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Quietly packing bags of food, loading and unloading food from our vans,
coaching and mentoring teams, the volunteers of
Iroquois Wise Coalition prove themselves to be unsung
heroes. Their common goal is to help needy families and
individuals in our community. Come and join our volunteers. There is always something to do. We need volunteers of all ages to
keep our programs going.
The
Iroquois WISE Coalition volunteers
work in the following programs. Please be aware of the
following three requirements that effect volunteers in all programs:
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All of the
volunteers are required to attend 30 minute orientation meeting.
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Background checks are made on all
volunteers who will be working with children.
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For insurance and safety reasons, the driving records of all
volunteers who will be transporting children will be made.
Growing Healthy Kids:
Volunteers are need to help with this
program every Friday from 5 to 7pm. Children are ranging in age
from six to twelve. The children in the program meet at the
Capuchin Soup Kitchen to work in either the kitchen or in the garden:
Children who work in the kitchen learn to prepare and cook vegetables;
Children work in the garden learn to plant, weed and harvest plants.
Every evening the children prepare a freshly cooked meal. It
is a goal of the Coalition that there are enough volunteers to allow for
a one-on-one relationship with each child working the garden or cooking
in the kitchen. Volunteers are needed in the following areas:
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Gardening: The volunteer would be
responsible in helping in planting, weeding and harvesting plants.
We encourage everyone to volunteer - those who are expert gardeners,
those who like to garden, and those who have never gardened before.
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Kitchen Chefs: The volunteer would
be responsible in helping to prepare fresh and healthy dishes - some
from vegetables just harvested from the garden. We encourage
everyone to volunteer - those who are expert cooks, those who like
to cook, and those who have never cooked before.
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Drivers: Drivers are needed to
pick up the students from the Iroquois Avenue Christ Lutheran Church
and taken by the Church's van to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.
The ideal volunteer would make at least a six month commitment
to this task.
Basketball:
We have three teams: 18 and under, 14
and under and the Pee Wee team for those who are ten and under.
All of the teams need volunteers in the following areas:
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Drivers: We could use volunteers to drive players to and
from basketball practices four days a week. Although parents
are the best volunteer for this job, others are needed as well.
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Assistant Coach:
This opportunity is for a volunteer who dearly loves basketball and
wants to help out full time with our players. If you are
available for practices two to three hours one to two times a week
plus game days, please consider volunteering. For this
position, we need someone who could commit to six months to a year.
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Recreational Basketball Help: Three to six volunteers
are needed to run the Recreation Basketball program one night a
week.
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Computer Chaperone: One adult is needed to assist youth in
the computer lab from 5-8 Monday through Friday. This position
requires a three month commitment for at least one day a week.
Food Pantry:
The Iroquois WISE Coalition holds a weekly food pantry on Fridays
from 1 to 3pm at the Iroquois Avenue Christ Lutheran Church. This
program requires many people to help pick up the food from the Gleaners
Food Bank, disperse the food into bags and distribute them to those
people who are in need. Areas for volunteer opportunities are:
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Food Pick-Up (Thursday 8:30-11 am): We
could use volunteers to pick up food from the Gleaners Food Bank.
This task includes strong able-bodied people to take food to and
from the van.
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Packing Food Bags (Thursday 12:30 - 4:00pm):
We need volunteers to help unload food from Gleaners and bag the
nonperishable food items into bags. Although the unloading of
food require able-bodied people, the packing of bags is not.
Therefore, everyone can participate in this activity.
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Food Pantry (Friday 1:00 - 3:00pm):
We need volunteers to help dispense the food to people in need.
Volunteers will also help in packing perishable food items that
could not be prepackaged on Wednesday.
Pantry Clean Out: The pantry should be
cleaned out once a month. It would be wonderful to have a
volunteer or two who would be interested in helping us organize our
pantry and keeping it organized.
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Inventory System: We need help in creating
an inventory system to track incoming and outgoing food from the
pantry. Our goal for the inventory system is to provide what
food needs to be ordered each week to maintain a fully stocked
pantry.
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Calling in Order Form:
We need a volunteer who is available each week to call in the food
orders into Gleaners. The ideal volunteer should commit to at
least six months to one year.
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Gleaners Monthly Form: We need a
volunteer who is available each week to fill out the monthly
Gleaners order form. This includes compiling information on
the amount of food dispersed and the number of people served in the
previous month to determine what is needed in the next month.
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