Opportunities to Volunteer at Saint Stephen
Family Life Center Volunteering Opportunities
Community Parties/events – the week before Easter and Halloween and Family
Fun Nite a Thursday in Fall and Spring.
Prepare for parties:
Organize menu, decoration, games, prizes and find donors for same.
Time - 8 hours 3 months before party
Decorate for parties
Time – 2 hours the day before event
Day of party
Serve food and supervise games
Time – 3 hours
Place – Family Life Center
Childcare -
FLC holds an activity where childcare is need.
Time – approximately 2 hours during Welcome Baby! (Feb17 to March 31)
Place – Family Life Center
Fun-raising Events – In June summer rummage craft sale and before Christmas
craft sale held in conjunction with parish bake sale
Prepare for event:
Get vendors for events, do PR
Time - 8 hours 3 months before event
Day of event –
Time – 2 hours before event
Organize spots (chairs and tables) sign-in vendors
Day of event
Supervise event, work FLC table
Time – 3 hours
Place – Family Life Center
Lead Workshop -
FLC holds workshops on a variety of topic and has people share their passion.
Time – workshops are held at days and times convenient for leaders.
Place – Family Life Center or at community locations
Food Pantry Intake –
Time - 2 to 3 hours
Day- Tuesday between 3:30 – 5:30pm
And/or
Thursday between 10am - Noon
Place - Family Life Center.
Stock food Pantry –
Time - 30 to 60 minutes
Work sometime
Wednesday between 10am - 8pm
And/or
Thursday between Noon - 8pm
Place - Family Life Center.
Tutor –
Time needed to do tutoring 45 to 60 minutes.
Tuesday or Thursday 5-7pm
Place - at the Parish Office/Family Life Center
Hold Children’s food drive – no perishable food items
Time - Organizing and hold a drive takes a few hours
Place - at a location of your choosing.
Hold Children’s clothing drive – clothing sizes 0 to 6-7 years.
Time - Organizing and hold a drive takes a few hours
Place - at a location of your choosing.
Hold Quarter Drive – the Family Life Center can purchase toothbrushes
from the Marquette University for .25 cents each.
Time - Organizing and hold a drive takes a few hours
Place - at a location of your choosing.
Look for donation
Write letters to area business requesting donations for the Family Life Center’s children’s clothing bank and food pantry.
Time - approximately 3 to 5 hours.
Place - at a location of your choosing.
Look for free resources
The volunteer will be given a list of websites to investigate and look for informational resources that the Family Life Center can share with patrons.
Time – between 1 to 20 hours.
Place - at a location of your choosing.
Look for Grant Opportunities and help write proposals
The volunteer will be given a list needs and will be asked to match the FLC’s needs to grant
Time – between 1 to 20 hours.
Place - at a location of your choosing.
How to Organize a Clothing or Food Drive
Clean out your drawers and closets, have fun with friends and contribute to a worthy cause by setting up a used clothing drive for the Family Life Center, the family resource center that service all of Milwaukee County with an emphasis on Southeastern Milwaukee County. The Center has a children’s food pantry and clothing bank. In December of 2010 we served 207 children and 28 infants.
Instructions:
The Family Life Center asks that you deliver items in a single batch to the Center. You'll need to find a place to store the clothes until they are delivered. Consider your garage or storeroom of a local school, or business if they're willing to help.
Organize a committee of volunteers. Get several members of your organization to help with the collection and in getting the word out that you are having a clothing drive.
The Family Life Center asks that you collect children’s gentle used and new clothing size 0 to 12 years and nonperishable food items. Create flyers with the information, as well as the drop off times and location so your friends can also pass them out to students, neighbors and family members who want to contribute. (Consider a theme for your collection, such as socks and underwear, or coats and warm clothes.)
Gather boxes to pack the items for delivery. Ask the produce manager of a local grocery store if he has any spare "sturdy cartons" to donate to the cause. You'll be able to pack and stack those with minimal effort.
Choose a drop off location with easy access to make it convenient for contributors. The area should be in a well-lit area and clearly marked.
Have several volunteers on hand to sift through the items as soon as you receive them so you won't have to do it later. Organize clothing into categories like accessories, shoes and clothing grouped by gender, season and/or size or food into vegetable, fruit, etc.
Advertise your drive. Post a notice/ create posters volunteers can hang up about your collection in a public space of a school or business such as the cafeteria or break room so everyone will see it. Make sure to indicate the place to drop off items, what you want donated, when donations can be dropped off - the time and starting date and ending date of the drive. You can also send out an e-mail encouraging people to participate and that they can forward to family and friends.
Think about setting a goal for the drive. Let community members know your goal and push everyone to try and meet it.
Graciously accept all donations, no matter how
small. Everything helps. If something is clearly unacceptable, such as a food
item being out of date more than 1 year, thank the person and when they have
left dispose of it.
Let people know that their donation is tax deductible. Give them a receipt for the number of items that are given (NOT the value). People who contributed clothing need to follow IRS guidelines on the value of their donation.
Afterward, send a group e-mail to fellow donors thanking them for participating. If possible send thanks to the donors. Or give donors a thank you when they drop off their items along with their receipt.
If you need further assistance contact the Family Life Center:
414-762-0552 - flcenter@saintstephenmil.org
1441 W Oakwood Road, Oak Creek, WI 53154
Debby Pizur, Director