Annual Hunger Cleanup - TOMORROW, April 14, 2012!

Fri, 04/13/2012 - 14:25 — Max Nagano
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Tomorrow, Saturday, April 14, 2012, INPIRG will be spearheading its Annual Hunger Cleanup Event at IUB. Volunteers from throughout the community will be working with five Bloomington organizations for a day of service. The event starts at 11AM at Teter Dormitory, just east of Herman B. Wells Library at 501 N. Sunrise Dr., Bloomington, IN 47406. Sites incorporated into the project include Monroe County United Ministries, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, Shalom Community Center, Back Street Mission, and (last but not least), us, New Hope Family Shelter.

Activities for the day include organizing donated food, cooking, working in gardens, and cleaning up the agencies, amongst other tasks. Though INPIRG performs a lot of fundraising throughout the year, this is one of those special occasions where volunteers can work directly with some of the organizations funded. As such, the day provides an opportunity for interns and volunteers to get a glimpse of what these agencies actually do, what they provide, and who they benefit. Bringing students to the event also introduces them the surrounding community, hopefully inducting or strengthening a sense of social responsibility.

The Hunger Cleanup which has taken place for 27 years, is part of an effort on the part of the nationwide network of PIRG's. It occurs across campuses throughout the country to address the problems of hunger/homelessness in their respective communities. Generally, months of preparation goes into the event, generating funds that will ultimately go into direct volunteering.

For general information, visit www.hungercleanup.org. For more information on IU Bloomington's event, please visit the Facebook event page. Set time aside to volunteer tomorrow! It's not too late!

The 2012 Be More Awards

Fri, 03/30/2012 - 14:02 — Max Nagano
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The Be More Awards will take place Tuesday, April 3, 2012 from 7 to 8pm at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Kirkwood Ave in downtown Bloomington. That's next week! Every year the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network honors some of our city's most dedicated volunteers and the often unsung work they accomplish.

Come join the FREE celebration to show your appreciation for people in Bloomington striving to effect positive change. Also, if you're interested in any volunteer opportunities, the Be More Awards is an excellent place to find out what various organizations are doing and how YOU can serve the needs of your community.

Hope to see you there!

A Big Thanks to IU Hutton Honors College Volunteers

Wed, 03/28/2012 - 12:14 — jpgruber

HPI and IU students work to install New Hope's Teaching Food Sovereignty Garden

A group of dedicated and handy volunteers from the Hutton Philanthropic Initiative (HPI), along with other IU students, organized a Garden Work Party at New Hope this past Sunday. The volunteers dug, raked, and planted throughout the yard and garden to kick off the growing season. Among the vegetables planted were kale, strawberries, lettuce, potatoes, beans, and onions surrounded by a rabbit proof fence constructed by our volunteers. Ellen Spitz, New Hope’s Nutrition and Physical Fitness Program Coordinator and AmeriCorps Service Member, supervised the effort.
 
The food harvested from the garden will provide food security to families that find shelter at New Hope. Not only will it be an opportunity for families to have fresh, organic, local produce, but also a step towards food sovereignty. “Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems" (http://www.foodsovereignty.org/FOOTER/Highlights.aspx). Low-income families who have restricted budgets for groceries and limited transportation to seek food end up with little control over what is available to them. Offering the skills and means to garden and produce food is a way of empowering these families.
 
But not all of our volunteers were working in the sun. Some were working hard to improve the house and quality of New Hope services by organizing donations and creating an efficient system for shelter residents leaving New Hope to receive household necessities. The work they did means more people getting more needs filled faster. This organizational work also expanded the space New Hope has available in the basement for emergency preparedness in the event of severe storms or tornadoes.
 
For four hours our HPI and IU student volunteers poured their energy into New Hope. We are extremely grateful to have such dedicated volunteers and the support of businesses like Bloomington Bagel Company to come through and donate food to fuel our volunteers. We look forward to HPI’s future involvement with New Hope and are constantly on the look out for more community partners to help improve the quality of our services.

Homeward Bound Bloomington - Sunday, April 15, 2012

Fri, 03/23/2012 - 13:05 — Max Nagano
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Homeward Bound Bloomington is coming around again in less than a month! On Sunday, April 15, 2012, the project, which benefits local shelters and food/emergency services, will host a 5K walk starting in Third Street Park. Registration begins at 12pm and the walk itself begins at 1pm. Signing up for the event costs a mere $20 ($25 after April 12).  New Hope Team is our in-house team should you choose to support us. We also encourage you to volunteer to work at the event for a 2-hour shift (which includes registering participants, handing out water, etc.) if joining a team isn't your style. To sign up quickly and easily online, click here.

The annual event is part of a series of eleven local fundraisers occurring around Indiana that day. Under the sponsorship of local businesses and underwriters (like the Lilly Endowment), the Indiana Association for Community and Economic Development (IACED) project has raised over $3 million for non-profit organizations serving low-income and disadvantaged populations.

And help is needed. In Monroe County alone, our local poverty rates have become staggering in the last three years. HB has made an accessible PDF detailing Monroe County poverty statistics available here.

Our own New Hope Family Shelter is one of the available beneficiaries of HBB's fundraising. Other organizations include Amethyst House, Centerstone Community Kitchen, Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Martha's House, Middle Way House, Monroe County United Ministries, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, Shalom Community Center, Stepping Stones, and Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County. Participants have the option of choosing which (or any/all) of these organizations they would like to donate to. 100% of donations go towards these groups.

Sign up today and spread the word to others! Participating in Homeward Bound events is an excellent way to show your support for your local community and some of the wonderful NPO's that serve it. It's also just a great excuse to get outside and enjoy the resplendent Bloomington spring. You get a t-shirt, too!

For more information, visit Homeward Bound's website.

A quick info pdf is available here.

The Benefit Bank of Indiana

Fri, 03/16/2012 - 00:01 — Max Nagano
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In a March 9 article in the Muncie Star Press (click here), Indiana Youth Institute president and CEO Bill Stanczykiewicz indicates that the state's child poverty rate has nearly doubled from 2000.  "Concentrated poverty," where at least 40% of the individuals live below the poverty line, has also risen in between those years. Perhaps more prescient to us, according to a Brookings Institution publication in November 2011 (click here), the rise of concentrated poverty has especially affected suburban communities in the Midwest and the South. Monroe County itself ranks third on the list of concentrated poverty amongst Hoosier counties.
 
To compound problems further, concentrated poverty has the effect of isolating residents from finding and implementing resources. Stanczykiewicz directs those in need of assistance to The Benefit Bank of Indiana (click here), a web-based system service available to help people access Earned Income Tax Credit, other tax credits/refunds, as well as to provide information on enrolling for food stamps, financial aid, and voter registration. The service also offers counselor-training suitable for an array of community-based organizations including job-training and social services. Moreover, one of the bank's greatest assets is its ease-of-access, making moneys and programs for poor working families that much easier to claim, without having to navigate through outdated and/or insufficient community resources. 
 
The Benefit Bank is designed primarily for working-families living at or below the poverty line. Households must have a income (gross-adjusted) of below $60,000 to qualify. But if one qualifies, the benefits might prove very helpful; as Stanczykiewicz notes, "a full-time worker earning just $18,000 per year can receive tax credits and other financial assistance worth an additional $20,000 per year." Please visit here if you think you qualify or are interested in training for your organization. Also, visit the Indiana Youth Institute for further information about youth organizations.

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