volunteer

Volunteers Needed for Spring and Summer Children’s Activities

By Katie Pyzyk

Volunteers are needed for a number of children’s activities taking place around Arlington this spring and summer. More information about these opportunities and others can be found on the Volunteer Arlington website.

  • Arlington Little League is looking for assistant coaches to help with the spring 2012 season. Previous baseball coaching experience is not necessary. Assistant coaches help head coaches run practices and games, and participate in the overall management of the team. Volunteers should have the desire to work with children of all ages and skill levels to provide a fun and positive baseball experience. Contact Wayne Berry at 202-693-5585
  • Jane Franklin Dance needs assistants for summer camps taking place July 9-13 and July 16-20. Volunteers will help with supervising participants during classes, participating in classes and clean up. No dance training is needed, just the ability to move, be creative and interact with children. Contact Jane Franklin at 703-933-1111.
  • The Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing needs help with an Easter egg hunt at Columbia Grove Apartments on March 28. The event runs from 6:00-7:00 p.m., and volunteers will help with set up, implementation and clean up. Being bilingual is helpful but not required. Contact Liz McElwee at 703-851-3635.

Volunteers Needed for Green Expo on St. Patrick’s Day

By Katie Pyzyk

The group Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment is asking for volunteers to help keep the green in St. Patrick’s Day. Well, not exactly the Irish green — but the environmental green.

On March 17, ACE is holding its third annual Green Living Expo from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Washington-Lee High School. The event focuses on helping residents find practical ways to “green up” their lifestyles. Visitors will find green living seminars, a variety of local and national exhibitors, children’s activities, a raffle, sustainable eating food sales and cooking demonstrations.

The expo is free and open to the pubic, but the event is still short on volunteers. Extra help is needed from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., organizers say. Anyone who wants to lend a hand can get more information by calling 703-228-6427.

Events Planned for MLK Day

By Katie Pyzyk

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is on Monday, and Arlington has plans to honor the civil rights leader. Here is a short list of some of the events in the area.

The county’s big event is on Sunday at Washington-Lee High School (1301 N. Stafford St) from 7:00-9:00 p.m. The tribute includes a variety of performances, including a keynote address from Howard University’s Dr. Wilmer Leon, gospel music from Larry Bland and the Volunteer Choir, and a dance tribute by Urban Artistry. The Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) will be accepting non-perishable food donations at the program.

Monday is a nationwide Day of Service to honor Dr. King’s call to serve. AFAC is looking for volunteers to help with food drives at the Giant grocery stores on Columbia Pike (2501 9th Rd S.), at Virginia Square (3450 Washington Blvd), at Lyon Village (3115 Lee Hwy) and at Bailey’s Crossroads in Falls Church (3480 S. Jefferson St). Anyone interested can sign up on the AFAC website.

Volunteer Emergency Support Team (VEST) members will host an event on Monday outside the Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center (4200 S. Four Mile Run) from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. to distribute emergency preparedness information. Volunteers can sign up on the VEST website.

Also as part of the Day of Service, volunteers are invited to spend Monday afternoon at Long Branch Nature Center to remove invasive plant species. Participants must be at least 10 years old and are encouraged to wear rugged clothes and work gloves. For more information, contact Steve Young at 703-578-4419.

Individuals and families are invited to help in the neighborhood and stream clean-up near Barcroft Park on Monday from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Volunteers will clean up portions of Four Mile Run Road and stream. Due to the popularity of this event, volunteers must register.

Arlington government offices, schools and libraries will be closed on Monday. Metro and ART will be running on a holiday schedule. Metro will also be doing major work on the Orange and Blue lines during the long weekend, starting at 10:00 p.m. on Friday.

Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season

By ARLnow.com

Looking for a way to give back this holiday season?

The county’s Volunteer Arlington program lists several holiday-related volunteer and donation opportunities that are open to interested members of the public.

  • Thanksgiving Meal Delivery — The Arlington Knights of Columbus chapter is feeding some 2,000 needy people on Thanksgiving, and they need volunteers to help deliver meals or serve food in their North Arlington facility.
  • Angel Tree Program Setup, Sorting and Distribution — Help the Salvation Army provide gifts to needy children and elderly citizens who would otherwise be left out on Christmas.
  • Gift Wrapping at Pentagon City Mall — A gift wrapping service provided to shoppers at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City by Arms Outstretched Ministry. Proceeds benefit wounded warriors, deployed military personnel and their families.
  • Secret Santa/Adopt-A-Family — Help provide gifts to needy families via the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing.
  • Arlington DHS Secret Santa — Donate gift cards to the Arlington Department of Human Services to make the holidays “a little happier for some of Arlington’s most vulnerable residents.”

Volunteers Needed for County Fair

By Katie Pyzyk

The Arlington County Fair is fast approaching, and organizers are looking for volunteers.

Help is wanted from August 10-14.  Volunteers are asked to attend an orientation session to learn about the fair and what opportunities are available. The first orientation is tonight and the other is next Tuesday. Volunteers will have the chance to win a door prize of tickets to a concert at the 9:30 Club.

If you’d like to volunteer, click here for the application, or email  [email protected] for more information.

Arlington Man Trying to Volunteer in 50 States in 50 Weeks

By ARLnow.com

Anybody who’s active with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter probably knows Peter Salemme, a carpenter by trade and a tireless volunteer who has been working with Habitat since 1992.

Despite his regular volunteer work, Salemme has apparently not entirely satisfied his do-gooding instinct. At age 59, the married father of five has embarked on a mission to volunteer in 50 states in 50 weeks, all before his 60th birthday.

“A friend of mine passed away recently and the pastor talked at the service about when we leave this earth there are two dates on your tombstone separated by a dash. He said that life is about what you do with the dash,” Salemme told the Mt. Airy News in North Carolina, where he’s helping to building a house. “I recently celebrated my 59th birthday and I wanted to do something big with the dash before I hit 60.”

Salemme, who lives in a Habitat home he helped to build in Arlington’s Green Valley neighborhood, is no stranger to publicity for his good works. In 2006, the Washington Post profiled him after he moved to Biloxi, Miss. to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Salemme, who had been working as a kitchen designer at the Home Depot in Falls Church, requested to be temporarily transferred to a store in Biloxi so he could spend his spare time rebuilding houses with the local Habitat chapter.

On his latest journey, Salemme has been to Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. He often often relies on friends, churches and volunteers to help him find places to stay and food to eat.

So far Salemme has helped install kitchen cabinets for a family who miraculously survived a tornado, constructed an addition for a man paralyzed in a tornado and remodeled a foreclosed home for an unemployed truck driver. Through it all, Salemme has been maintaining a travel blog where he documents his experiences during his “year of service.”

Next on Salemme’s itinerary, according to the Mt. Airy News, is a a short stop back in Arlington before heading to Texas and points west.

Photo via TravelPod

MLK Day Celebrations, Closures

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County is gearing up for its tributes to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Arlington is holding its 42nd annual tribute to Dr. King at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center auditorium (3501 Second St. S.). The event will feature keynote speaker Rev. Walter Fauntroy, a local civil rights leader who worked with Dr. King, as well as performance by the World Children’s Choir and the Washington-Lee High School Jazz Band.

ABC 7 reporter Horace Holmes will emcee the event, which is taking place from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 16.

On Monday, Arlington’s AmeriCorps team will hold a Martin Luther King Day of Service. From 10:00 a.m. to noon, volunteers will meet at the Arlington Mill Community Center (4975 Columbia Pike) then go forth to help clean up a section of the Pike and the nearby Four Mile Run stream. Anyone interested in participating is asked to register by emailing volunteer[at]arlingtonenvironment.org.

There will also be a “Save a Tree on MLK Day” event from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Gulf Branch Nature Center (3608 Military Road). Volunteers will help save trees by pulling invasive species from the ground. Call 703-228-3403 for more information.

Arlington government offices, schools and libraries will be closed on Monday. The Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center will be open, but every other community center will be closed. Parking won’t be enforced, but trash will be collected.

Metro and ART will be running on a holiday schedule, but Blue and Orange Line work will make commuting into the District tricky.

Volunteer Opp: Work at Arlington’s MLK Day Celebration

By ARLnow.com

Arlington will be holding its 42nd annual tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. next weekend.

The event is being held at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center Auditorium (3501 Second St. S.) on Sunday, Jan. 16 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. It will feature a keynote address from Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, a local civil rights leader who worked with Dr. King, as well as musical performances and other entertainment.

The organizers need volunteers to help make the event a success. They’re looking for greeters, green room monitors and an artist to assist with the production. Contact Milada Weaver at 703-228-4730 if you’re interested in volunteering, or see more information about the opportunity here.

Give Back by Volunteering This Holiday Season

By ARLnow.com

The holiday time is a time for many things. It’s a time for family togetherness. It’s a time for eating too much. It’s a time for getting really angry about parking spots. And, of course, it’s a time for giving and helping those less fortunate than you.

If you want to give back on Thanksgiving, there are a number of ways to do so.

Volunteer Arlington has numerous volunteer opportunities listed on its web site, from spending part of a day with residents at a local nursing home to delivering Thanksgiving food baskets to families affected by HIV/AIDS to helping out with the annual Lyon Park/Ashton Heights Turkey Trot 5K.

See more holiday volunteer opportunities here.

Flickr pool photo by Chris Rief

Volunteer Opp: Help Out With a Soccer Tournament

By ARLnow.com

Have you ever wondered who runs the game clock at sporting events? Does watching a soccer game while pressing a few buttons sound like a sufficiently low-effort way to give back to the community?

If so, the Arlington Parks Department needs you to help out with an indoor youth soccer tournament at the Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center on Nov. 20.

In addition to running the clock, the parks department needs volunteers to help with registration and the monitoring of games.

No previous soccer or coaching experience is required.

Call Milada Weaver at 703-228-4730 or email her here for more information. (Note that Arlington government offices are closed today.)

Olympian Carl Lewis Coming to W-L High School Today

By ARLnow.com

Olympic track and field star Carl Lewis will be on hand at Washington-Lee High School this afternoon to help launch the newest chapter of the Best Buddies program.

The nine-time gold medalist will meet W-L students and tell them about the volunteer program, which encourages students to build one-on-one friendships with intellectually and developmentally-disabled individuals.

Lewis’ appearance will take place in W-L’s auxiliary gym at 1:00 p.m.

Best Buddies chapters are already in place at Wakefield and Yorktown high schools, and at the H-B Woodlawn and Stratford secondary programs. In Virginia, Best Buddies International operates 25 chapters which count more than 10,000 participants in total.

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