Please Volunteer! (Volunteer Blogger Sydney Swearengin)

Sydney Swearengin Volunteer Blogger

Hello! My name is Sydney Swearengin and I’m in sixth grade at Bullard TALENT. I’ve been volunteering since I started school this year, and I think you should too. This Martin Luther King Day, we are trying to have the largest service day in Fresno history, so we’re asking you to volunteer. It’s important to volunteer because it can help turn Fresno around. Volunteering helps get things done without the city having to spend money to get the task done. It can also help clean up our city. Here are some volunteering ideas that you can do: 

• Clean up a park
• Help at an animal shelter
• Plant Trees
• Clean up a school
• Collect items to donate to a homeless shelter
• Have a food drive
• Help at an office

Over my Christmas break, I went and helped at City Hall. At first I was nervous, but I actually had a lot of fun! Right now, I’m volunteering at the HandsOn Central California building. They asked me to work on this blog for them. So if you want to volunteer, you can look on the Serve Fresno website for volunteer opportunities. Please come and volunteer on Martin Luther King Day this year!                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The Year Keeps Getting Better and Better

We hope our readers had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend!  It was definitely a nice mini-vacation for us here at HandsOn (November has been a busy month!)  Volunteers helped kick off the Season of Giving on November 20th for Serving Fresno Day, giving back to local non-profit organizations by helping to beautify and organize offices, put together meal boxes, clean parks, and much more.  Mother nature was not on our side, yet volunteers still met us in the cold morning rain, when we know they would much rather have stayed warm and dry in their beds.  We cannot say enough what AMAZING and dedicated volunteers we have!

If you'd like to help, we are still taking sign-ups to help at our next event Hope for the Holidays on December 19th.  One of our favorite and most memorable events, Hope for the Holidays gives homeless families the opportunity to celebrate the holiday season together with good food and cheer, and each child receives their very own gift from Santa Claus himself!  You can visit www.handsoncentralcal.org or call us at 559-237-3101 to help.  We also have a toy donation box located at the Santa Studio in River Park and the Serve Fresno Christmas tree up, where you can Give the Gift of Time by making a commitment to volunteer in your community.  While you are there, make sure to visit our Art By Hand store!!!! We are so very excited to showcase the fantastic one-of-a-kind art pieces designed by local artists at our new holiday location!  You can find art decor, warm accessories, and unique jewelry gifts for yourself or a loved one.  Your purchases help to enable us in continuing to serve our community.

Have a Happy Holiday season and please remember to pop in and say "Hi" in-between your Christmas shopping at River Park.

Volunteers make a BIG IMPACT on Make A Difference Day

The month of October flew by so quickly and we at HandsOn are excited to embrace Autumn, cold weather in the Central Valley, and the Holiday season!  (We begin celebration today with our Thanksgiving potluck.)  But before we move from ghouls to turkey, lets take a look at the amazing things volunteers have done in our community just this past month.  October 23rd was Make A Difference Day and over 100 residents came out with us to do just that in Fresno, Merced, and Tulare counties.  Volunteers helped to clean and beautify three neighborhood parks, provided the opportunity for home bound seniors to have mobility by building 2 wheelchair ramps, installed grab rails, provided running water to senior homes, provided yard upkeep and interior maintenance, and more. 

See what Volunteers did here!

To learn more about volunteering,

visit www.handsoncentralcal.org or call 559-237-3101

Coming Together in Service and Remembrance on 9/11

Last Saturday we, along with the Community Food Bank, held Feed Hope: a massive food distribution in recognition of 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance and September being National Hunger Awareness Month.  Feed Hope was an absolute success!  Over 700 volunteers works hard to distribute 1.3 million pounds of food to over 27,000 families all under 6 hours!  What an achievement!  It was wonderful to see so many people of all ages come together, eager to serve their community. We surely do have the best volunteers. 

Volunteers registered and ready!

Clients waiting to pick up meal boxes

View more photos HERE

Summer is here!

Summer is here.  School is out!  Don't want your kids becoming couch potatoes?  Sign them up for our Summer of Service Program, 7 days of service-learning fun. 

Beginning Thursday June 24th and going for 6 thursdays after that, youth ages 12-16 will learn about pressing community issues from hunger and homelessness to environmental issues and more.
Learn more and register HERE