Spring Break of Service

As spring break becomes an increasingly travel-based event for millions of students across the country, many students are opting for an alternative spring break plan to spend a week having fun while also making an impact on their communities. If you are looking for service opportunities during Spring Break, there are many ideas and resources throughout your community. A few ideas include volunteering at a local food bank, animal shelter, or non-profit agency. Museums, Spring Break camps, and wildlife centers are always looking for volunteers as well. There are also numerous chances to run or walk in a charity race with friends or even volunteer around your neighborhood or local community events.

One way to start searching for volunteer opportunities is to visit our website at http://www.vcnt.org/volunteers.html through our new Volunteer Connection tool.

Here are some students serving in your community:




How can you get involved in your community, whether it's Spring Break, a National Service Day, or any day of the week?

Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service

As the nation remembered the life and leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 17th, we were also encouraged to honor his memory and life by participating in service projects throughout the country . The Youth Volunteer Corps took part in the national day of service by holding two projects involving the youth of North Texas. One project took place at Dallas Heritage Village in Dallas and the other at the Wesley Center (of the United Community Centers) in Fort Worth. A pitcher for the Texas Rangers, Darren Oliver, joined the project in Fort Worth to encourage students to continue to make a difference in the community.

The Fort Worth Wesley Center Project


The Dallas Heritage Village Project


Thank you so much for everyone that served on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, whether it was with YVC or otherwise! We hope you continue to go out and serve in your community.

Keep checking the blog and YVC facebook page for more information about our upcoming events!

Make a Difference Day Projects - Success!

Make a Difference day was a big hit, both for YVC and for the Volunteer Center!

In Collin County, the students painted a maze for the kids coming to the Halloween carnival, learned about stage directions, and draped the theatre in scary spiderwebs. Everyone had black paint all over them by the end of it, but it was great!

In Tarrant County, the project at Universal Health was a lot of fun, even despite being interrupted by a tornado warning, and in Dallas County, Dallas Heritage Village reaped many benefits from our service.

Our next big national service day is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and YVC is already planning some great projects for it!

The Youth Advisory Council is going to do a needs assessment soon so we can develop some ideas for our Global Youth Service Day projects, another national service day. Keep checking the YVC blog for more details coming soon!

Make a Difference on Make a Difference Day!

YVC of North Texas invites students in all counties in the DFW area to make a difference in their communities this Make a Difference Day on October 23, 2010! Along with the Volunteer Center's big event, the North Texas Volunteer Challenge, an annual fundraiser and rally for volunteerism in the DFW area, YVC is hosting three projects where students can come learn and serve and impact their communities!

In Collin County, YVC will host a project painting sets and setting up a haunted house for Plano Children's Theatre from 9am-12pm. Students will learn about the importance of the arts, play some silly theatre games, and impact the theatre in a big way for their upcoming Halloween event. Plano Children's Theatre is also looking for volunteers to staff the Halloween event on October 30th. Check out their calendar for more details on upcoming shows and how to get involved!

In Dallas County, Dallas Heritage Village is hosting a project for students from Peak Preparatory School. If your school is interested in doing a project with YVC or learning more about how to make service-learning opportunities and activities a part of your school's culture, contact Jonathan Wallace, jwallace@vcnt.org.

In Tarrant County, Universal Health is hosting a Fall Festival and Chili Cook-Off that needs to be staffed with volunteers in 2 shifts from 9am-12:30pm or 1-4pm. Students will be working different kiosks in association with the festival and will get to participate in the events and have a great time as well! We still need more volunteers for this event, so please email Sara Key at skey@vcnt.org if you are interested in making a difference!

We are very excited here at YVC North Texas to make a difference on Make A Difference Day, and we hope you go out and serve in your community, whether it is with YVC and the North Texas Volunteer Challenge, or otherwise!

In Service,

Youth Volunteer Corps

Fall Activities

Hello everyone! Youth Volunteer Corps is back for another great Fall semester!

We started off the semester with a teen fair hosted in Collin County at Strikz Entertainment in Frisco. 10 nonprofit agencies were present to recruit students and tell Collin County teens about the great work they've been doing. Before the teen fair, we hosted a service project at Connemara Conservancy in Allen, TX. We had 40 people come out to clear trails and learn about why it's important to restore our native prairie. The project was a success, and Connemara thought very highly of the Youth Volunteer Corps volunteers. We're really glad we got to go out and help!

Coming up in Tarrant County, we have a project on October 9th at the Community Enrichment Center, where we are helping to deconstruct and do some landscaping in the Emerald Run Apartments. Students can go to www.handsonnorthtexas.org to sign up for the project or contact dpandya@vcnt.org or skey@vcnt.org

On October 23, Make a Difference Day, the Volunteer Center will be hosting the North Texas Volunteer Challenge. Students can learn about opportunities at the North Texas Volunteer Challenge on the Volunteer Center website: www.vcnt.org

Apart from projects, YVC has been assisting with a Community Works classroom at Irma Marsh Middle School in Castleberry ISD. The classroom is service-learning based, and students investigate a variety of community issues, conduct community needs assessments, and aim to serve with everything that they do.

Keep checking the blog or the YVC facebook page for more information about our upcoming events and other news from YVC!

In Service,

Youth Volunteer Corps

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Today is the very last Friday, and the very last day of our four week program. The Summer of Service students graduate tomorrow. We are very proud of them, but we're sad to see them go. We've spent the day reflecting on not only this past week, but the entire four weeks of service, and reinforcing just how proud of them we are.

We've also got some State Farm folks with us, and the students have been having a great time telling them all about the service that they've done. Our speaker today was Carol Clyde from SMU, who spoke to us about the interconnectedness of leadership and service, and we took some great pictures with her and in our teams.

State Farm Week

This week, our students are lucky to have employees of our amazing sponsor, State Farm, come out to their service sites and serve with them. Students get to mentor another volunteer and help get them engaged, and they have already made some memories and taken some pictures with their State Farm volunteers.