NSL Forums

I'm a little annoyed now because I just finished typing this like a minute ago when my computer closed it down and now I have to retype it. [I just did it again, thankfully I copied it this time!] Grr. Anyway...
A word of explanation- I was at the Mall of America a couple weekends ago and had the chance to check out a ton of volunteer oppurtunites that had set up booths there. This is the result of sifting through all the brochures I picked up. I included the ideas that I thought our group could do.
As you've probably noticed, I'm terrible at following up on stuff. But if you think any of this looks interesting, I'll try my best to make it happen. Please give me some feedback!

Okay, the first one isn't technically a service project, but it's related. The weekend of April 25-27 is Global Youth Service Day, during which the most youth service projects are done all over the world. Seeing as it's "coincidentally" concurrent with our 30 Hour Famine, I thought it might be a fun thing to do. It looks like you basically send in a form to coordinate your activity with others, or just to tell people about it.

One of my favorites (okay, I liked them all) is the Union Gospel Mission in the Twin Cities. This is I think the only officially Christian program, it does chapels, Bible camps, etc. as well as other stuff. It might be a little harder to get to because it's in the city, but it has a variety of interesting ideas for groups. Some of the ones I liked: help with spring yard work, perform a drama or puppet program for kids, adopt a room or a chapel. But there's lots more!
Website: www.ugmtc.org

Another one that sounds interesting is called Rebuilding Together. This is the Twin Cities chapter of a national network that helps with low-income housing and communities. I'm not exactly sure how we'd coordinate the volunteering- I don't know how it would work, but I bet we could find out. It sounds like they're interested in unskilled as well as skilled volunteers, and they work on remodeling or building or renovating low-income housing or community buildings. Their website has some current and upcoming projects as well as previous stories.
Website: www.rebuildingtogether-twincities.org

Kaleidoscope Kids has volunteer oppurtunities for (unsurprisingly) playing with kids, or rather working to make things happen for them. They have some long-term things, but I think there are also some things we could do as a one-time event. Some examples: making a meal, planning a party, cleaning up. They also had lists of donation needs.
Website: www.kaleidoscope-kids.org

There's one called Family and Children's Service that works on helping families connect with others, find jobs, get education, and find counseling. It does a lot more stuff, but I'm bad at summarizing. I'm not positive exactly what we could do as a one-time event, but it seemed like there were some possibilities. Anyway, check it out for yourself.
Website: www.everyfamilymatters.org

This one, I'm not exactly sure if it's one our group would be interested in doing- it works with Latinos in South Minneapolis. The organization (I think it's Christian, actually, I lied earlier) is called La Conexión and the project, part of an ongoing program, is called Kitchen Connection. Basically, individuals or groups sponsor one or a number of Saturdays. On that Saturday from 12-2, the group donates $30 for ingredients and prepares a Latino meal with the La Conexión participants, then everyone eats it together. It sounded like a lot of fun to me because I like to cook and I'd enjoy practicing my Spanish while talking to people, but I guess I don't know what your perspective is. Also, it does say usually groups of 6 or fewer people, so maybe it would have to be just a small group event like the Mary's Place thing.
They don't have a website, but I do have a brochure with contact information.

So please let me know what you think! I'm really excited after looking at all these. I hope some of them work out.

Going to the Becker retreat for the third year got me thinking...why does not having a permanent location hinder us from doing hard things? So....I had the idea for NSL to be the hosts for Becker for a short service retreat. Similar to the 30 hour famine held at Urban Ventures, the NSL group could host Becker for a service retreat, with the option to eat or fast TBD. Anyways, just thought it might be cool to reach out to their youth group and show them what we're all about here in the cities. What do you think?

That sounds like a good idea, but where would it be located? I don't think Urban Ventures would be big enough because NSL+Becker is at least 40 people. Once the details are figured out, it could be a very successful retreat because a lot of people sign up for Becker.