Teaming Up For Results
Volunteer Center and Kids Care Develop Model for Working with Children

By Julio Argüello, Jr.

Partnerships between similar organizations work best when they are mutually beneficial. Just ask Susannah Fotopulos of Hands On Nashville (HON), a Tennessee Volunteer Center that creates and manages community service opportunities for community residents.

"I think the real beauty of the partnership between HON and Kids Care Clubs (KCC) is that it just seemed like a natural fit. KCC wanted to be able to deepen their impact at the local level, and HON needed a good foundation on which to build their club model of volunteering for children. This partnership enabled both," explained Fotopulos.

A partnership between HON and KCC came about because HON was looking for a model that worked with children in service, and KCC had the most flexible program. Fotopulos indicated that the club-based model made a lot of sense for them, since their plan was to introduce it as a tool for facilitators who are already working with children, be that in a community center, a public or private school, or a faith-based youth group. The model also allowed their children's program to have a broader reach.

On Friday, March 19, HON teamed up with KCC and America's Second Harvest Food Bank to present the first "March Against Hunger." Thirty-six adult volunteers joined 40 youth participants to learn about the issue of hunger. The youth participants were members of local Kids Care Clubs including Catholic Charities' refugee program, St. Clement Academy, and Gra-Mar Middle School.

The children decorated brown lunch bags with drawings, and packaged snack items in their decorated bags for the under-resourced children in the Kids' Café program at America's Second Harvest Food Bank. To raise awareness around the hunger issue, they also held a "Third World" banquet and played "World Resources" musical chairs, both ideas courtesy of Church World Service; and they played the "Feast or Famine" board game courtesy of Atlanta's Food Bank Education Department. The kids learned about the population that America's Second Harvest Food Bank serves in Nashville and they had a chance to tour the facility. America's Second Harvest Food Bank estimated that Nashville's clubs collected over 300 pounds of snack foods for hungry area children. 

HON currently has six active Kids Care Clubs in the Nashville area, and they hope to grow to 20 by mid-September. They feel this partnership could easily be replicated at other volunteer centers nationwide.

When asked about the key benefits of this partnership, Fotopulos said, "I think it has been key that this partnership has been mutually beneficial. For Kids Care it allowed them to localize their resources. For Hands On Nashville, it has given us a good foundation on which to build our programming for children. It has allowed us to present a model to local facilitators that has built-in flexibility, allowing each club to plug in at their comfort or experience level. With Kids Care Clubs, there is individual club autonomy, but it now comes with local and national support. That's exactly what our groups need."

For more information on Kids Care Clubs, contact Maureen Byrne at 202-729-3537 or MByrne@PointsofLight.org. To be connected to volunteer opportunities in the Nashville area, contact Hands on Nashville at 615-298-1108 or hon@hon.org.