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Volunteer Spotlight:Tara Powell

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Calendar of VSLC Upcoming Events

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RHA Howell CenterSpring Service Fair

The VSLC Celebrates 20 Years!

A Pirate’s Guide to

A publication of the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center

It’s that time again! On January 27th, the Volunteer and Service Learning Center held its spring service fair in Mendenhall from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. The service fair offered students and faculty the opportunity to meet and learn more about the services offered around the area.

Students who have service-learning classes were given the chance to meet with the agencies which they will be volunteering with over the next semester. Service-learning classes offer students the chance to put the theoretical knowledge they learn in the classroom to work in their communities. This cooperation gives students the chance to gain experience in the fields which they are studying while simultaneously addressing the needs of the community. Other courses have a service component, where students are given the chance to do volunteer work for class credit.

Thanks to all who came out and made this event a major success!

North Carolina Civic Health Index

ServiceSpring Service Fair

The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) has partnered with the Civic Indicators Working Group and published the 2010 Civic Health Index. The Index iscreated from the data collected by the U.S. Census Bureaus’ Current Population Survey. This information helps us to assess the strengths and weaknessess of civic life in North Carolina.

As stated in the opening summary of the report, “just as American Democracy cannot succeed without informed and engaged citizens, North Carolina’s future depends on residents who care about their communities and participate in civic life.”

This year’s report found that North Carolina ranked 42nd in the nation for volunteers aged 16 and older. Additionally, “In North Carolina, there is an especially strong connection between education and formal leadership. Residents with college experience are more than five times more likely to be civil leaders than their fellow NorthCarolinians who never went to college. Only 2.2% of North Carolinians without college experience are civil lead-ers. Yet, the report found that millenials, current college aged students, are the least involved group. We, as students and educators and citizens have the potential to change that statistic.

The full report is available at: www.ncoc.net/ncrelease.

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A Pirate’s Guide to Service Page 2

Anatole France’s words “to accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe,” were spoken at a high school gradu-ation. Those words probably hit home to a lot of the audience that day. Yet, one of those graduating seniors really took those words seriously. Tara Powell, now a junior psychology major here at ECU, took those words to heart and now lives by them.

Meet Tara Powell!

Tara is a co-coordinator for the ECU WRITES pro-gram. She, along with Quintara Jernigan, work to coordinate student volunteers with local elementary students. ECU volunteers write letters back and forth with these elementary students to help improve their language arts skills while giving them positive role models. Tara says, “Get-ting a letter from the students allows a connection with them. They love it.” As an elementary student, she remembers pen pals and how much fun it was to get a letter from older kids. Now she gets to be a part of those memories for younger generations.

Tara first got into volunteering in high school, where she was a mentor. When she came to ECU, she knew that she wanted to be involved. She says, “I was raised to give back to your community. It’s the same here, we still need to give back.” Fliers in Tara’s dorm pointed her to the VSLC. She wanted to join the ECU READS program and came into the office for an application. “Every-one was so nice and welcoming,” Tara remembers. “It was a fast and easy process. It made you want to volunteer.”

In the future, Tara plans to obtain her masters and PhD in clinical psychology. One day, she hopes to become a child psychologist, or therapist. She laughs and says, “pretty much, I want to be the next Oprah.” Tara knows that volunteering can become a part of your life. “I just love to give back to the community. I just know that it will be a part of my future. You can’t only say I’m going to do it; you actually have to go out there. You can say it all day, but you have to go out there and do it.”

Once there is seeing, there

must be acting. Otherwise, what

is the use of seeing?

-Thich Nhat Hanh

If you would like more information on how to get out and make a differnce, come on by the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center.

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A Pirate’s Guide to Service Page 3

In the beginning, Irene Howell was simply helping out her grand-son. Her kindness grew when the state asked her to open a center to assist those with special medical needs. In 1970, the first RHA Howell Center was opened in Goldsboro. Today, there are centers all around North Carolina including, New Bern and Charlotte. The RHA Howell Center- Tar River was opened 18 years ago, making it the youngest center in operation. The local center, which can house up to 30 children, is unique in that it was a pilot program opened in cooperation with Brody School of Medicine.

RHA Howell Center-Tar River

VSLC Celebrates 20th AnniversaryThe 2010-2011 school year marks the 20th anniversary of the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center. While the center has seen several changes, its focus has always been the same: to bridge the gap between college students and the communities in which they live. Since its creation by Mrs. Judy Baker in 1980, the VSLC has been working to get stu-dents out in the community, making a difference in the world in which they live. Over the past 20 years, students have donated thousands of hours of service to the local community. The years have seen the creation of new programs and projects, each devoted tohelping students make a difference. We would like to thank all of those whohave made the past 20 years wonderful. We can’t wait for the future!

Help us celebrate our 20th year-volunteer!

In December of 2010 the RHA Howell Center was recognized by the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center as the Community Partner of the Year. To receive this award, an organization must be show dedication to their cause while working to create partnerships with the university community. RHA Howell’s staff has always been caring and con-stant in their cooperation with ECU.

How can you serve? Contact Crystal Garman at 758-1101 or cgarman@rhanet.org. Volunteers are welcome between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday-Sunday and can work on such things as homework assistance, planning parties, and reading to the children. Application, orientation and skin test are required.

The center is also the only RHA Howell Center which can accept children who need to be con-stantly on respirators. The center focuses its care with children from birth to 15 years old. The RHA Howell Center works to get children out of constant hospitalization and into a home-like environment. Their devoted staff is constantly working with family and/or the child to help them either transition into their own home, or into another care facility.

The RHA Howell Center takes in individuals who need specialized care that, for one reason or an-other, cannot be offered at home. With a 24-hour staff of RN’s, LPN’s, respiratory therapists and many others, the center is able to offer the necessary round the clock care to these special individ-uals. In addition to medical care, children are able to attend school. Housed in one of the center’s three buildings, the school offers specialized lessons to each of their residents. The children attend school from 9:30-3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and work on such things as communication and picking up objects. Each lesson is prepared by a special education teacher and is based on the needs of the student.

Celebrating 20 Years of Service

20years

A Pirate’s Guide to Service Page 4Calendar of Upcoming Events

Volunteer and Service-Learning CenterOld Cafeteria Complex

252-328-2735 (phone) 252-328-0139 (fax)www.ecu.edu/vslc vslc@ecu.edu

Judy Baker, Institutional and Community Development ConsultantJessica Gagne Cloutier, Service-Learning CoordinatorMichael Loeffelman, Volunteer CoordinatorShawn Moore, Community Partner CoordinatorAlice Tyson, Office ManagerKatie Winn, AmeriCorps*Vista Member

January 2011

Blood Donation Fact

Source: American Red Cross

Friday, February 25 NC Regional Science FairVarious Locations ECU Campus 8 a.m.-5 p.m.Volunteers will be setting up the pre-fair, directing guest and signing them in. Please contact Grant Gardener at gardnerg@ecu.edu.

Friday, February 25Youth Expressions Art ProjectGreenville Mall 1 p.m. -5 p.m.Volunteers will assist with the hanging of about 500 drawings. Please contact Cynthia Bickley-Green at 252-328-1293 or 252-367-1337.

Saturday, February 26 NC Regional Science Fair Various Locations ECU Campus 8 a.m.-5 p.m.Volunteers will be setting up the pre-fair, directing guest and signing in. Please contact Grant Gardener at gardnerg@ecu.edu.

Saturday, February 26Youth Expressions Art ProjectGreenville Mall 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.Volunteers will assist with the hanging of about 500 drawings. Please contact Cynthia Bickley-Green at 252-328-1293 or 252-367-1337.

Tuesday, March 1CKECU Cooking ShiftTodd Dining Hall Lobby 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m.Volunteers will assist with preparing food for delivery to the Little Willie Center the next day. For more information e-mail Katie Winn at winnk@ecu.edu.

Wednesday, March 2Project “Homeless Connect”Greenville Civic Center, 303 Greenville Blvd. 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.Volunteers will escort homeless clients through services booth, restocking food items for canteen, assist with area set-up and break-down. Volunteers will attend a 2-hours orientation session prior to the event. Please contact Jim Naves at 252-714-6482 or jnaves@suddenlink.net.

For more volunteer opportunities, visit the Volunteer andService-Learning webpage at www.ecu.edu/vslc.

An average adult has 10-12 pints of blood in his or her

body. It takes less than 8 weeks to completely rebuild the red blood cells donated.

8 weeks to save a life.

Student organizations partnered with the CKECU team to donate and serveThanksgiving

meals all around the county.