Building a Warehouse to Help Military Veterans

By Linda Lidov, Veterans Green Jobs

Many of us know the saying, “If you need something to get done, just ask a working mom.” No matter how busy, working moms always find time to give just a little bit more. But we’ve recently discovered another niche volunteer population: young people.

At ages 18 to 24, the men and women from the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) travel around the country and, basically, bump around from cool project to cool project. Whether supporting post-hurricane disaster recovery or maintaining hiking trails in national parks, NCCC members set their sights on having huge impacts on local communities.

Here in Denver, nonprofit Veterans Green Jobs has benefited from three NCCC teams who have helped construct a new retail store. The Go Green Warehouse, slated to open this spring, is a discount home improvement store that will also house an energy efficiency education center. Income will support training and job programs for military veterans.

The NCCC teams have been an invaluable source of help in getting the store ready – from painting walls and putting up racking, to stocking shelves and cleaning up. Angela Young, a

former NCCC team leader herself, coordinates the NCCC program at Veterans Green Jobs. She’s giddy about NCCC’s results.

“Their energy is amazing, and it’s fun to see so many young folks supporting our mission,” says Angela. “Getting volunteers in here is a first step to spreading the word to communities about the importance of this work – which is to help veterans.”

The amount of work one NCCC team completed in just eight weeks is astounding. For the Go Green Warehouse, they cut and installed 382 shelves, inventoried more than 4,000 items among 550 categories in a spreadsheet, and painted 700 feet of wall.

That’s not counting what they did to support Veterans Green Jobs’ home weatherization services department: scheduling 175 audit appointments, helping to weatherize 30 homes and audit 22 homes, and cutting 300 square feet of insulation.

What did the NCCC team think?

Kyla observed the importance of the Veterans Green Jobs mission: “Being here has opened my eyes to the veterans who risked their lives to defend our country, and come home to no support. Having Veterans Green Jobs to help them out is amazing.”

Kelsey discovered a new love: “I loved working with all the power tools in the warehouse. The chop saw and the hammer drill were my favorites.”

Rocky loved the cohesion: “I learned how to be more team-oriented. You need more than one person for each task. We’re all in it together.”

Razilee saw a potential new career path: “I learned how a new business starts – from acquiring donations, to getting permits and winning grants.”

And Anna felt the community impact: “I now understand the importance of Veterans Green Jobs services for people who can’t afford them. Weatherizing and insulating brings bills down dramatically; these clients will feel the benefits the most.”

So, if you want something done, just ask a young person. Learn more at www.veteransgreenjobs.org. To volunteer, contact mare@vgj-denverjeffco.org.

Project Leader Brian Friedrich at Urban Peak

Written by Jillian Gross, Project Leadership Operations Team

The kitchen was bustling with activity as I stepped in to participate with the first Thursday dinner crew at Urban Peak. Project Leader (PL) Brian Friedrich greeted me warmly as he introduced me to the volunteers filling the room with laughter, camaraderie and the tasty smells of a meal cooked with the most important ingredient, TLC. Metro Volunteers (MV) has two regular meal preparation opportunities at Urban Peak, an organization that assists teens to overcome poverty and homelessness by offering services and support to become self-reliant adults.
The Urban Peak dinner was a high impact, engaging activity full of great people, important work and an environment that left everyone excited about getting more involved. Even better, it is only one of many opportunities available to get involved through the Metro Volunteers’ Project Calendar. All projects are led by certified PLs who have a passion for creating an outstanding volunteer experience while making a difference in the community.

What exactly is Project Leadership? The PL program is a signature course of Metro Volunteers dedicated to making volunteerism smarter through training and leadership development. It is a program designed for volunteers by volunteers and offers opportunities to get involved from one-time events or episodic projects to program governance and training. Volunteers interested in transforming passion into impact attend a six-hour training focused on volunteer engagement, project development and volunteer leadership.

After the initial classroom learning, volunteers who would like to lead projects with Metro Volunteers’ membership agencies pursue two supervised field experiences with an active PL, which leads to the amazing option of developing a project for the MV calendar. Participants leave the training with the tools and skills necessary to successfully develop and implement volunteer events with the expertise and resources of MV supporting their continued learning and growth as community leaders.

Brian Friedrich did exactly that after he became a certified PL over six years ago. “it's not as hard as people might think,” he told me while simultaneously greeting volunteers, opening a bag of lettuce and looking for a mop to clean up a spill. As he juggled all of these supporting tasks he said, “It’s most important to engage volunteers. Anything you can do to make it more enjoyable leads to return volunteers.” And return volunteers are the heart of Metro Volunteers.

It is often through volunteers who enjoy their experience with one or many Metro Volunteers’ projects that the PL Program recruits, trains and supports emerging volunteer leaders in the community. Brian first participated with MV as a volunteer many years ago before pursuing certification and taking on his own project. He has played many roles with MV over the years from project developer to project leader. Although Brian is incredibly humble about his inspiring commitment to making a difference, it is pretty impressive to know that he pushed back his wedding ceremony a few hours to fulfill a volunteer commitment he made before setting the date for his nuptials.

Brian leads a wonderful volunteer team once a month to provide food and fellowship at Urban Peak. His leadership is a powerful example of how MV motivates and cultivates volunteers as a vital force in our community. MV currently has a dozen outstanding Project Leaders fulfilling the high demand for leadership amongst volunteers and yet, there is a need for more leaders. If we are to achieve recognition of volunteers as a critical resource in addressing societal needs in the community, we must create more high-quality opportunities for community volunteers led by enthusiastic Project Leaders. This means we will train additional project leaders who can create exciting new volunteer opportunities.

Does that sound like you? Are you interested in taking the next step in your adventure as a volunteer? Are you interested in improving your skills as a community leader and supporting an essential movement in creating a healthier and more vibrant community? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should consider joining us on April 23 for our first 2011 Project Leadership Training! Take the first step toward becoming a certified project leader. Click here to learn more or contact Project Leadership at PLP@metrovolunteers.org or 303.282.1234 x315.