The 10,000 Hours Show
The Iowa Commission on Volunteer Services report indicates a strong volunteer base, but a significant drop in the college-age population. The mission of The 10,000 Hours Show (10K) is to mobilize young people to meet community needs and to develop the next generation of engaged citizens.
10K was founded by Iowa college students and has been entirely organized by young Iowa volunteers. 10K is a student-led effort to recruit and recognize volunteers who serve nonprofits, culminating each spring with a free concert just for volunteers.
During the past three years, 10K has celebrated more than 71,000 volunteer service hours by 3,500 volunteers at hundreds of Iowa nonprofits. It has featured nationally-known performers Ben Folds, Guster, and Cake at concerts in Iowa City and Des Moines.
The true “Show” of The 10,000 Hours Show is its year-round, peer-to-peer effort by 10K volunteer staff to reach peers and involve them in volunteering. With volunteer fairs, class presentations, tabling events, and an all-out effort to spread the word, 10K students recruit new volunteers and recognize existing ones.
The 10L model has been adapted at the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University, where students are organizing their own 10K’s. Further, 10K has also partnered with United Way of America to adapt the model for other communities.
10K meets community needs by offering a unique volunteer recognition concert, recruiting new volunteers to serve nonprofits, and ensuring young people become involved. It is unique in that 10K builds vital connections between young people and nonprofits, young people and their communities and between institutions.
Since its inception, 10K has continued to flourish as an ongoing project. Student founders realized a single year of peer-to-peer efforts on volunteering and nonprofits was not enough. 10K has taken steps to become a permanent part of its communities, and its founding members have taken national responsibilities with 10K in outreach, organization, marketing, alumni connections, and management.
More than 3,500 volunteers fulfilled the 10 hour requirement for 37,000 total volunteer hours to date. In addition, 100% of 10K2 volunteers and 95% of 10K3 volunteers plan to serve again. 10K has also helped to build volunteer fairs into standard programming at the University of Iowa where volunteer fair attendance increased from 100 to 1,300 in three years. In addition, Drake University and Iowa State University have added spring volunteer fairs as a result of 10K.
One Warm Coat
One Warm Coat is a national, grassroots, all volunteer organization that helps local groups collect coats for people in need. Started in 1992 in San Francisco as a Thanksgiving weekend activity, One Warm Coat expanded nationally in 2002—in four short years, more than 1,000 coat drives have been held, resulting in more than 300,000 free coats going to those in need.
Winter is approaching—thousands of individuals will feel the impact of the cold. Whether someone is poor, homeless, working poor, mentally ill, socially isolated—everyone needs a coat to protect them from the cold. A One Warm Coat drive draws on the resources of the local community to solve this need—the volunteers who organize the drive, the donors who recognize that their unused items are needed, and the local agencies that distribute the coats.
We use the phrase “warming communities…one coat at a time” to capture the connection that happens. Not only are warm coats being distributed, but people of all ages are learning how to care for those less fortunate.
We have the statistics that show the impact of One Warm Coat in terms of coats collected, but perhaps more importantly, we have hundreds of messages from people telling us about their experiences—the young man doing his “Mitzvah” project in 2004 who felt so compelled that he did the coat drive a second year; the little girl who gave up her favorite coat because she saw a girl at the agency that it would fit; the hospital employees who found out just how much space 500 coats take up. But the best message we’ve received was from a nine year old girl at Hope House in Wisconsin, “I’m just glad I’m not cold no more.”
With an operating budget of less than $50,000 per year and the ‘magic’ of the internet, we’ve been able to bring warmth into the lives of thousands.
Christian Thomas Lee
In 1996 Christian Thomas Lee established the Arts In Schools program to directly benefit and inspire children in rural and inner city schools. Through this unique and one-of-a-kind program, Christian has reached thousands of children across the United States by bringing original works of art into the classroom for children to see, study, and even hold in their hands. These original works of art include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Peter Carl Faberge, Giovanni Battista Pasqualini, and many others, acquired by Christian, from the great auction houses of the world including: Sotheby’s New York, London and Wilnitsky Fine Art, Vienna, Austria.
This privately owned collection of fine art is believed to be the only collection of original, museum quality art collected and used solely for the inspirational benefit of children in America’s classrooms. In recent years, school districts all over the United States have experienced an increasing shortage in available funding, as the student population continues to dramatically increase, thereby stressing school budgets. Superintendents and school boards, in an attempt to maintain balanced budgets and provide the best education for America’s children have been forced to make painful cuts. More often than not, these cuts are in the areas of the fine arts.
As a result, many schools today, and especially rural and poorer inner city schools, have no fine arts programs. Christian Thomas Lee, as a private collector of art, responded to this community need and began making his remarkable personal art collection available to schools. To date, it is estimated over 50,000 school aged children across America have experienced the joy and the reward of the fine arts through Art In Schools. Art In Schools is not a ‘show-and-tell’ approach to art. Rather, it is an intensive effort with the art collection visiting a single school for up to one week. During that time, Christian teaches upwards to 25 art master classes to groups of no more than 25 children. These small size groups allow the children to be close to the works of art and even handle and touch certain pieces.
During the week Christian is teaching art master classes, teachers in the school will borrow certain pieces from the visiting collection and use them in their own classrooms as a teaching school. As an example, many teachers have borrowed the royal and presidential documents and used them to teach history. The collection is also used to demonstrate to children the value of staying in school, working hard and not becoming involved in drugs. By demonstrating firsthand the creativity of some of the greatest artists in human history, Christian has inspired thousands of children to awaken their own creative abilities and to express those abilities in a constructive way.
Due to Art In Schools, dozens of schools have been reintroducing fine arts back into the school curriculum. In most cases, the schools pay only the travel costs included in the project. No school is ever turned away for lack of funding, and Christian does not accept donations for his work.
In the last ten years, it is estimated that Art In Schools has reached upwards of 50,000 children between first and twelfth grade from schools in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Washington DC, California, Washington, Arizona, and Texas.
George Novinger
George Novinger has volunteered as the Swimming/Aquatics coach for the Seoul American High School in Seoul, South Korea since September of 2005. In support of youth, he spear-headed the aquatics youth program swim team. Through his leadership, Novinger lead a fund raising campaign to help raise money. These development efforts resulted in numerous young people participating in the Boys and Girls Tokyo Junior Olympics. This was the first opportunity these youth had to participate in such an event.
In addition to supporting the High School Swim Team, Novinger volunteered as a coach for the Starter, Stroke and Turn Judge for all swim meets. His coaching skills inspired youth in team play, and he worked to instill a sense of pride and accomplishment. Novinger’s dedication to youth swim programs resulted in increasing the number of youth participating in the program by 35%. As a swim coach, he arrived early for all events, meets and practices to help set up, organize and ready the day’s events.
While working with the swim program, Novinger also volunteered his time and talents with the youth choir. He established an on-base community wide program that was a success. The Seoul Singers choir quickly expanded from an on-post event to a community-wide program. Novinger encouraged youth, active duty military, family members, embassy personnel from other diplomatic missions, Korean local musicians, and participants from five other countries to join the program. Together, the group put on two well-attended concerts. The first concert took place in June of 2006 on the Yongsan Army Base, Seoul, Korea. Soon afterwards, the choir performed for the Korean public in Gangnam. The all-volunteer youth and adult choir became a quick “hit.” Since its inception, the group has grown from six members to well over 120 participants. They have used their time and talent to sing for people in chapels both on and off post, nursing homes and community events. This is all a result of the dedication George Novinger has to make his community a better place for everyone.
Katie Boyd
Why “Take 5”- An Underage Anti-Smoking Campaign, and why now? Tobacco prevention programs do not reach every student, and Take 5, an original program by Katie Boyd , takes the message to a more personal level where students are not afraid to participate and ask questions.
The mission of Take 5 is to enable all students to resist tobacco usage, thus, equipping them with the necessary information to avoid the peer pressures of ever beginning to use tobacco.
As an advocate of a tobacco-free lifestyle since the age of twelve and through her research on underage smoking, Katie Boyd determined that fifth grade students are the most neglected from tobacco-free media. Take 5 – An Underage Anti-Smoking Campaign is a program she created in June 2003 to address this critical social issue. Take 5 Challenges fifth grade students to take five minutes and learn the dangers of tobacco and to focus on the ingredients of a healthy lifestyle. This program equips children with the necessary information to resist tobacco usage and turn the negative peer pressure of experimenting with tobacco into positive peer pressure.
The 2005 goals for Take 5 were obtained by producing and distributing an original Take 5 Video to all schools in Alabama for use in fifth grade classrooms, distributing colored wristbands for Tobacco-Free Kids, organizing a Kick Butts Day event for youth in Hoover, Alabama, and representing DARE for Red Ribbon Week in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The primary goals for 2006 that have been accomplished include creating an innovative classroom competition to challenge students not to start smoking, implementing the Take 5 Challenge pilot mentoring program for fifth grade students challenging junior and senior students to avoid tobacco and make wise decisions, developing a t-shirt art design contest promoting Clean Indoor Air, and committing to work in partnership with the Alabama Department of Public Health promoting Clean Indoor Air statewide. Through the completion of these goals, Katie was recognized nationally by USA Today for her work with youth tobacco prevention.
Katie works tirelessly in the communities of Alabama for the health of our children. Future plans for Take 5 traveling through Alabama as state spokesperson for Department of Public Health-Clean Indoor Air Campaign, representing Tobacco Free Alabama, implementing statewide mentoring program in every city and county school system, offering national mentoring program for youth tobacco prevention to every board of education in all 50 states and partnering with the American heart Association and American Cancer Society for adult tobacco prevention.
Take 5 is an original program ready to address the nation as to the facts of underage smoking. Katie will not wait another year nor day to confront our youth about the dangers of tobacco. Katie Boyd is confident that her message is ready to go, ready to make a positive impact and ready to have a lifelong influence on our children, thus, securing a healthier nation for all of us.
Colonel Wayne Clark
During the past year, Colonel Wayne W. Clark unselfishly gave approximately 900 volunteer hours of his coveted off-duty time to serve the Area II and Korean communities through service organization such as the USFK Good Neighbor Program (GNP), the US Ski Patrol-Asia, various Youngsan community events and the Area II Youth Services Sports Program.
In support of the GNP and local community events, Col. Clark directly enhanced the ROK-US bond performing countless services. These include but are not limited to acting as an English language proctor and sports coach for elementary level Korean children, serving as a critical “helping “ hand for establishment and execution of various on post community festivals and being an active participant in numerous GBP and Korean American events. In addition, he led soldier and civilian educational programs to enhance better understanding of both cultures. During 2005, he donated 630 hours of service to these programs.
As a member of the US Ski Patrol-Asia, Col. Clark energetically used his certified medical skills to directly better the well-being of the ROKUS snow skiing public. In support of numerous USFK, Area II and Department of Defense Schools Youngsan Korea snow ski events, he provided ski and safety instruction, on-site event coordination and emergent medical care services. Using his vast knowledge of the Korean culture, he was able to professionally integrate into the Ski Resort’s Korean Ski Patrol as an accepted member, teaming with the Korean patrol to enhance the healthcare for all ROK and foreign skiers. Through tenacious effort, no adult or child under his watch had any significant injury, all leaving with fun filled memories. For those that were slightly injured, he ensured they received the best emergency are available at these remote mountain sites. Col. Clark volunteered in excess of 150 hours with the Ski Patrol.
Col. Clark also works with youth as a swim coach and assistant soccer coach. He helped to mold the individual-team esprit and coordination skills of the children, many of whom had never played the game of soccer. As a result, the team had a successful year, which, by definition, was in having all kids participate with smiles and sense of pride. As with many of the sports programs, there is always a shortage of volunteer coaches and parents. Col. Clark, once again, stepped up to serve as a part time assistant coach at the 0530 hour swim practices, and full time Official Swim Meet Time Keeper for all Yongsan swim meets. Although his son might have been a team member, these jobs took away limited parenthood time that most others used strictly for their child’s benefit. Instead, Wayne spread his heart to all kids without favoritism. During the swim meets, he managed the extremely difficult task of establishing and certifying the lane time clocks, the training to standard of over 15 new time keepers per meet, and the analysts of hundreds of data to determine standings. He accomplished these all with outstanding results and gave more than 100 hours of service in this area.
Miranda Uriell
Miranda Uriell, a member of the Nelson County 4-H in Lakota, implemented a self-protection program for nearly 100 women in her community following the abduction and murder of a college student in 2003. When Miranda heard that a young woman had been kidnapped from the parking lot of a nearby shopping mall, she realized that she had been parked in the same lot and had left just minutes prior to the young lady’s abduction. It could have been her or one of her friends.
Miranda wanted to do something to help, but since she was too young to assist in the search for the missing student, she decided to help women learn how to protect themselves. She obtained donations and a grant to fund a self-defense course, hired an instructor, rented a training site, sent publicity articles to local newspapers and churches, and handled the registration process. Participants not only learned new skills, but also received pepper spray and an informational pamphlet developed by Miranda.
The course was so successful that Miranda offered it again the following year, and a few months later held a training course for junior high school girls. She also conducted a workshop for 150 FCCLA members and advisors on how to sponsor the course in their communities, and distributed her self-protection pamphlets to area clinics, public libraries, and schools.
Kylie Stowers
Kylie Stowers, a member of the Cleveland County 4-H, has taught approximately 150 children how to avoid the temptation of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, as an instructor in the 4-H Life Rocks program. “There is so much peer pressure on children my age to start using drugs and alcohol just so you’ll be in the cool group,” said Kylie, “By getting involved in the Life Rocks program, I hope I can help other children make healthy lifestyle choices that will be beneficial to them in the future.”
To become an instructor, Kylie first had to attend a three-day training seminar sponsored by National 4-H Council and Mississippi State University. Then, with help from her 4-H leader, Kylie contacted local schools and after-school programs in her community to offer the program, planned her presentations, bought supplies, and began speaking to groups of 8- to 14-year-olds. “I feel it is very important to educate younger children on the bad effects of illegal substances and to give them the skills for making positive decisions in their life,” said Kylie, “It always makes me feel excited and happy when I am able to help someone feel better about themselves.”
Tasha Kloesel
Tasha Kloesel launched a volunteer project last year that both raised money for victims of Hurricane Katrina and helped people in her area be better prepared for emergencies.
After hearing about a new kind of emergency preparedness campaign in England, Tasha decided to replicate it in her community. “So many times in emergency situations you only have a few minutes to determine what to do for a victim,” explained Kloesel. “Eight out of 10 people aren’t carrying information that would help if they were involved in an accident.”
So Kloesel designed and printed “In Case of Emergency” (ICE) cards that people can carry with them after recording information such as blood type, allergies, medical conditions and whom to contact in an emergency.
The cards also encourage recipients to program their emergency contact phone numbers into their cell phones under the acronym “ICE” so emergency responders can reach them quickly if necessary.
Kloesel recruited a group of friends to help her distribute her cards for free in front of local stores, but, just as she was getting started, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, so she collected donations for storm victims at the same time.
While handing out 2,500 cards, she managed to collect more than $1,000 for Katrina relief efforts conducted by the Salvation Army and Noah’s Wish, as well as clothing, hygiene products and other items for victims.
“I feel happy and proud about being able to help others in need and to provide the ICE card for my community,” she said.
Natasha Swanson
Natasha Swanson, a member of the Boone County-Iowa State University Extension 4-H, formed a group of interested people to make 70 fleece blankets for children in Russian orphanages. Natasha knows how cold it is in Russia and what it’s like to live in a Russian orphanage.
“My life in a Russian orphanage started when I was 10,” said Natasha. “It was cold there and the sun barely came out during the winter.” In 2002, Natasha attended Camp Hope in Iowa, a camp for Russian orphans, and was adopted later that year by an American family. When Natasha saw a fleece blanket at her American grandmother’s house, “I thought, ‘If Grandma could show me how to make the blankets, I could send some to children in the Russian orphanage that I lived in,’” she said.
Natasha and her grandmother made four blankets the first day, and then Natasha began soliciting donations of money and material to reach an initial goal of 30. She ended up raising more than $700, and with the help of relatives, friends, 4-H members, and a local church group, she has been able to send 70 blankets to Russia so far.
“I hope the children in Russia will enjoy their blankets for many years to come,” she said.
