Posted on August 27th, 2012
We are excited to announce that we have received a Celebration of Service Grant
from the Home Depot Foundation to help pay for weatherization supplies
in our fall Community Weatherization efforts. The Home Depot
Foundation is honored to support the housing needs of our U.S. military
veterans and has pledged $30 million over three years to ensure every
veteran has a safe place to call home. To fulfill that goal they
will support the volunteer efforts of community groups that
specifically identify service projects that benefit
veterans. This project is also supported by the Alliant
Energy Hometown Rewards Grant that Fairfield has received-a 2-year
project to help educate our community on how to reduce energy usage and
reduce our carbon footprint.
We will mobilize community volunteers to weatherize the homes
of 20 veterans here in Fairfield. We need your help to find those
homes. Please contact us to sign up if you are a veteran and
would like to receive this service. Please forward this
email to those who might be interested. We are also
seeking volunteers for this project and will continue to
update you as plans unfold. Please be in touch!
Tags: Celebration of Service Grant, energy savings, FVC events, grants, Home Depot Foundation, service, veterans, weatherization
Posted in Announcements, Events, News, Special announcements | Comments Off
Posted on August 27th, 2012
The September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance was created to provide
a positive way to forever remember and pay tribute to the 9/11 victims,
honor those that rose in service in response to the attacks, and to
remind people of the importance of working more closely together in
peace to improve our world.
The Fairfield Volunteer Center invites you to join at the
Fairfield Fire Station (104 N. 2nd St) to plant a flower garden with
fellow volunteers to help beautify the station as a way of small way of
saying “thank you!” to those who serve our community every day.
- Seeking 10+ volunteers to plant flowers and bulbs, spread mulch, and
water the new plantings from 4-6pm, Tuesday, September 11, 2012.
- Please bring rakes, shovels, trowels, buckets and gloves-whatever
you have to help planting flow smoothly. Bring a friend and stay
for as little or as long as you can…many hands make light work!
Contact the Fairfield Volunteer Center at 641.209.9045 or fairfieldvolunteers@gmail.com for more information and to sign up.
Tags: 9-11, Day of Service, FVC events, service, volunteer, volunteerism, volunteers
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Posted on August 21st, 2012
The ICVS has been asked to assist the Governor’s Office in helping Iowa become the national leader in service and
volunteerism by 2015 and, in doing so further Iowa’s other goals to be the forerunner in education, health, and job creation.
According to the Governor’s office, the Volunteer Iowa initiative
will embody our state’s spirit and value of volunteerism. Working
in partnership with Iowa’s Volunteer Centers, nonprofits, and national
service programs we will develop strategies to make it easier for
Iowans to find volunteer opportunities in their communities. We
will also challenge the private sector to support and help build Iowa’s
volunteer infrastructure and engage employees in service.
The timing of this announcement is not by accident. The week of September 10 will mark the 11th
anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The September 11 National Day of
Service and Remembrance was created to provide a positive way to
forever remember and pay tribute to the 9/11 victims, honor those that
rose in service in response to the attacks, and to remind people of the
importance of working more closely together in peace to improve our
world, and just as importantly, our great state of Iowa.
Be on the lookout for more information on how to get involved in our local 9-11 Day of Service.
Tags: 1208news, FVC events, service, volunteer, volunteerism, volunteers, youth service
Posted in Announcements, Events, News, Newsletter, Special announcements, Volunteer opportunities | Comments Off
Posted on August 21st, 2012
On Wednesday, September 12 from 1-2 pm the Fairfield Public Library will host a live webinar on 
Introduction
to Fundraising Planning. This class is great for local
non-profits, people in the fundraising world and anyone else.
If you’ve never created a financial planning road map for your
organization, here is a great place to start! Invite your board of
directors and your fundraising committee so that you can all be on the
same page!
Learn a basic planning process for diversifying your organization’s support.
A successful nonprofit organization has diversified funding streams.
If your organization has never developed a fundraising plan or
calendar, this session is for you. It provides an overview of the
process of strategically thinking through the components of a
fundraising plan. You’ll learn how to:
- Take stock of your organization’s strengths and assets
- Develop a case statement
- Set fundraising goals
- Identify funding partners
- Prepare a fundraising plan and calendar
Skill:
- Fundraising Planning
- Foundation Fundraising
- Individual Donors
- Government Funding
- Earned Income
Sign up for this free class by calling or stopping into the Library- 641.472.6551. Space is limited.
As always, we love to hear your ideas on further class topics. Please be in touch!
Tags: 1208news, agency, funding, FVC events, grants, non-profit
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Posted on August 21st, 2012
Plans are coming together for our next round of weatherization, set for October 19 and 20th. On 
Friday
the 19th we hope to engage local businesses that are interested in
team building for their employees to weatherize several homes. On
Saturday 20th we will have teams of community volunteers round out the
project, weatherizing 20 homes total.
The FVC will partner with the Alliant Energy Hometown Rewards team
to put the events together. Past participants have enjoyed the
community building that comes with the project and the recipients have
been thoroughly touched by the efforts of the volunteers.
Those wishing to receive weatherization of their homes must first
have a free Alliant Energy audit conducted-a visit by a trained
professional that will leave homeowners with great energy savings ideas
and often free supplies. We have received a Celebration of Service
Grant from the Home Depot Foundation to specifically target veterans as
the beneficiaries of our weatherization efforts this fall, so…veterans,
we need to hear from you! Once an audit has been conducted,
contact the FVC at 641.209.9045 or fairfieldvolunteers@gmail.com to
sign up. Scott Timm, City of Fairfield Sustainability
Coordinator, will arrange to come by to assess your home as a suitable
candidate to receive a team of weatherization volunteers on project
day. We can only do 20 homes so please sign up early-by Sept.
15th to have the best chance of getting on the list.
There will be two pre-workday trainings for volunteers to learn
basic weatherization techniques. Once trained, volunteers will then
have the skills to perform similar measures at their own homes.
Volunteers can also contact the volunteer center to sign up. This
opportunity is great for groups, students needing community service
hours and anyone wanting to make new friends and be a part of one of
the most fun volunteer opportunities of the year. Seeking 100+
volunteers. Stay tuned for more information!
Tags: 1208news, energy savings, FVC events, service, volunteerism, volunteers, weatherization
Posted in Announcements, Events, News, Newsletter, Special announcements, Volunteer opportunities | Comments Off
Featured Agency-Alliant Energy Hometown Rewards Program
Posted on August 21st, 2012
The City of Fairfield has been the lucky recipient of the Alliant Energy Hometown Rewards Program (HTR)- a 2 year program to 
help
our residents and overall community reduce our energy usage in many fun
and informative ways. The exact format that the programming has
taken was created by a local steering committee and numerous classes and
events have already taken place, including the tree planting that the
volunteer center helped with on Earth Day. That event mobilized
more than 700 volunteers of all ages and got more than 200 new trees
planted throughout Fairfield.
Monthly classes have been happening at the library on the second
Saturday of each month and have attracted numerous participants.
Those classes will continue through 2013 and upcoming classes include
Weatherization, Geothermal Energy & Lighting. Since the launch
of the program this past spring total City energy use has been down,
residential use has dropped 4.9%, and HTR is tracking above expected
levels on 55% of their goals. Nearly 1500 people have
participated in the Hometown Rewards Program in some manner. And
this is only after the first quarter! One of the easiest ways to
increase your own energy efficiency is to sign up for a free Alliant
energy audit where a trained professional will visit your home and give
you great ideas on how to reduce your energy bill and even leave you
with some great products like compact flourescent lightbulbs!
Having an audit performed on your home will also help Fairfield earn
more rewards from Alliant. Upcoming volunteer opportunities with
HTR include the ever popular community weatherization efforts in
October. Contact Anna Bruen at annabruen@gmail.com or Scott Timm
at stimm@iastate.edu to learn more.
Tags: 1208news, agency, energy savings, featured agency, FVC events, grants, volunteer, volunteers, weatherization
Posted in Announcements, Events, Featured Agencies, News, Newsletter, Special announcements, Volunteer opportunities | Comments Off
Friendly Visiting Program to continue
Posted on August 21st, 2012
As you may know, our federally financed Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is no longer operating b
ut
we certainly hope to continue to engage Fairfield volunteers of all
ages, especially those age 55+. One of the main components of RSVP
was the Friendly Visiting program where local seniors received a weekly
visit from a caring volunteer, helping to curb loneliness and keep that
senior connected to the community. Many individuals formed deep
friendships that have continued but we are working hard to incorporate a
visiting program of some sort into the programming at the FVC. We
will be launching a fundraising effort to that end. If you have
any ideas to share, would like to serve in an advisory role or to
contribute monetarily we would love to hear from you today. We
will continue to keep you updated on our progress.
Tags: 1208news, Friendly Visitor, seniors, service, volunteer, volunteers
Posted in Announcements, News, Newsletter, Special announcements | Comments Off
Meet our Board of Directors and New Program Assitant
Posted on August 21st, 2012
If you stop by the office in the library you will see a new face
in our office-our new program assistant, Carole Boggs. Carole’s
position is funded by Experience Works, a program that gives older
individuals an opportunity to gain workforce skills to be more hirable
in the future. In exchange for getting Carole up to speed in the
day to day operations of a non-profit, we benefit from 20 hours/week of
her time helping to get our never ending “to-do list” done! Carole
always has a kind thought for everyone she interacts with and has been a
pleasure to work with. Say hello the next time you stop by!
The current Board of Directors for the Fairfield Volunteer Center
includes: Michael Halley-president, Carole Simmons-vice president,
Melinda Arndt-secretary, Eshetu Debru-treasurer, Jeff Shipley &
Aideen Vega Van-Auken. Directors help to make important decisions
on the direction of the volunteer center and are some of the most
reliable volunteers in the community. We are always looking for
more passionate board members of all ages and from all
backgrounds. If you are interested in getting involved, please get
in touch today!
Tags: 1208news, board of directors, service, support
Posted in Announcements, News, Newsletter, Special announcements | Comments Off
Volunteer of the Year Award 2012-Nominations Sought
Posted on August 21st, 2012
As fall rolls around, we will begin accepting nominations for the
Fairfield Volunteer of the Year Award. The award will be given at
the Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association Banquet later this fall.
Do you know someone who goes above and beyond for others? Someone
you can always count on when in a pinch? Someone dedicated to
seeing a project all the way through from start to finish? If so,
we want to know about it and share it with the whole community!
Take a moment to honor someone today. Call us at
641.209.9045 or email fairfieldvolunteers@gmail.com. Tell us a few
of the reasons why your nominee is a superstar.
Tags: 1208news, awards, service, thank you, volunteer appreciation, volunteer of the year
Posted in Announcements, News, Newsletter, Special announcements | Comments Off
Disclaimer: In case of a
conflict between a listed agency and volunteer, FCV reserves the right
to archive the agency and/or volunteer data until the matter is
resolved.
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