – who come in all shapes and sizes, paid and unpaid, and with many varied position titles.

In 2001, the United Nations declared the International Year of Volunteers (IYV). On this 10^th anniversary (IYV+10), the international volunteer community is commemorating with events and research studies in many countries.  Are there any universal truths about the best ways to lead volunteers?  Yes…and here are three of them:

1. The more specific you can be about the work that needs to be done, the more likely you will find someone to do it and do it well.

Try never to put out a vague call for “volunteers” or “help.”  How can someone tell if they are interested in or qualified to do something without a clear idea of what you want them to do?  And how can you feel confident in assigning a role to a volunteer who actually has not agreed to do anything other than “help”? 

Often we feel uncomfortable explaining upfront what we really need for fear of not getting anyone to say yes.  How illogical.  Isn’t it better to have people self-screen themselves out if the role is unappealing, rather than hoping to sign on someone who has not actually committed to the work you are envisioning in your head? 

Always tell the truth, unapologetically.  You may find that prospective volunteers imagined a role far more complex than the one you were afraid to tell them.  Better to live with a vacancy for a while as you seek the right volunteer, than to get a volunteer who is wrong for the work to be done.

The most powerful volunteer recruitment technique is to ask someone to serve, but it’s common to confuse publicity with recruitment.  Publicity informs a lot of people at once that something is happening or being offered to them. Recruitment, on the other hand, is delivering an invitation to participate as an active contributor. It has to feel personal.

2. In a time-deprived, speed-accelerating world, most people prefer short-term volunteer roles. 

We are living at ever greater speed, in communication with the world 24/7, coping with multiple households after divorce, working two jobs to pay the bills.  Who has time to volunteer at something endless?

You will have the greatest success offering volunteer work that has a clear beginning, middle and end – projects that are focused on a goal or end product, not on a long-term time commitment.  But the problem is that you also need volunteers to agree to big jobs that require a chunk of time.  Can these different views be reconciled?

First, acknowledge that volunteering has a bad reputation as a bottomless pit.  People imagine endless, boring meetings, internal politics, paperwork, and wasted time.  Often they are right. So if you want to keep volunteers for the long-haul, make sure you are respectful of those who are already active. 

A more effective approach is to offer people short-term projects and then ensure they have a great experience completing them.  You’ll soon find that satisfied volunteers will ask, “Is there anything else I can do?” or say, “I’d be willing to do that again” – so that you evolve commitment over time.

Almost any long-term activity can be broken down into shorter assignments for many different people, rather than expecting two or three volunteers to do it all.  So this approach also prevents burn out of your leadership while cultivating loyal hands-on volunteers.

 3. A new volunteer’s earliest interactions with you are the best determinants of ultimate success.

When you recruit volunteers, you are implying that you have work to be done and newcomers will be eager to begin.  So if their e-mails or voice messages aren’t answered for over a week, or they are told to come to training next month, or sense that there is no real activity going on, they will feel misled.  Make sure someone is designated specifically to reply to any expression of interest in volunteering and to do so in as welcoming a manner as possible.

Most organizations pay attention to a new volunteer’s first committee meeting or day on the job.  But it takes longer than that to acclimate someone.  For example, who says hello on the volunteer’s second day?  Is anyone checking in to make sure the newcomer is feeling good about the work all through the first month of service?  When people drop out early and unexpectedly, it is usually for one of three reasons:  1) what they found themselves doing in reality was not what they thought they were being asked to do (and not as appealing); 2) they never felt accepted by the people already on board; or 3) they do not see how their efforts make a difference. 

So offer orientation and give relevant information that sets the context for the new volunteer. Develop a buddy system or make sure the newcomer has someone available to answer even the tiny questions.  Smile when the person comes in and say goodbye and thank you as they leave – sincerely.  Set a positive tone and volunteers will want to be part of your team.

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Susan J. Ellis is president of Energize, Inc., an international training, consulting and publishing firm specializing in volunteerism.  Based in Philadelphia since 1977, the firm has helped a wide diversity of clients across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Israel, and Australasia to start or expand volunteer efforts.  Ellis has written 12 books on volunteerism and dozens of articles.  She has written the “On Volunteers” column for The NonProfit Times since 1990. She is co-publisher of the international online journal, e-Volunteerism, and dean of faculty for the online volunteer management training program, Everyone Ready^®.  Browse the 1200+ pages of free volunteer management information on the Energize web site . Continue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

 

And please make sure to keep up with the rest of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service series!

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre
• Supporting Military Families by Christina Jumper
• Volunteering for Kids by Marilyn Price-Mitchell
• CSR and Employee Volunteering by Michael Nealis
• Family Day on Summer of Service
• The Power of Story Telling by Tammi DeVille

 

The Power of Story Telling

In the latest installment of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service series, author and service leader Tammi DeVille shares great tips on how to recruit and keep volunteers. Thanks Tammi!

The Importance of Story Telling for Inspiring and Recruiting Volunteers

By Tammi DeVille, author of Changing the World on a Tuesday Night

We're a Facebook world.

We like to see faces, photos, histories, favorite quotes and stories!  Who are our mutual friends, are they married, single? What's their story? We like to find ways to relate, ways to connect, ideas for events, activities, causes that we can get involved with. 

It's important that you do the same thing when you are trying to communicate the benefits of volunteering with your organization. 

People don't want to hear just the general terms – duties, hours, locations, etc. Tell them the stories of the people they'll be volunteering with and for.

• Who's been there for years?
• Why did they get involved?
• What do they really love about it? 
• Do they have advice for how to get the most out of the opportunity? 
• And what are the stories of the people they'll be serving? 

Not just “kids who need adults to read to them”, but "Joey, who's single mom is working hard to meet his basic needs but doesn't have the time to read to him in the afternoons after school. Joey's smart and energetic and loves to read about snakes!" See how we can connect with him.

And then there are those volunteers who are behind-the-scenes. They'll never meet Joey, let alone hear his story first hand. They might just hear how crazy busy the office is, and how the volunteer turnover has made it hard to get this project done and “here, here are the files that need to be sorted and the database that needs to be updated.” These are the people who need to hear the stories the most and with frequency.

Keep everyone connected to the mission and the people that you serve.

Volunteering is about connecting with people.  It’s about realizing that we are all in this world together, and acting with the realization that by making the world a better place for one person—a person with a name and a story—we make the world a better place for all of us. 

Names, images and stories are powerful; they appeal to our heart while statistics send us straight to our left brain.  When we start using our left-brain to prioritize our time objectively, we can always rationalize reasons not to volunteer.  On the surface, it doesn’t seem as productive, or as relevant.  What your left brain won’t factor is the feeling that comes from watching Joey’s face light up when you read to him about giant pythons, and just how productive it feels that Joey has had just one more positive connection with people who care. 

We can all make a difference in the world, but what’s even more important, is that we can make a difference in Joey’s world…and our own.

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Tammi DeVille is the author of Changing the World on a Tuesday Night – a book that tells the stories of 48 people from around the country, with busy lives, who make time to volunteer on a regular basis.  She also helps universities and corporations tell the stories of their students and employees who make a habit of giving back.  You can connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

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And please make sure to keep up with the rest of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service series!

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre
• Supporting Military Families by Christina Jumper
• Volunteering for Kids by Marilyn Price-Mitchell
• CSR and Employee Volunteering by Michael Nealis
• Family Day on Summer of Service

 

Family Day | Summer of Service

Families Join in Service and Give Back

Thank you for joining us for Family Day on Summer of Service! In today's post we're highlighting the importance of family service and fostering family values that include giving back by dedicating a day to moms and families who serve.

Please welcome our inspiring Family Day guests, Rachel Matthews of A Southern Fairy Tale, Angela Ishmael of Swanky Moms and Kristen of We are THAT Family. Thanks ladies!

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Rachel Matthews of A Southern Fairy Tale shares her thoughts on how parents can teach their children the value of giving back to their communities. Through the smallest of actions (like leaving the beach cleaner than you found it) to bigger gestures of kindness (like volunteering or donating used clothes), we can all make big diferences in eachother's lives, each and every day.

"One of the greatest gifts that we can give our children in addition to morals, work ethic, manners and a sense of responsibility for one’s actions is the ability to see outside yourself, to realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you and that one of the best gifts you can do for yourself and others is to give back."

-See the entirety of Rachel's post on A Southern Fairy Tale 

 

Angela Ishmael of Swanky Moms gives us insight on how families that are dedicated to serving others are ones that can truly stand the test of time. Encouraging this sort of action early on in any family is always an excellent way to build family bonds and create meaningful family time together.  

"When I married my husband, it was essential for us to set up our family values. Values that would guide us in our daily lives on how we treat each other, raise our kids, and share in our community. One significant value for both of us was a commitment to serve others. Together we have chosen to live out that value by being ambassadors for a non-profit organization called Christian Ministries in Africa (CMIA). With our love for children it was a perfect fit! Through our passion for CMIA we have been able to serve children abroad and here at home."

-See all of Angela's post on her blog: Swanky Moms 

 

Kristen of We are THAT Family has spent a LOT of time compiling a list of 100 things that your family can do to make a difference in the world.There's everything from coming together as a family to spend more time with one another to spending more time thinking of others and doing great things within your community as a family. There's a ton of ways that your family can give back, and here are just a few that Kristen mentions:

1. Babysit for a single mom
2. Teach compassion with a Family Giving Box
3. Write a Family Mission Statement
4. Bake cookies for your local fire dept.
5. Pick up trash at local park as a family field trip
6. Create snack packs for Ronald McDonald residents
7. Welcome a new family to the neighborhood with a dessert and introduction
8. Pray for the poor of the world
9. Color a Smile-print coloring page to be given to lift someone in need up
10. Make a baby care kit for a baby in need

See the other 90 ways that your family can make a difference in the world on We are THAT Family.

 

Barb Likos of MomOffTrack has the right attitude about Family Service:

 
 
"I can’t say my kids have fed the homeless or built a habitat for humanity this year. They just haven’t. But do we help others? Absolutely. I just don’t think of it as ‘service’. We expect it of our kids."

That's dead on for many families struggling to balance all the kid activities with quality family time. Barb is an amazing mom and inspiring to many around her. She sums up her own philosphy this way: "In essence, we expect (our kids) to be of service whenever and however they can." And Barb is the same way.

 

Jill Berry of MusingsFromMe is a mom to 3 teen/tween kids. She helps them find generous opportunities to share of their own time like this example of a huge service project with their church— on Father's Day no less!

She says:

"It was a sobering day for me. I glanced over at my teen and her friends from church. I was proud to see all of them literally rolling up their sleeves and giving of themselves to the staff and of course, the patrons of the soup kitchen that Fathers’ Day. I was honored to not only be able to help out a worthy cause — Our Daily Bread in Baltimore, MD — but to be able to watch a group of teens do the same."

Read about the rest of her service project on MusingsfromMe.

 

Angie Lee is is mother of 5 children including a set of twins. She blogs at SevenClownCircus. 

This image says it all. Her family embarked on a project to help their friends and neighbors this summer. They took on a pet sitting service project! How fun is that?!

"They loved having the special responsibility and I’m pretty sure they understood that what they were doing was more than just feeding the fish.  They were helping a friend because they could, and that made them, and ME happy."

Here's what she has to say about service and young children:

"I don’t think it’s ever to soon to start teaching children about the importance of acts of service.  Even young children can “get” that these acts positively effect both the giver and the receiver."

Check out the rest of her story on SevenClownCircus.

 

Kristen of Dine and Dish shares how volunteering and community service doesn't have to be some impossibly big affair. Raising children who are active members of society that work towards making the world a better place can start with as small of an act as opening a door for a stranger.

"I think we often forget, especially as busy families, that being service oriented doesn’t always require a big time commitment. It doesn’t have to require time off work, trips to a foreign land, weekends away… service can be shared in your own backyard, in your own neighborhood, to the people you meet on a daily basis."

Read more about bringing up kids to be service-oriented at Kristen's blog, Dine and Dish.

 

 

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And please make sure to keep up with the rest of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service series!

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre
• Supporting Military Families by Christina Jumper
• Volunteering for Kids by Marilyn Price-Mitchell
• CSR and Employee Volunteering by Michael Nealis

 

CSR and Employee Volunteering | Summer of Service 2011

In today's segment of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service, we have Michael Nealis joining us to discuss his take-aways from the National Conference on Service and Volunteering. Thanks Michael!

The Importance of Employee Volunteering

By Michael Nealis

This year’s National Conference on Service and Volunteering brought more than 4,500 Champions of Service to New Orleans for three days of service projects, knowledge sharing, and celebrating the power of people that are taking action and changing the world.

There was no way to get to all of the sessions that I wanted to go to – hundreds of sessions across three days meant that I would simply have to miss some of the sessions that I was most interested in. I got to do the next best thing and talk to a lot of different people about what their best takeaways were.

Two themes kept coming up in those conversations – the increased focus on corporate social responsibility and employee volunteer programs, and the importance of volunteers in disaster response.

Employee Volunteer Programs are becoming more than just a part of employee benefit programs. They’re becoming important parts of corporations’ corporate social responsibility plans, and great ways for employees to be more involved in their communities. According to a study released earlier this month by Deloitte, employee volunteer programs are a deciding factor for millennials looking for a job.

The focus of corporate social responsibility programs is moving towards a purposeful volunteer effort that is aligned with the company’s strategic goals and away from the idea that the best way to fix a problem is to throw money at it. Companies that have successful employee volunteer programs seriously invest in designing volunteer opportunities that have high relevance to employees' work life and culture, helping to make volunteering a “natural fit” for the company.

When you apply the same business process used for core business choices to the creation of an employee volunteer program it takes you out of the “generic bubble” so many companies think corporate social responsibility is. Utilizing skills already applied to core business will design a program that, in most ways, will be appropriate to the firm’s strategy.

The role of volunteers in disaster response was highlighted in two ways – preparedness efforts before a disaster strikes and volunteer response after a disaster. Conference attendees were able to see how easy it is to help prepare families for disasters at the Get HandsOn mobile projects booth. I lost track of the number of times people told me that they loved the activity because it was easy and they could do it while they were talking to people. Volunteering doesn’t have to be hard, and the project booth did a great job of showing it!

Admiral Thad Allen spoke in a session about the role of volunteers in disaster response. The major call to action was the development of a universal credentialing system so that volunteers who have been trained to aid response to disasters can more easily be assigned to the tasks they’ve been trained for.

The most refreshing thing Admiral Allen said was that it’s okay to admit that a certain type of response is not being effective, and that it’s okay to change your approach in the midst of responding to a disaster. This can’t be done without a plan, though, and it’s extremely important to be able to communicate the change in response to everyone who is responding so there is as little confusion as possible when plans do get changed.

I’m excited for next year’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Chicago and hearing how the lessons learned this year were put into practice across the country!

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Michael Nealis is Interactive Strategy Coordinator for Points of Light Institute. Before coming to Points of Light Institute, he served for two years with Volunteer Maryland, an AmeriCorp*State program in Maryland. Most weekends, he can be found on a roof somewhere in Atlanta volunteering with Atlanta Habitat for Humanity and on Twitter as @MikeNealis

 

 

 

 

Keep Up With the Summer of Service Series!

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre
• Supporting Military Families by Christina Jumper
• Volunteering for Kids by Marilyn Price-Mitchell

 

Volunteering for Kids | Summer of Service 2011

In today's segment of VolunteerSpot's Summer of Service, we have Marilyn Price-Mitchell joining us to discuss how kids become engaged, active volunteer leaders working towards change within our communities and throughout the world. Thanks Marilyn!

How Youth Become Passionate About Giving

By Marilyn Price-Mitchell

Have you ever wondered why some children find purpose through community service while others find it difficult to stay engaged? 

Raising children to become active citizens doesn’t happen by chance. In my research study, Civic Learning at the Edge: Transformative Stories of Highly Engaged Youth, I interviewed students from around the country who had adopted passionate causes between the ages of 14 and 18.  Developmentally, this is the age when kids form civic identities that often stay with them for the rest of their lives.

The students in my study reflected on their adolescence and the critical experiences that led them to work for civic causes.  Being familiar with the common steps in their journeys can help parents and other adults support kids through these important learning experiences by listening, encouraging, and appreciating the process.

Five Steps Toward Passion and Purpose

1. Connecting to Others in Need

Kids who develop a passion to serve can usually point to a critical volunteer experience that became transformative for them.  The experience always involves face-to-face interaction with people who are different from them and most often, with people who are in need. These experiences might occur in food banks, homeless shelters, nursing homes, disaster areas, and places where people live in poverty. Similarly, those who work for environmental causes point to intense moments of learning, involving a deep personal connection to nature or animals. Their experiences might occur in animal shelters, wildlife refuges, or experiential projects that raise awareness of environmental issues.

2. Confronting Moral Dilemmas

When teenagers form relationships with those who are in need, who may be in pain, or who may have few resources, it creates moral dilemmas for them.  They begin to ask questions that compare their own circumstances to others. For the first time, they may wonder why people are hungry or why children are homeless. The same is true for the environment.  Kids feel such a connection to nature that they begin to ask deep moral questions about how we care for the planet. Why don’t we pay attention to climate change?  Or protect certain species of animals?

3. Self-Reflection

As they consider these moral dilemmas, they reach deep within themselves and think about their values. Instead of mimicking the opinions they have heard from others, such as parents or friends, they begin to form their own conclusions. They need to process their feelings with adults who are not judgmental, who trust in their abilities to find their own answers. Often, these adults are leaders of volunteer programs, older siblings, or a favorite teacher. Encouraging children to discuss their feelings with others, or even write about them, helps facilitate learning.

4. Perspective Shift

Through reflection, talking with others, and linking their values to the issues that impact them, young people experience a shift in perspective. They begin to see how issues are connected to each another and become interested in understanding the root causes of societal problems.  For example, they may see links between social and environmental issues, understanding that climate change will most affect people living in poverty. They may connect sex trafficking with girls living in poverty in Cambodia.  They may understand the need for breast cancer research because it affected a mother or aunt. These connections begin to fuel an inner purpose and passion toward specific, important causes.

5. Creating a Passionate Civic Identity  

Young people reach the last step in this journey when they see themselves as active, engaged citizens. They are able to articulate their beliefs about how they understand a social or environmental issue and they hold a worldview that incorporates themselves as agents of change. They know that small things they do to contribute to social and environmental causes have a big impact. At this point, they are ready and able to make a long-term commitment to public service.  They have a passion for giving!

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Marilyn is a developmental psychologist, educator, researcher, and writer from Bainbridge Island, WA.  She is founder of Roots of Action where she brings evidence-based research on youth development to popular audiences.  She is also president of the National ParentNet Association, a nonprofit devoted to building parent-school-community partnerships that help kids succeed in school and life.  Connect with Marilyn on Facebook, Twitter or at www.mpricemitchell.com.

 

©2011 Marilyn Price-Mitchell. May not be reprinted or adapted without permission.

Keep Up With the Summer of Service Series!

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre
• Supporting Military Families by Christina Jumper

 

Supporting Military Families | Summer of Service 2011

In honor of those serving in the military, we invited Christina Jumper of the National Military Family Association to join in Summer of Service. Today, Christina shares accessible resources and simple actions helping us all to show support for military families. Thanks Christina!

How Does Your Community Support Military Families?

By Christina Jumper, National Military Family Association

So, you want to support military families but you don’t know where to start, think it’s too expensive or complicated, or even time consuming? Well, we have a simple, easy answer for you!

Finding Common Ground: A Toolkit for Communities Supporting Military Families is a new resource from the National Military Family Association. This toolkit is the product of our Association's summit, "When Parents Deploy: Understanding the Experiences of Military Children and Spouses," at which we gathered the leading experts in the fields of military family support, childhood development, women's issues, and behavioral health. 

This toolkit suggests easily-achievable action items and useful resources to guide anyone who wants to support military families, but doesn’t know where to start.  This toolkit provides an answer to the question “What can I do to help?”

Using and sharing the information in this toolkit is easy. First, log on to MilitaryFamily.org, identify yourself in one of the communities, and read about ideas and resources that can start conversations and stimulate action. Then, take some time to explore the other toolkit links. Print pages of the toolkit or use your online social networks to share the information with your friends.

Supporting military families doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. The toolkit provides examples of how easy it is to help military families – from having coffee with a service member’s parent to youth organizations looking for ways to include military families as part of the curriculum.

Share how you’re supporting military families in your community! Send us an email at info@militaryfamily.org. We are capturing these great ideas to build a list for communities to share. Every community is reaching out and they are doing it in unique and special ways. Now it’s your turn to see where you fit in! Join us today at www.MilitaryFamily.org/Community.

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Christina is the Volunteer Services Director of the National Military Family Associaiton. She is responsible for recruiting, training, and supporting the Association’s worldwide network of more than 200 Volunteers and Representatives.  In 2003, Christina was a recipient of the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal in recognition of her volunteer work for soldiers and their families. Christina has been a military family member since 1989 and currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia. Continue the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Keep Up With the Summer of Service Series!

• Small Actions, Big Impact by Nate St. Pierre

Small Actions, Big Impact | Summer of Service 2011

Thank you for joining us for our first installment of Summer of Service! We're kicking off the series with Nate St. Pierre, the founder of  ItStartsWith.Us, who is sharing his ideas on how everyone can make a big difference in the lives of others, even with limited time and money. Thanks Nate!

Small Actions, Big Impact

By Nate St. Pierre

 

How many times have we all thought, “I want to do something with my life that makes a difference, but I don’t have any time (or money)?” I was pondering this a couple years ago, and I decided I was going to build systems where people could make a positive impact on others, in a way that was meaningful to them, in tiny increments of time and/or money. I wanted to prove to everyone that it is possible to change the world through small, consistent acts, and you don’t have to be Mother Theresa or the executive director of a nonprofit to make it happen.

Because the reality is that we are all volunteers, and we are all service leaders in some way.

 

Nobody pays us to take care of our kids, to help out our friends and family, or to be kind to those around us. Yet those are the things that truly matter in this life, and guess what? A little bit goes a long way with the people who are close to you.

So with that in mind, I set out to build some teams that anyone could join. I’ll give you a brief synopsis of each one here. I’m listing them out not for self-promotion, but rather to provide three distinct examples of how you can touch hearts and change lives by utilizing the concept of micro-giving. Hopefully these will give you some ideas of the kinds of things you can do in your own sphere of influence.

 

1. ItStartsWith.Us (5,000 members in 100 countries)

Changing the world in 15 minutes a week.

This team receives one email per week with an assignment that takes just 15 minutes or less to complete. With thousands of us working on it together, we accomplish some very big things. ItStartsWith.Us touches literally thousands of lives a week. It allows people to work together, both individually and as a team, to make a tangible difference for someone in their own lives, or for a stranger.

2. Love Drop (1,000 members in a dozen countries)

Spend a dollar, change a life.

Love Drop is a micro-giving network of people who unite as a community to help one person or family a month. By subscribing to the team for as low as $1, we make it easy for our members to change lives in a fun and tangible way. Each month Love Drop delivers a unique combination of unexpected financial gifts, personal encouragement and the support of local and online communities.This team has given away over $40,000 worth of cash, goods and services to five families in five months.

3. Love Bomb (2,000 members in 50 countries)

Changing lives in 5 minutes a week.

Once a week we come together to drop hundreds of love bombs (in the form of blog comments) for those who need it most. We find people going through a difficult time and envelop them with a community that truly cares. Love Bomb is the fastest, easiest project to participate in, and one of the most powerful. Quite a few people have told me that the reason they’re alive today is because of this team. 

The biggest lesson learned from all these teams is the knowledge – the proof – that small actions can and do make a huge impact, every single day.

And because of this, every single one of us has the power to change the world.

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Nate St. Pierre is the founder of ItStartsWith.Us, a global group of people committed to changing the world in just 15 minutes a week. He utilizes the concept of micro-giving to provide a fast, fun and effective way to channel and direct that passion to people who can benefit from it. Along the way he helps build strong bonds of friendship and a solid team mentality among every participating member, strengthening the entire community and adding to the overall impact of the group. Contact him on Twitter and Facebook.

Summer of Service 2011

 

 
With June just a few weeks away, we're getting excited for Summer of Service 2011!  Since last year's blog series was such a big success, we decided to engage the service community, rally the troops, and do it again!

Starting Mondays in June, we'll be bringing you a new voice and new perspective on service and volunteering from inspiring leaders in the field. If you're a volunteer leader, or someone who cares about making a difference in your community and world, you won't want to miss Summer of Service!

Please Welcome our Guests:

Nate St. Pierre of ItStartsWith.Us sharing how small actions can have a huge impact

Christina Jumper of the National Military Family Association with a perspective on Military Family service

Marilyn Price-Mitchell of Roots of Action - helping families, schools and communities help kids thrive

Jacob Colker founder of Sparked - making it insanely easy for us all to pitch in and "micro-volunteer" from anywhere this summer

Michael Nealis of Points of Light Institute bringing us the latest scoop in service from the National Conference on Volunteering and Service

Tammi DeVille author of Changing the World On A Tuesday Night   taking on the importance of story telling for social cause

Rabbi Will Berkovitz of Repair the World, sharing insights on faith and service

Susan Ellis founder of Energize, Inc, the leading resource for professional volunteer leadership development

Several lifestyle bloggers sharing their stories of family service and action including Angela Ishmael of SwankyMoms, Rachel Matthews of A Southern Fairytale, and surprise guests!

Please join us this summer in celebrating service and volunteering!

A Summer of Fun, A Summer of Service

As August begins, it's time for us at team VolunteerSpot to get ready for Back-to-School and so we're wrapping up our Summer of Service blog series. This June and July we were privileged to feature  leading guest bloggers each week sharing their unique and personal perspectives on service, volunteering and citizen philanthropy. Summer of Service was so much fun -- we would like to thank each of our guests who made this inspiring summer series possible -- your contributions were well read and are very much appreciated!

Here are the highlights:

• The series offered ideas from Jessica Kirkwood of the HandsOn Network, on how to recruit, retain and recognize volunteers through social media. 

• We had an insider's view on volunteering from Chris Dumas, the founder of NonprofitWebinars.com, giving us a glimpse into the reasons why people volunteer, and more importantly, what causes them to stick with it.

• Jyl Patte, the founder of Mom It Forward and the co-organizer of the evo’10 Conference, shared her tips on how to make a difference with the click of a mouse, proving that community service IS possible from the comfort of your own home. 

• We heard from a young do-gooder, Crystal Yan, co-producer of the Social Startup Summit, on how to engage kids in volunteering, keeping them interested is always hard, especially during the summer months!

• The founder of Realized Worth, Chris Jarvis gave us ways to measure the strength of our volunteer programs, discussing ways to match what your volunteers want with what your program is providing them.

• Debra Askanase, the founder of Community Organizer 2.0, revealed what makes her tick as a volunteer, and how every volunteer can be a volunteer organizer.

• The mysteries of the millenial volunteer were uncovered by Kari Saratovsky, V.P. of Social Innovation at the Case Foundation and publisher of the foundation’s Social Citizens Blog. Kari provided us with ways to connect with the elusive generation of 20-something volunteers. 

• And finally, Sloane Berrent, a nationally recognized speaker on community building and author of the blog, The Causemopolitan, kick-started the series with a step-by-step plan of how to get involved within your community.

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We hope you found new ideas and inspiration for getting involved, leading service projects, and engaging your volunteers. For those of you headed back to school this month, good luck on your school year and we invite you to bring a passion for service and action with you! And for all those who still have a couple more weeks, consider yourself lucky, you still have time to work on your summer of service. Please check back with us and share your stories and learnings.

Here's to a fantastic end of the summer, and an incredible start to the school year!

Using Social Media to Build Volunteer Communities - Summer of Service

Welcome to our eighth Summer of Service post! Each Monday in June and July, we're privileged to be featuring a fantastic guest blogger sharing his or her unique and personal perspective on service, volunteering and citizen philanthropy. Today, please welcome Jessica Kirkwood, the Vice President for Social Media at HandsOn Network. Jessica will be sharing her ideas on using social media to build a tighter community around volunteer projects, allowing volunteer leaders to recruit, retain and recognize volunteers through online interactions. Thanks Jessica!

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How to Use Social Media to Recruit, Retain & Recognize Volunteers

by Jessica Kirkwood

As the chief social media geek at HandsOn Network, my job is to think about ways that social media tools can be used to motivate people to volunteer.

How can online tools enhance and accelerate community building to sustain volunteer engagement? 

Social media tools have tremendous potential for building community around a project among participating volunteers.

Once you get volunteers to your project the first time, online community building can help keep them coming back.

Using Social Media for Volunteer Recruitment

Start a Facebook fanpage and invite volunteers to “like” it.  Set up your project as a calendar event on Facebook and invite your volunteers to sign up – and to invite their friends as well. Remember to send a personal message to each volunteer that signs up through Facebook to introduce yourself, confirm their attendance and let them know you’re counting on them showing up. 

Create a Twitter account for the project and ask volunteers to “follow” the account. Use Twitter to share #volunteer opportunities.  (Using the #volunteer hashtag in the text of your tweet will launch your tweet into Twitter’s volunteer conversation.) You can also share last minute project updates like changes in driving directions through Twitter. During the project, upload and tweet photos for those who couldn’t join that day to show them what they’re missing.

Create a video that makes a compelling case about why the project is important and asks people to get involved. Share the video through the project’s Facebook page and share it via Twitter.

Using Social Media for Volunteer Retention

Creating a blog can be a great way to build community around your volunteer project. A blog post is a great format for storytelling and can be a place for you to share stories such as: sharing the founding story of the agency or neighborhood partner; sharing stories of the kind of impact you’re having because the project exists; or recognizing a stellar volunteer by telling his or her story.

Invite your volunteers to contribute stories to your blog or to post stories on their own blogs – ask them to reflect on their participation, the difference it makes and why it matters.

(If you don’t have the time to maintain a traditional blog, consider using a microblogging platform like Tumblr where you and all your volunteers can share anything from photos, to stories, to short updates.)

Post project photos to the project’s Facebook page for your volunteers to enjoy and share. Invite volunteers to post their own – on your facebook page or thiers.

Engage volunteers between volunteer projects by holding a photo or video contest.  Ask volunteers to post their best photo or video footage of the project on your Flickr group page or on your YouTube channel and ask your community of volunteers to vote for the best one.

Crowdsource ways to improve the project by asking volunteers connected to your project’s Facebook page to share their input and ideas. For example, each week after the project, consider posting questions on the project’s Facebook page like:

·         What went well at this week’s project?

·         What do you think could have been improved / what would you suggest we do differently?

·         What ideas do you have for…?” 

Experiment with what kinds of content engages your volunteers most.  Do they want to engage online with content that is mostly positive and celebratory or would they rather grapple with ways to address the root causes of your community’s social challenges?

Using Social Media for Volunteer Recognition

Tell a phenomenal volunteer’s story through a blog post.

Enter your project on Foursquare and encourage your volunteers to “check in” when they attend.  Offer some kind of small reward to the volunteer who is the reigning “Mayor” of your project.

Interview your nonprofit partner or a beneficiary of the service project about why it matters to them and share the video with your volunteers online as a thank you message.

Post statistics about the impact your volunteers are making on your Facebook page.

Write a note of thanks on a volunteer’s Facebook wall.

Invite volunteers to help support your social media efforts. Volunteers can manage all of the ideas listed here – and more - as part of their volunteer commitment to your organization.

These are just a few of our starter ideas. What ideas do you have?

 

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Jessica Kirkwood is Vice President for Social Media at HandsOn Network. You can follow her at HandsOn Blog, @HeyJK or @HandsOnNetwork.

An Insider's View on Volunteering - Summer of Service

Thanks for joining us for the seventh installment of our Summer of Service! Each Monday in June and July, we're privileged to be featuring a fantastic guest blogger sharing his or her unique and personal perspective on service, volunteering and citizen philanthropy. Today, please welcome Chris Dumas, the founder of NonprofitWebinars.com, a free resource for nonprofit executives and a seasoned leader in online philanthropy. As part of our Summer of Service campaign, we’ve been curious about what makes people tick when it comes to volunteering. Chris brings us a personal view on what causes him to be active within his community and shares some of his favorite volunteering experiences. Thanks Chris!

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Why I Volunteer

by Chris Dumas

Why do I volunteer?

Community is very important to me. My neighbors, colleagues, friends and family are the people I care most about, so anything I can do to improve our community has a spot in my heart. I look at volunteering as an instrument in creating and building relationships with the people that matter most to me.

The whole point of helping a nonprofit organization is to assist them in furthering their mission and, personally,  I love the ability to directly measure the social impact created as a result of my involvement.

I have met some amazing friends as a result of helping make the world a better place.

What about Family Time?

Juggling a family with little kids and a job helping nonprofits does not leave much time for volunteering. As a result, I am very protective of my time and if I do choose to get involved, I want to maximize return for the organization that I am helping.

One of the more rewarding things I have experienced as a parent is teaching my children about philanthropy and having the experience of working on volunteer projects with them. Sharing with them the values of helping people and being engaged in the community is a great way to spend some quality family time.

Volunteering Tech Savvy

Some of my more memorable volunteer opportunities have been when the organization enabled me to leverage my knowledge of nonprofit technology. Sometimes being nerdy can help an organization be more effective and I like that.

I currently volunteer in the following ways:

• General help and labor at my daughter’s school

At my daughter Gianna's school, they need volunteers for all of their events, committees and bake sales. The school has a very small class size and is very involved in the community themselves.

• Nonprofit Community Information Technology Start-up

A local group from Child or Parent Emergency came to me wanting to do a project involving technology. Inspired by the work and experience the founder had as a social worker,  they wanted to create a better way for nonprofits and schools to communicate to the community in their language preference. I was very excited about building a multilingual project and  I offered to set them up with some web development and help them get the project up and running.

• Nonprofit Industry Committee Member

It is important to me to help grow, support and enhance my industry by being involved with the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network. I currently serve on the social committee.

• Board Member for High School Sober Graduation Party

In my hometown of Napa, the whole community comes together to put on Grad Nite, an all-night sober graduation party for seniors. My role has been to drive ticket sales and attendance by handling the marketing towards students. I have loved being able to promote at schools and present in classrooms.

A Favorite Volunteer Experience

My hometown has a nasty habit of flooding every winter. Big storms come through and the entire downtown ends up under water. A lot of damage is incurred by the local businesses and homes ruined from the muddy flood water.

One rainy winter, when we knew flooding was imminent, my brother and I put on our rain gear and went down to the local sandbag operation to help fill sandbags. How this typically works is the city has truckloads of sand dumped in a parking lot with cases of white bags and a couple of shovels. Each person that needs sandbags is responsible for filling their own. I should also note that typically it is raining and cold while trying to fill them up. We decided to help out and started filling sand bags for our neighbors. After filling what seemed like thousands of sandbags and getting soaking wet, I felt really good about helping out our community. It is one of the fondest memories I have with my brother.

What’s Next?

I am eager to continue and to help people change the world. Have an idea? Drop me a line, Chris {at} FirstGiving {dot com}.

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Chris has worked with hundreds of organizations to help them manage their donors, donations and fundraising campaigns. In the past, Chris was co-founder of Donor Tools, an online donor management company. He currently helps nonprofits by building online donation products at FirstGiving. He is the founder of NonprofitWebinars.com, a free resource to nonprofit executives.  You can follow him on Twitter @chrisdumas.

Charity Goes Online! How to Make a Difference with the Click of a Mouse

Welcome to our sixth Summer of Service post! Each Monday in June and July, we're privileged to be featuring a fantastic guest blogger sharing his or her unique and personal perspective on service, volunteering and citizen philanthropy. Today, please welcome Jyl Pattee, the founder of Mom It Forward and the co-organizer of the evo’10 Conference. Jyl will be sharing her ideas how to use online tools to become more engaged within the community. Thanks Jyl!

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Five Ways to Serve From Your Computer

by Jyl Pattee

I grew up going from one service project to the next at our local church group, at my dad's community club, at my school, and to places and functions that supported my mom's various causes. I learned at a young age what Polio was and service became equivalent in my young mind with eradicating it. I learned that bake sales could feed families and car washes bought uniforms. I discovered that fundraiser events were a lot of fun only after a lot of work, especially when I played the role of my mom's chief gopher! All of the service projects we participated in had one thing in common: we went outside of our home and worked! Fast forward to adulthood where the landscape of charity looks vastly different from that from my childhood. The internet has made giving easier and faster not to mention, convenient. Here are five simple ways you can take advantage of giving from the comforts of your own home.

1. Make Micro Donations

Micro donation/lending organizations like Choice Humanitarian, Kiva, and The Tipping Bucket have made donating to various causes on a regular basis not only possible because donations can be as low as $5, but also simple because all that is required is the click of a mouse and inputting a bit of informa t ion. Even the established non-profit organization the Make-A-Wish Foundation is applying principles of micro donating in its new symbolic giving program this summer: Summer of 5000 Wishes. To make a donation, just check a box for the symbolic item you'd like to purchase—items as low costing as sun screen and as costly as a flight. Then, check out the impact your donation made on the overall wish through a financial thermometer (see example on right). 

2. Get Information Via Websites

The internet has made information about issues easily accessible and readily available. In days past, we were reliant on newspapers, magazines, or research at the local library. Now, all you need to do is search for terms and a variety of articles, information, and sites pop up with both information as well as ways to help. For example, do you want to learn more about ways in which to help erase teacher-funded classrooms? Three non-profits come to mind spearheaded by these large companies: Bing, General Mills, and OfficeMax.

3. Get Up Close and Personal With Causes Through Blogs

Blogs have personalized causes for us by introducing us to the people who suffer from them. We've learned more and have championed causes like The March of Dimes because of people like Heather Spohr and the unfortunate death of her sweet daughter, Maddie. She has inspired us to raise not only awareness, but funds in her memory.  We've supported each other through tough times, like when Anissa suffered a stroke, when Melissa's house flooded, and when Stellan was hanging on for dear life. And we rally for people who need our help, thoughts, and love on a daily basis like TammyStephanie. Through blogs, we've learned the power that comes from reading, sharing, and supporting—even from behind the computer screen. Service comes in many different forms and sometimes, a prayer, a kind comment on a blog post, a letter dropped in the mail, or supporting an online auction to benefit someone during rough times is exactly what is most needed.

4. Connect With Others Via Online Communities

Twenty years ago, my brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I remember the process that diagnoses entailed. My mom spent hours and hours researching in the local library. My brother received diagnosis after mis-diagnosis. My mom didn't know of any other moms facing similar issues and had no one she could relate to. Learning to parent a mentally ill child was a long and lonely learning process. Not that all of those problems would be simplified in today's online world, but the power of online communities goes a long way in providing answers, support, and encouragement. Moms can talk openly about everything from autism and diabetes to home schooling and general parenting issues. The support is an act of service in and of itself that benefits both the giver and the receiver.

5. Create Buzz About a Cause on Social Networking Sites

Thanks to tools in social media, groups don’t have to travel to Africa to offer humanitarian aid. Social Networking Sites like Twitter and Facebook are another great way to share and receive information, raise awareness and funds, and connect with people who share your passions and with whom you can relate—and are no further than a step and a click away. In April of 2009, I ran a campaign, including online and offline events for Yehu Microfinance in support of women entrepreneurs in Kenya. In one month, and in partnership with the 12for12K organization, we raised $15,000 and got the word out in a huge way. People in 10 markets had the opportunity to attend events, but people all over the world had the luxury to interact from the comfort of their own homes with people in Kenya via a Twitter party and donate via a Chip In widget in as small as $2 amounts. Twitter and Facebook helped generate buzz and excitement and information and made all the difference in raising both awareness and funds.

The next time you are wondering how you can better your community or make a difference in the world around you, stop! Get online. If you have time to go out into your community, research options to do so. If you don't, identify ways to serve online. Making a difference in the world is as simple as the click of a mouse! Start today!

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Jyl Johnson Pattee is the founder of Mom It Forward and the popular Girls’ Night Out (#gno) Twitter parties where women and brands connect weekly 140 characters at a time. She is also the co-organizer of the evo’10 Conference. Companies including Ann Taylor, Crayola, Famous Footwear, OfficeMax, and PBS Kids have engaged Jyl for her social media expertise and her ability to bring a brand into the online conversation in a fun, meaningful, and influential manner. Offline, Jyl is a mom to two boys; loves large amounts of cheese, dancing, and traveling; and lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.