Impact Yadkin prepares for largest event yet

An Impact Yadkin sign adorns the yard of a house that will receive work from the volunteer effort from June 9 through June 14.

slideshow

Impact Yadkin 2013 holds a preparatory event at the Forbush High School gym on May 5. The crew has built a special stage for worship services and performances in the evening after volunteers return from working on the sites. Approximately 800 people will live at the high school and middle school from June 8 through June 15.

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In a just over a week Yadkin County will get a chance to experience the power of community and teamwork when Impact Yadkin returns for its second year. The event will take place at homes all across Yadkin County from June 8 through June 15.

This volunteer effort brings together thousands of Yadkin County residents for one week in June to help fellow county residents who need repairs to their homes that they just can’t afford.

Brent Winslow, one of the event coordinators for Impact Yadkin, said the idea for the event was taken from a mission project they had done before in West Virginia.

“Our group made up over half of the work team there so you had all of these Yadkin County people working in another state,” Winslow said. “We just started talking that maybe that we needed to be doing this mission work here as well as other places. We prayed about it for a year and things seemed to working out and doors were opening so in 2011 we did the project in Yadkin County for the first time.”

Winslow said that the 2011 effort produced 400 volunteers working on about 55 work projects across Yadkin County. The volunteers spent the week living at Forbush High School and Forbush Middle School, sharing their meals and joining each other for services at night.

“We decided at that point that it went very well and the cooperation among the churches was great but it wasn’t something we thought we could replicate every year,” Winslow said. “At that point we decided to plan it every other year.”

When the team started planning for the Yadkin event for 2013 they set a goal to get involvement from 30 churches and around 600 workers. To date they have 32 churches involved and right around 600 volunteers who will dedicate a week of their summer to better the lives of their neighbors.

They will also be taking on approximately 20 more houses than last year with the last count coming in at 75.

“That’s the toughest thing; we’ve been taking applications and we received 117 total before the deadline and we got 25 after the deadline,” Winslow said. “Everyone is deserving and you want to help everybody but we just can’t do it all. Our resources are limited and our people are limited. Some of the projects we just couldn’t do the work with students. Some of the work is just too big for us. We wished we could do them all but we’re limited so we can’t.”

Volunteers for the work sites are limited to rising seventh graders and up due to insurance restrictions. Those volunteers will be split into groups of 10 or 12 with some members of their own church and many more people they may not know nor have worked with before.

“To me it’s a great thing because a lot of times we segregate off into our own churches and everyone is doing their own thing, but this is a time when everybody comes together,” Winslow said. “It’s not a denominational thing and it’s not an individual church or an individual person. Everybody working together makes it happen.”

The work crews will be making repairs such as roofing, dry walling, flooring, installing wheel chair ramps, building porches and decks and retrofitting bathrooms to make them handicap accessible.

Yadkin County organizations worked to make eligible residents aware of the project and pick up locations for applications and the application process lasted from October 2012 through March 2013.

“When the applications come in they go to our construction group,” Winslow said. “They go out and individually inspect each house, meet the homeowner and gather all the information they can. From there we do a lot of praying and just trying to decide the best way to serve and meet the needs of those people as we can.”

Winslow said that Impact Yadkin will repair homes from Jonesville to East Bend, to Courtney and back out to Hamptonville.

Winslow said that not everyone on the work crew will need to have experience, but there will be at least one trained member on site to oversee the work and that many volunteers do contracting professionally or have worked in that area in the past.

“Our work quality might not be contractor great, but all of these crew chiefs are screened by our construction people,” Winslow said. “Most of them do have some construction experience, and there are several contractors amongst those crew chiefs.”

Outside of the work crews there’s another 500 to 600 workers from the various churches making sure that the work teams are getting fed. Food teams provide lunch on site at each of the homes every day. Additional crews will be at the high school and middle school preparing breakfasts and dinners for about 800 people.

For children sixth grade and under the event is providing what it calls “Party in the Park” once again. This year there will be five locations: Yadkin County Park in Yadkinville, Yadkinville Community Park, Lilas Swaim Park in Jonesville, Boonville Baptist Church and Prospect Methodist Church.

“They’ll have games, crafts and Bible stories and one day they’ll have inflatables and a snow cone machine,” Winslow said. “It’s kind of a celebration event for them to have something to do while the construction is going on.”

Winslow said that Impact Yadkin will also have evangelism teams traveling the neighborhoods of the homes receiving work and inviting the residents to the final celebration event on June 14.

“They’ll be sharing with them about Impact to let them know what’s taking place,” Winslow said. “We hope to be able to share the message of God’s love with them as well.”

The final event will take place at Forbush High School stadium and will feature a cookout, games, live band and worship service. Winslow said that anyone in the community is invited and encouraged to attend this event.

Winslow said the theme of this year is i3: impact, invest and increase.

“We want to invest in our community and through God’s love we will impact people and from that we’ll see an increase in God’s kingdom,” Winslow said.

Winslow’s daughter Emily, a worship leader for the event and member of the media team, said that she’s been very involved in the Impact program for several years now and has seen the ground floor for this program as compared to other states.

“I was involved in Impact when it was in Maryland last year,” Emily said. “I did a mini-internship with them and I got to see what the administrative teams looks like here compared to there and there God did incredible things there but there is just not a sense of unity amongst the churches or amongst the people of God there like there is in Yadkin County.”

Emily said it was an event like this that first introduced her to the Lord and that she can’t imagine her life without Impact.

“It’s been such a blessing to see this come together,” Emily said. “Everyone here is just so willing and so cooperative to just be able to serve and do whatever they can to help. Trips like this change my life and I met the Lord myself on a trip like this and it hasn’t been the same since.”

If you would like to learn more about Impact Yadkin or would like to make a financial donation to the effort contact Brent Winslow at (336) 469-3883 or Jamie Reavis at (336) 469-0020.

Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@civitasmedia.com.

Impact Yadkin prepares for largest event yet

An Impact Yadkin sign adorns the yard of a house that will receive work from the volunteer effort from June 9 through June 14.

slideshow

Impact Yadkin 2013 holds a preparatory event at the Forbush High School gym on May 5. The crew has built a special stage for worship services and performances in the evening after volunteers return from working on the sites. Approximately 800 people will live at the high school and middle school from June 8 through June 15.

slideshow

In a just over a week Yadkin County will get a chance to experience the power of community and teamwork when Impact Yadkin returns for its second year. The event will take place at homes all across Yadkin County from June 8 through June 15.

This volunteer effort brings together thousands of Yadkin County residents for one week in June to help fellow county residents who need repairs to their homes that they just can’t afford.

Brent Winslow, one of the event coordinators for Impact Yadkin, said the idea for the event was taken from a mission project they had done before in West Virginia.

“Our group made up over half of the work team there so you had all of these Yadkin County people working in another state,” Winslow said. “We just started talking that maybe that we needed to be doing this mission work here as well as other places. We prayed about it for a year and things seemed to working out and doors were opening so in 2011 we did the project in Yadkin County for the first time.”

Winslow said that the 2011 effort produced 400 volunteers working on about 55 work projects across Yadkin County. The volunteers spent the week living at Forbush High School and Forbush Middle School, sharing their meals and joining each other for services at night.

“We decided at that point that it went very well and the cooperation among the churches was great but it wasn’t something we thought we could replicate every year,” Winslow said. “At that point we decided to plan it every other year.”

When the team started planning for the Yadkin event for 2013 they set a goal to get involvement from 30 churches and around 600 workers. To date they have 32 churches involved and right around 600 volunteers who will dedicate a week of their summer to better the lives of their neighbors.

They will also be taking on approximately 20 more houses than last year with the last count coming in at 75.

“That’s the toughest thing; we’ve been taking applications and we received 117 total before the deadline and we got 25 after the deadline,” Winslow said. “Everyone is deserving and you want to help everybody but we just can’t do it all. Our resources are limited and our people are limited. Some of the projects we just couldn’t do the work with students. Some of the work is just too big for us. We wished we could do them all but we’re limited so we can’t.”

Volunteers for the work sites are limited to rising seventh graders and up due to insurance restrictions. Those volunteers will be split into groups of 10 or 12 with some members of their own church and many more people they may not know nor have worked with before.

“To me it’s a great thing because a lot of times we segregate off into our own churches and everyone is doing their own thing, but this is a time when everybody comes together,” Winslow said. “It’s not a denominational thing and it’s not an individual church or an individual person. Everybody working together makes it happen.”

The work crews will be making repairs such as roofing, dry walling, flooring, installing wheel chair ramps, building porches and decks and retrofitting bathrooms to make them handicap accessible.

Yadkin County organizations worked to make eligible residents aware of the project and pick up locations for applications and the application process lasted from October 2012 through March 2013.

“When the applications come in they go to our construction group,” Winslow said. “They go out and individually inspect each house, meet the homeowner and gather all the information they can. From there we do a lot of praying and just trying to decide the best way to serve and meet the needs of those people as we can.”

Winslow said that Impact Yadkin will repair homes from Jonesville to East Bend, to Courtney and back out to Hamptonville.

Winslow said that not everyone on the work crew will need to have experience, but there will be at least one trained member on site to oversee the work and that many volunteers do contracting professionally or have worked in that area in the past.

“Our work quality might not be contractor great, but all of these crew chiefs are screened by our construction people,” Winslow said. “Most of them do have some construction experience, and there are several contractors amongst those crew chiefs.”

Outside of the work crews there’s another 500 to 600 workers from the various churches making sure that the work teams are getting fed. Food teams provide lunch on site at each of the homes every day. Additional crews will be at the high school and middle school preparing breakfasts and dinners for about 800 people.

For children sixth grade and under the event is providing what it calls “Party in the Park” once again. This year there will be five locations: Yadkin County Park in Yadkinville, Yadkinville Community Park, Lilas Swaim Park in Jonesville, Boonville Baptist Church and Prospect Methodist Church.

“They’ll have games, crafts and Bible stories and one day they’ll have inflatables and a snow cone machine,” Winslow said. “It’s kind of a celebration event for them to have something to do while the construction is going on.”

Winslow said that Impact Yadkin will also have evangelism teams traveling the neighborhoods of the homes receiving work and inviting the residents to the final celebration event on June 14.

“They’ll be sharing with them about Impact to let them know what’s taking place,” Winslow said. “We hope to be able to share the message of God’s love with them as well.”

The final event will take place at Forbush High School stadium and will feature a cookout, games, live band and worship service. Winslow said that anyone in the community is invited and encouraged to attend this event.

Winslow said the theme of this year is i3: impact, invest and increase.

“We want to invest in our community and through God’s love we will impact people and from that we’ll see an increase in God’s kingdom,” Winslow said.

Winslow’s daughter Emily, a worship leader for the event and member of the media team, said that she’s been very involved in the Impact program for several years now and has seen the ground floor for this program as compared to other states.

“I was involved in Impact when it was in Maryland last year,” Emily said. “I did a mini-internship with them and I got to see what the administrative teams looks like here compared to there and there God did incredible things there but there is just not a sense of unity amongst the churches or amongst the people of God there like there is in Yadkin County.”

Emily said it was an event like this that first introduced her to the Lord and that she can’t imagine her life without Impact.

“It’s been such a blessing to see this come together,” Emily said. “Everyone here is just so willing and so cooperative to just be able to serve and do whatever they can to help. Trips like this change my life and I met the Lord myself on a trip like this and it hasn’t been the same since.”

If you would like to learn more about Impact Yadkin or would like to make a financial donation to the effort contact Brent Winslow at (336) 469-3883 or Jamie Reavis at (336) 469-0020.

Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@civitasmedia.com.

First Splash and Dash event is held for Special Education students in Fontana – Fontana Herald

The first-ever Splash and Dash Event was held for Special Education students from all of the high schools in Fontana.

The fun competition took place on May 10 at Kaiser High School.

The students participated in field events such as the 100-yard dash, long jump, and softball throw.  In addition, there were water-related events that included a water balloon toss, sponge pass, and a relay to fill a bottle with water.

Terry Abernathy, the Kaiser principal, was excited to see such a large gathering. “This is great event; look for it to be here every year from now on,” he said.

The event coordinators were Kaiser teachers Mike Giardina, Emiko Hotchi and Concepcion Altamirano.

“We have all the high schools from our district in attendance,” said Giardina. “There were also hundreds of volunteers from the admin, teachers, staff and all the wonderful Kaiser Cat students who lent a hand. Overall it was a great event; everyone had a wonderful day. We look forward to hosting this event again next year.”

To see a video of the event, visit:

http://youtu.be/DwwalAR6ZxM

Ski to Sea heightens awareness following Boston Marathon bombing

Last month’s bombing attacks near the finish line of the Boston Marathon put sporting event coordinators of all kinds around the globe into planning mode to ensure that similar events are less likely to happen at their races.

Ski to Sea Race Director Pete Coy was no different.

“I probably started within an hour of that bombing,” Coy said. “I wanted to gear up and make sure we were prepared. This is not exactly a strategic target here in Bellingham, but at the same time, if somebody can make some news … you just need to be prepared.”

The nature of the 93-mile, seven-leg relay race from Mt. Baker Ski Area to Bellingham Bay makes security a challenge, particularly considering the race route winds through several municipalities and throughout rural areas of the county.

“The Ski to Sea course is almost four times longer than the Boston Marathon, and we have one-tenth the number of law enforcement personnel,” Coy said. “So if someone wants to do some damage along our course, they can do it. The most obvious places to do it would be the finish line and Squalicum Harbor, where there are the greatest number of people gathered.

“We are taking some extra precautions in those areas with the help of the Bellingham Police Department and all the law enforcement agencies we work with, but I don’t want to go into any more detail than that. But yes, we’re talking about it, and yes we’re urging our racers and volunteers to be vigilant. If somebody does something suspicious, call the authorities.”

‘Mom’s Day 5K’ Helps to Give Back

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- Families from across the Grand Valley laced up their sneakers on Sunday, to participate in this year’s Mom’s Day 5K.

A portion of the proceeds are going to the Hilltop Latimer House, to help volunteers provide support to those suffering from domestic violence.

More than 60 runners, from old to young, and beginners to pros took part.

“We wanted to do something special on Mother’s Day to honor moms and bring the whole family out to have fun,” said Tracy Brinkman, event coordinator.

Stacy Antonucci is one mother in particular who is participating in this event.

“I think right now my boys don’t really want to be here,” said Antonucci. “But they are doing it for me and I think in a couple of years they are going to be glad that they did it.”

“She is just the best mom ever in the world,” said James Antonucci.
“She just always does stuff for us,” said Danny Antonucci.

Though Antonucci says her boys would rather have hit the snooze button, she’s grateful they’re running together so she can teach them more about where the proceeds from the race are going to.

“They don’t understand why you have to pay $25 to go run 3.5 miles,” said Stacy Antonucci. “But when I told them the reason is we are supporting this great organization and the women that need this, a light bulb went on in their head and they were a little bit more on board for that.”

No matter how fast or slow they may run, event coordinators are hoping more people see the importance of giving back.

“We hope that in the future it continues to grow and we want to increase awareness for charities like the Latimer House,” said Brinkman.

For more information on Hilltop Latimer House, click here.

Volunteers pack 80000 meals headed for Haiti – WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI …

Chippewa Falls (WQOW) - Hundreds of volunteers showed up at a Chippewa Falls elementary school today to pack meals for undernourished children in Haiti.

Over 600 people loaded boxes of food for the third annual Food for Kidz meal packing event. The volunteers helped cover the cost of buying things like rice and vegetables, and then sealed them into bags to be shipped to Haiti. According to event coordinators, many Haitian children survive off of only 250 calories a day, so the meals are a vital source of vitamins and minerals.

“I was there a few years ago and distributed it. It was like Black Friday here where people line up at a store just waiting to get in. It’s that way when you deliver these meals. There are just families that are anxious to get these meals, because they don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” said Mike Cohoon, Food for Kidz event coordinator.

Members of area churches, sports teams, and businesses helped pack the boxes. All together, volunteers were able to send nearly 80,000 meals to Haiti.

Fairport Clean Sweep set for April 20 – Fairport

Spring is here and once again the Village of Fairport will be participating in the state-wide Canal Clean Sweep event. This year’s event, to be held locally on Saturday, April 21, from 9 a.m. to noon.

It is sponsored by the Fairport Partnership for a Better Community, the Fairport Perinton Merchants Association and the Village of Fairport.

Each year, scores of volunteers from civic and youth groups, to individuals aged 4 to 84, come together to participate. Volunteer service organizations, couples, families and individuals also participate as many village merchants power wash, sweep, and clean their storefronts, sidewalks and landscapes. Hundreds of bags of trash are collected.

“We’re hoping for another great turn out again this year.” said Scott Winner, Executive Director of the Fairport Partnership for a Better Community, coordinator of the event.

“We’d love to see all who’ve participated in previous years come back and bring a friend or two with them.” said Merchant’s Association Vice-President Joel Cuminale. Event coordinators include Winner, Cuminale, and Fairport Partnership Vice-President, Nancy Ockenden-Ragus.

Those individuals and groups interested in participating may contact organizers at info@fairportpartnership.org or 377-6010.

Participants are asked to meet canal side at the Box Factory pavilion beginning at 8:30 a.m. the day of the event and to bring rakes, push brooms, flat shovels and work gloves. Water, coffee and donuts will be available as will free pizza after the morning’s work is done. A limited number of event t-shirts will be raffled off to those who participated.

For more information visit www.fairportpartnership.org

Big Spring Powwow in Need of Sponsors, Volunteers 3/5/13

Big Spring Powwow in Need of Sponsors, Volunteers 3/5/13

Tatum Guinn
CBS 7 News Reporter
March 5, 2013
tguinn@cbs7.com
Big Spring – Native American dancers from all over the region will compete against one another in April during the ninth annual Big Spring Powwow.

However before any competition gets underway, event coordinators say sponsors and volunteers are needed to help make the cultural show a success.

Donations and sponsors are what keep the powwow going each year according to event coordinators. It costs anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000 to put it on each year

For more information about the powwow — including sponsorships and to volunteer — contact Lesser at 432-935-0125 or visit the Powwow Committee’s website at www.powwowbigspring.net

Big Spring Powwow in Need of Sponsors, Volunteers 3/5/13

Big Spring Powwow in Need of Sponsors, Volunteers 3/5/13

Tatum Guinn
CBS 7 News Reporter
March 5, 2013
tguinn@cbs7.com
Big Spring – Native American dancers from all over the region will compete against one another in April during the ninth annual Big Spring Powwow.

However before any competition gets underway, event coordinators say sponsors and volunteers are needed to help make the cultural show a success.

Donations and sponsors are what keep the powwow going each year according to event coordinators. It costs anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000 to put it on each year

For more information about the powwow — including sponsorships and to volunteer — contact Lesser at 432-935-0125 or visit the Powwow Committee’s website at www.powwowbigspring.net

Community service project ‘The Big Event’ takes place this weekend

The largest community service event in town will begin its fifth year at Florida State this Saturday, Feb. 23.

With the ultimate goal of 3,000 volunteers, the Big Event coordinators are looking forward to the large production this weekend. As the largest event they have done so far, this year’s community service outreach is expected to succeed past all years before.

FSU students will have the opportunity to reach out to many different organizations ranging from food banks to community outreach sites.

“This is the largest event we’ve ever done,” said Brandon Eisaman, president and executive director of the Big Event. “Our recruit has been significantly better than in the past. Last year we didn’t even have this many people signed up by the time of the event.”

They now have 174 different campus groups registered for the day of service so far, which is far more than they had at this time last year.

The Big Event was started five years ago as an initiative of the executive branch in SGA.

Volunteers’ days will consist of group orientations and groups will report on Saturday from 9:15 to 10:00 a.m. The groups will then receive a packet with detailed instructions on where they are going to go, followed by kick off at 10:15 a.m. and send off at 11:15 a.m. Volunteers will also be provided with food and drinks, water bottles and other souvenirs.

The Big Event’s executive board said they are thrilled about the event this year and have strong expectations as a payoff from all of their hard work. Many of them all have stories from previous years that they put to use as the ultimate illustration of what they are working so hard towards.

“Last year we had a site where we helped out an elder woman,” Eisaman said, reflecting on a memory from the Big Event. “She called me a week after thanking us for sending kids to her house and made us cookies and lemonade. Those are the memories that make all of the hard work worth it.”