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Recent VolunteeringPosts

Julie Andrews to Grads: ‘Go Out and Kick Butt’

Posted on 05/17/2013 by | News, Culture, Sights and Sounds | Comments

Bulletin Today | Entertainment | VolunteeringGet over yourself. That was the message delivered by Julie Andrews, 77, to the graduates of the University of Colorado, Boulder last week. The late writer David Foster Wallace presented similar thoughts in his 2005 Kenyon College commencement address, the starting point for a new viral video that’s been viewed on YouTube more than five million times since being uploaded at the start of this year’s graduation season. More on that later. (Watch the two videos below and let us …

AARP Experience Corps: Working with Kids Yields Rewards

Posted on 05/16/2013 by | All the news that matters for Illinoisans over 50. | Comments

VolunteeringKids Aren’t the Only Ones Who Win with Experience Corps In 2007, a Washington University research study confirmed what volunteers have been consistently saying all along.  AARP Experience Corps volunteers become more active and energetic as they participate in the program. From the study: “At the end of the academic year, about two-thirds of the low-activity group was classified as high-activity, as they became more active in [non-Experience Corps] activities. “ Experience Corps members become more active through their work …

Random Snacks of Kindness — Volunteering for Big Themes in Life

Posted on 05/14/2013 by | Volunteering | Comments

VolunteeringHypothetical question: If a random stranger on the street approached you and offered a free cupcake — just because — would you take it? Greg Gano and Sarah Sellman from AmericanBearFilm.com, along with myself undertook that exact experiment in the beautiful city of Scranton, PA. The idea was to pass out “random snacks of kindness” while promoting a simple message — “be kind”. Of course, Greg and Sarah were no strangers to this type of experiment as they had already …

“The Gasp” and the Growth of a Child

Posted on 05/9/2013 by | Washington D.C. | Comments

VolunteeringMy elementary school kids desperately want to please their teacher.  So much so, they frequently let their emotions get the better of them.  Actually it’s daily.  And here’s how I know: Each and every day that I’m in the classroom I hear the “gasp”! A little background: Good teaching requires a high level of engagement between teacher and student.  And one of the best ways to build such rapport is through questioning.  Active questioning helps ensure—nothing completely ensures!—that the students …

Fire in the Wind, Heroes in the City

Posted on 05/8/2013 by | Latino Life | Comments

Relationships | Volunteering | Your LifeIt is raining this morning, May 6, over greater Los Angeles. It began tapping at our rooftop shortly after midnight and was still coming down as night blossomed into a gray and gloomy day. I felt like cheering. The rain, with its accompanying low temperatures and high humidity, meant that a fire that had burned through almost 30,000 acres of brush and timber in the mountains 40 miles west of the city had been beaten. We had come through another …

Building a Story — The Roles of Authors and Illustrators

Posted on 04/29/2013 by | Washington D.C. | Comments

VolunteeringEvery story has a beginning, middle and end.  And in the details of that telling, we can be transported to times and places that fill us with a range of emotions — from wonder, hope and, mirth — to fear, sadness and dread.  And the best stories usually have a blend of both! My Experience Corps kids are currently engaged in “author studies.”  What you and I — if you’re a Gen Xer, boomer or older — used to call storytime!  …

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