YMCA

Last weekend volunteers recurited by the YMCA used our call center to contact friends of YMCA Camp Orkila & Camp Coleman (alumni, camper families, family campers) to raise money for their annual “help send kids to camp” campaign – called “Partners With Youth.”

The YMCA has a total campaign goal of $339,000. That amount will provide scholarships for 600 summer campers and support 80 schools for overnight environmental education experiences.

The YMCA works with several agencies to target low income families with the opportunity of camp. For example, each year they sponsor kids from a school for kids who are homeless. They also offer financial assistance based on family size and income to everyone who applies and meets their criteria.

"Not making our goal is not an option – we can’t afford to turn kids away who
can’t afford the price of camp. And this year the need is even greater than the
past," explained Magill Lange, Financial Development Director for YMCA Camping
Services.

Last Saturday, they hoped to raise $3,000. Calling on Saturday supplemented their Tuesday call nights and targeted people they have been unable to reach in the evenings. All of the callers were volunteers; most were Western Washington University students who work at camp in the summer. Having a call day in Bellingham was a great chance for them to help send kids to camp.


Why Camp?

A growing body of evidence suggests that two trends—the decline in children’s health and their separation from nature—are linked. If we fail to recognize this link and reconnect kids with nature, we shortchange their health and happiness now—and risk creating a generation of adults that is less healthy, productive and able to value and protect our country’s natural resources.
Camp provides youth with a safe environment to make connections to the natural world where they will develop their senses, stimulate their imaginations and learn to take appropriate risks. Camp combats youth isolation by offering accepting communities that remove the typical pressures of school and provide opportunities to build friendships with caring adults and peers.

Thank you to Magill Lange for the information on the campaign. Good luck!

If anyone would like to contribute, please can go online to: http://seattleymca.donordrive.com/participant/camporkila

How can we retain employees in the time between projects?

Being a project based company there are times when our call center is quiet. Knowing that more work is right around the corner and wanting to retain our experienced interviewers we have decided to pay them to volunteer around Bellingham.

I contacted the Whatcom Volunteer Center and spoke with Dan. He directed me to a PDF on their website that lists possible volunteer opportunities by category. I contacted a few organizations and explained that we had four people with excellent phone skills and experience with data entry and filing.

Katherine and Angela helped out at Mother Baby Center. They called different companies and asked for them to donate money or items to be bid on for the center's annual auction and catalogued the items as they came in. Katherine attended the event and helped at the silent auction tables.

Carol vistited the Bellingham Area Senior Center where she was asked to walk around and ask members to fill out a feedback survey. After doing so, she asked the Center's coordinator, Cam Oliver, if they had received many completed surveys. They had not. Carol suggested that she call those who had not returned the surveys. She got 20 completes in 3 hours!

Harrison worked with Elizabeth Page, the volunteer coordinator for the Puget Sound Blood Center in the area. He helped organize volunteer records and entered appropriate data into the computer program they use to keep track of volunteers.

The interviewers like the change of pace, important work is accomplished, and we retain our expert interviewers. Giving them volunteer opportunities is a win, win, win situation!