Opportunities From: United Way of Central Iowa

Look around your home. What do you see? A picture of your loved ones? Maybe you see a painting your children made or one you picked out at the store? Art turns a house into a home, especially if it’s #MadeWithLove. If your enjoy art, consider volunteering your time to create artwork for the YSHC residents. We cannot wait to see what this #ConspiracyOfKindness has in store!

To register for this opportunity, visit our volunteer portal: https://dmymca.volunteermatters.org/project-catalog/27

Please contact Nick at nicholas.drahozal@dmymca.org if you are interested in participating or have any questions!

A Hunger Free Iowa

When Covid-19 hit, Iowa DHS took a look at food insecurity and saw it fit to increase SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, to the maximum allowable per household. This meant that those relying on SNAP received a minimum of $95 more than they were pre-pandemic. This made a huge impact each month and relieved the stress of worrying about food insecurity. As of April 2022, SNAP benefits have gone back down to rates pre-pandemic while food prices are still ascending. In the past month, we have noticed food insecurity in our home on the rise. The number of individuals signing up for food recovery has doubled, and sometimes tripled, since the decrease in benefits. While there has been an increase in our sign-up lists, there has been a significant decrease in the amount of food we are receiving.

We need your help to ensure our residents are receiving the food they need to be successful. We are needing quick and accessible meals to offer residents on Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s for food recovery. Making peanut butter and jelly, meat and cheese, or any other sandwiches is a great way to support our folks who are signing up to receive food on these days. The sandwiches can be dropped off to us on either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will be directly in the hands of those in need the very next day. 30 sandwiches is an appropriate amount that allows for everyone on the food recovery list to receive one. 

To register for this opportunity, visit our volunteer portal: https://dmymca.volunteermatters.org/project-catalog/30

Please contact nicholas.drahozal@dmymca.org with questions!

 

Do you like to cook? Our on-site pantry offers residents various food options to cook throughout the week and cooking inspiration is always helpful! You are able to come in to our home, look through our pantry, and then write up a recipe card that uses at least one item from our pantry. Ingredients should include affordable items found at any grocery store and the meal should be able to be made using a pot/pan or a small toaster oven as we have efficiency apartments.  Recipe cards can be made on or off campus – our residents will be thrilled to have new cooking ideas!

To register for this opportunity, visit our volunteer portal: https://dmymca.volunteermatters.org/project-catalog/27

Please contact Nick at nicholas.drahozal@dmymca.org if you are interested in participating or have any questions!

We have a beautiful courtyard with garden spaces that would be so vibrant with the addition of hand painted kindness rocks. We love the idea that residents could stroll outside and see little pieces of art with positive words and/or pictures. These rocks can be painted offsite and dropped off anytime between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday though Friday and 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Please Contact Nicholas.drahozal@dmymca.org if you have any questions!

To register for this opportunity, visit our volunteer portal: https://dmymca.volunteermatters.org/project-catalog/27

When a resident moves in, we are excited to greet and show them to their apartment where they will find a laundry basket filled with all of the essentials they need to feel supported on their first day home. However, we are running low on many of the items needed listed below! Would you consider donating these items for our new friends? Please contact brooke.heldt@dmymca.org for details. You can also check out our regularly updated Amazon wish list here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2PP32L4CYOWD3... to find the items that are frequently needed to support our residents.

The following items are used in a Welcome Home Care Basket: 

- laundry basket - knife, fork, spoon - can opener - sponge - dish cloth/towel - all-purpose household spray cleaner - dish soap - 4 rolls of toilet paper - paper towels - plunger - toilet brush - toothbrush and toothpaste - Bible - toilet brush - welcome home card - pot or pan   Please contact Nick at nicholas.drahozal@dmymca.org if you are interested in participating or have any questions!

Engage your group in a volunteer activity that can be done safely from anywhere

Literacy Kits are used at early childhood centers and schools throughout central Iowa to help students in kindergarten through fifth grade learn and love to read.

Why You Should Choose Literacy Kits

Our Literacy Kits were designed by experts to focus on the skills young children need when learning to read while, at the same time, diving deeper into the book and its themes.

Each Literacy Kit includes:

A children's book Several related activities perfect for interaction and imagination Instructions for the reading mentor A personal note of encouragement from the volunteer to the child How Literacy Kits Work

If you would like to purchase literacy kits as an activity for your group, the first step is to contact us.

Next, we will help you decide which book title you would like to purchase and how many kits you need. The cost is $8 per kit. This covers the cost of the book and the materials needed to make a kit. On average, volunteers can make one to two kits per hour.

We have the following books available for purchase:

A is for All the Things New Kid The Name Jar The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes The Girl with a Mind for Math

If you would like to see more details on these titles, please visit LITERACY KITS | United Way of Central Iowa (unitedwaydm.org)

Then, we arrange the pickup of your materials (or we can deliver). 

You and your volunteers then complete the Literacy Kit activity on-site at your business, home, church, school, club, etc. You can choose the timeframe for the activity, as well. We have an ongoing need for the kits. 

Next, you return the completed kits to United Way. Then we distribute them to nonprofits, child care centers, and after-school programs. 

Sign Up for Literacy Kits!

To sign up for this volunteer opportunity, please visit LITERACY KITS | United Way of Central Iowa (unitedwaydm.org). To make the volunteer experience as easy and convenient, United Way offers an online volunteer sign-up. 

For additional questions, contact Sarah Underwood, Volunteer Engagement Manager at sarah.underwood@unitedwaydm.org or 515-246-2504.

Visit here to write a note of encouragement.  Writing a positive message to someone can improve more than their mood — it can change their outlook on life right now.

United Way of Central Iowa is committed to supporting those in our community who have been impacted by COVID-19 and those who may be impacted by unforeseen economic conditions. Show people in central Iowa how much you care and how much they matter by writing a note — or more — of encouragement. 

United Way will share your messages with our nonprofit partners who are serving the individual people and families in the categories you have to choose from in the form to the right, including healthcare, nonprofit frontline workers providing food and basic needs, seniors in care facilities who can't see family, and kids whose school and out-of-school programming are new and different. These people need the time and positivity you have to give. They need your encouragement right now.

How to Volunteer for this Opportunity

Write a quick note to thank and encourage people in your community — your neighbors, friends or maybe even your co-workers — who are helping to keep our community safe during this time, or to someone vulnerable in the community who may have fallen on hard times, or is feeling isolated and lonely. You can submit a note online using our virtual note form on this page.

Here are a sample messages to help get you started:

You’re one of a kind. Thank you for keeping our community safe! Today is a day for telling others that you care. And I care about you! You are important. You are enough.  It's easy to feel alone during the pandemic, but know that even when our community can't be together in person, we are together in spirit. We are here with you. 

T-Shirt Tote Bags are needed to serve families with a pre-packed sack of food at our mobile pantries. We need your help to turn donated T-Shirts into Tote Bags using our provided instructions (link below). 

  

Instructions: https://www.foodbankiowa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DIY-TShirt-Tote.pdf