Volunteers needed to teach 4th grade children life skills to keep them safe alone while at home

In observance of Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, ACTS will hold a Memorial Vigil to remember those homeless who were lost this year, along with those who sought permanent housing. The vigil will be held December 21, 5:00pm at the ACTS Beverly Warren Shelter, 17866 Main Street, Dumfries 22026. All are welcome to attend; light refreshments will be served after the service. Please call ACTS at (703) 441-8606 for more information.

· The busy staff at the SERVE Family Shelter is still in search of volunteer groups who can provide a hot, nutritious meal to their residents over the holidays. Open meals still needing groups are: Dinner Dec. 31, Brunch & Dinner Jan. 1 and Dinner Jan. 2. Volunteers must be at least 16. Meals can be prepared either in the shelter’s kitchen or fixed off-site and transported to SERVE. It’s a great way to support families experiencing homelessness by providing the comfort and warmth of a home-cooked meal during the holidays! Please contact Navara at ncannon@nvfs.org or call (571) 748-2536 for more information.

· Cleaning out your closets for the holidays? The wonderful folks at MADD are accepting donations of clean, gently used sneakers (no holes, please) through December! Shoes can be dropped off with Shelley at our Volunteer Prince William office. Please contact Shelley at (703) 369-5292 ext. 0 for more information.

· Serve Our Willing Warriors is in search of New Year’s volunteers to take down holiday decorations on January 4, 5 and 6. You can visit Sign Up Genius at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0845aca72ba0f49-christmas1 to sign up for a slot – lots of openings available! This great organization also has numerous volunteer opportunities including Ambassador, Event Support/Coordination, Guest Services, House Prep and Grounds Support/Maintenance. These are great ways to say Thank You to our veterans for their sacrifices, and also help this wonderful organization spread the word on how they support our veterans. Please email volunteer@willingwarriors.org or visit willingwarriors.org for more information on these opportunities.

· K9s Serving Vets has lots of open volunteer opportunities as they work to guide veterans to their service dogs. Open slots include Social Media Promotions, Website Management, Outreach Coordinator, Fundraising Director, Events Staff, Admin Support and much, much more! If you enjoy engaging the public while promoting a great cause to thank our veterans for their sacrifice, this is the place for you! Please contact Kira at kc@k9sservingvets.org to learn how you can get involved.

· The Retired & Senior Volunteer Program is in urgent need of volunteers age 55+ to teach 4th grade children the life skills to keep them safe alone and safe at home. Volunteers must be available during school hours. This fun curriculum is very interactive and of course the kids are very fun. Training is provided; please call Jan to learn more at (571) 292-5307 to be part of the RSVP team.

· Project Mend-A-House is searching for weekend volunteers to help with their fix-up projects across the community. Both skilled and unskilled are most welcome on weekends and also during the week. Please call Jhenny at (703) 792-7663 to learn more.

· People Inc. is looking for volunteer tax preparers willing to be certified as an IRS VITA Income Tax Preparer for the 2018 tax season. This special tax preparer assists low-income individuals and families with tax preparation. Training is required, but you will be helping this vulnerable population navigate through their tax forms and IRS regulations. For more information, please call Jeanne at (571) 445-3020.

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