Call to Action: Children in need of healthy sack lunches

Good morning  – The Un Trim A Tree Holiday Gift Program needs your help- Come share the joy of the season with a child.  We provide the child’s name, age and their 2 wishes from Santa. This promises to put you in the spirit!  I still have over 1200 children needing toys and warm clothes.  Please visit our website at: volunteerprincewilliam.org for more info and fill out a donor form.  I can provide all the info on the child right away.  You can be shopping tomorrow!

• The Manassas Christmas Parade still needs a few volunteers to help out along the parade route in Old Town Manassas on Saturday December 5th. This is tons of fun. Please email Nora at: [email protected] for more info.

• Contract Solutions is looking for groups of volunteers especially youth groups to assemble bags of needed essentials for individuals staying at the Woodbridge homeless shelter. This is the perfect off-site project! Lunch size bags should be filled with new socks, snacks, candy bars and personal toiletry items. The folks at Contract Solutions deliver these Hope in a Bag every other week from now through March. It’s an on-going project of simple joy to our neighbors. Please call Carole at (703) 686-4846 for more info or via email at: [email protected] • SERVE is looking for 3 groups who can make 80 sack lunches for a Nutrition Education Outreach for children on December 5th. The sack lunches need to be assembled and delivered to SERVE on December 4th. Groups provide the food, lunch bags, sandwich bags and napkins. Come be part of the solution of teaching our kids good eating habits. Please email Jan at: jhawkins@nvfs,org for more info.

• NBC 4 is looking for volunteers at their next community shredding event on Saturday December 12th at the Manassas NVCC Campus from 7am-12 noon. Volunteers age 14+ are most welcome. Please register with Claudia at: [email protected] or give her a call at (571) 285-3772 to learn more.

• The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers to ring the bells at Red Kettles at area Walmart, Giant and Safeway stores between now and Christmas Eve. This program helps people throughout the year. Please call Katie at (703) 618-0511 to learn more.

• Meal on Wheels is looking for a volunteer to coordinate the service to the Gainesville/Haymarket area. Duties include picking up the meals at the Manassas Senior Center and delivering them to the warming station in Gainesville so other volunteers can deliver them to the seniors in the area. There has been a tremendous increase of seniors in the Gainesville area needing nice warm lunchtime meal and this volunteer opportunity sounds like a wonderful solution. Please call Melodee at (703) 792-4583 to learn more.

• The Novant Health Foundation is looking for volunteers to serve on their Gala Committee. Duties include securing donations for the auction at their Annual Gala onFebruary 27, 2016. This is a big event that helps tons of people in our community. Please call Abby at (703) 369-8201 to learn more • Historic Manassas needs volunteers at the Visitor Center during traditional business hours. This is fun place with people from all over the world stopping in to gather historical information on our community. Please call Erin at (703) 361-6599 for more info.

• The VETS Program of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program is looking for volunteer’s age 55+ to drive veterans and/or their spouses to their doctors’ appointments. Most of these appointments are local. They do have one client needing a ride from Manassas to Landsdown on December 8th. Please call Coleen at (571) 292-5307 to learn more about these vets and how you can give them the ride they need.

• Habitat for Humanity needs volunteers to get the brand new ReStore ready to go as well as the current location. Tasks include getting donations on the floor- especially all the holiday decorations. Please visit their website at: habitatpwc.org for all the specifics and to register for any of these fun events or email Tammy at:[email protected]

• Nominate your volunteers! The 2016 Virginia Governor’s Volunteerism & Community Service Awards Program is open for you to nominate your wonderful volunteers. It’s really easy to do right on-line at: vavolunteerismawards.org. The deadline for nominations is December 16, 2015 so you have a little time but don’t forget to do it.

• If you are looking for other opportunities, please don’t forget to call my wonderful team at Volunteer Prince William. Coleen can help you with the Retired and Senior Volunteer (RSVP) opportunities at (703) 369-5292 ext. 1, Shelley can help with any individual or group project and send you weekly updates if you’d like. Shelley is at (703) 369-5292 ext. 0, and Bonnie can help you with opportunities available in Disaster Preparedness at (703) 369-5292 ext. 3. Please visit our newly re-vamped website atwww.volunteerprincewilliam.org. Thanks so much for all you do in our community.

Call to Action is a column written by Volunteer Prince William Director Mary Foley.