Who's Giving Back?: Volunteers Help to Spruce Up Middle School
Volunteers from Fidelity Investments Help to Spruce Up Durham Middle School
photo from wral.com
Volunteers from Fidelity Investments and Hands On Charlotte worked together Saturday, August 7th to improve the grounds of Lowe's Grove Middle School, in Durham. The school, which is located at 4418 S. Alston Ave. welcomed nearly 200 volunteers who improved an existing greenhouse and manicured the grounds.
Wake Electric's "Bright Ideas" Grant Program
Wake Electric, through the support of their customers and the NC Electric Membership Cooperation offer grants to local teachers for up to $3,000 throughout the school year. Wake Electric has allocated $50,000 specifically for the grants of the 2010-2011 school year.
Teachers can apply for a grant of up to $3,000. The deadline is September 20. Teachers who submit their application by the early-bird deadline on August 16 will be entered in a drawing for a $500 Visa gift card.
- On-line applications for the Bright Ideas grant program, can be found at www.ncbrightideas.com.
- NOTE: The the Classroom Technology Awards grants and the Bright Ideas grants are two SEPARATE and DISTINCT grant programs offered by Wake Electric. Teachers can apply for both – but if a teacher does apply for both grants – he or she must apply for a DIFFERENT item or project between the two.
- For example, a teacher cannot apply for SmartBoard funding through the Classroom Technology Awards grants and then also apply for a SmartBoard through the Bright Ideas grant program.
- Wake Electric has allocated $50,000 for classroom-based projects through the Bright Ideas education grant program for the 2010-2011 school year.
- Grants of up to $3,000 are available. The deadline for teachers to submit an application is September 20.
- Since 1994, Wake Electric has given a total of $480,000 in Bright Ideas grants to teachers in Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Nash, Vance and Wake counties.
- Bright Ideas grants are intended to help finance innovative classroom projects that would otherwise not receive funding. Over the years, North Carolina's Touchstone Energy cooperatives, including Wake Electric, have sponsored a variety of hands-on projects, including activities in music, art, history, language, math, science, career-planning and information technology.
- The primary elements of the online application process include an explanation of the project and its potential benefits to students. A sample application and contact information for program coordinators are available on the Bright Ideas Web site.
- Teachers in Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Nash, Vance and Wake counties are eligible to apply for a Wake Electric Bright Ideas grant. To determine if your school is eligible for a Wake Electric Bright Ideas grant, go to www.ncbrightideas.com.
Grant applicants will be notified of their grant status in October 2010. Grant money will be awarded in October 2010. Teachers who win will be requested to attend an awards banquet in Raleigh in November.
The funds for the Bright Ideas grants come from WEMC members who agree to round up their light bill to the nearest whole dollar through the Operation RoundUp program. For example, if the bill is $190.91 – the bill will be rounded up 9 cents to $191.00. These pennies add up to major dollars. Partial funding also comes from the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, located in Raleigh, NC. The NCEMC consists of a family of corporations formed to support the state’s 27 electric cooperatives.
Wake Electric is a non-profit electric utility serving over 34,000 members in parts of Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Nash, Vance, and Wake counties.
If you have any questions about this or any other grant programs at Wake Electric, email Angela Perez, Public Relations/Communications Specialist at angela.perez@wemc.com or call 919.863 .6376 or 1.800.474.6300. Visit http://www.wemc.com/brightideas.aspx for more information.
Triangle Community Foundation's 1% Giving Challenge to Triangle Businesses
As a part of Triangle Community Foundation's Give Back initiative, TCF will launch a challenge to Triangle businesses. TCF will challenge are businesses to give back at least 1% to local nonprofit organizations.
How much does your business give back? Want to find out more? Check it out.
Duke Basketball Star, Jon Scheyer, Gives Back through Gaming
Courtesy: Duke Photography
Winning the 2010 NCAA National Championship is not what makes Jon Scheyer such an asset to our community. On May 1st, the Jon Scheyer Foundation hosted May Madness: Gaming to Give. Instead of basketballs, twenty flat screen televisions were rolled into Cameron Indoor Stadium for a charity video game tournament. Proceeds from the tournament went to The Emily Krzyzewski Center and the Jimmy V Foundation.
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Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties Give Back to The Durham Performance Learning Center
Photo from Herald Sun By: KEITH UPCHURCH
Junior League member Genevieve Michelle Tindall commented that, "We recognize these disparities within the community. And what we do as Junior Leaguers is to act as catalysts for change. This is our job. We do that through monthly volunteering opportunities."
Volunteering at The Durham Performance Center is one of the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties' main volunteer projects this year. The Learning Center is an alternative high school for students that had trouble succeeding in traditional public school and has about 120 students. Members of the Junior League have provided students with mentoring relationships, job shadowing opportunities, internships, in addition to non-academic support such as pizza parties and game days.
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TCF Board Member, Perry Colwell, Recognized for Giving Back
Photo from News and Observer:HARRY LYNCH
Perry Colwell received the 2009 Excellence in Philanthropy Award from the Association of Fundraising Professional for his work many nonprofit organizations throughout the Triangle. Colwell has assisted over 35 nonprofit organizations in the Triangle with business planning, building stronger boards, strategic planning, and fundraising.
Perry has received numerous accolades from many nonprofit executives and area professionals who admire his work with such organizations as The Executive Service Corp, Triangle Community Foundation, Women's Center in Chapel Hill, or countless others. "But Colwell dodges those compliments like he's steering a motorcycle through a mountain range."
Read more about Perry Colwell here.
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NCCU Observes Hunger Awareness Week by Giving Back
Photo from NCCU News
During Hunger Awareness Week, March 16–21, North Carolina Central students will take part in a series of events that draw attention to hunger and food insufficiency in North Carolina. Students will tour local agencies that are working to combat hunger in Durham, including: Urban Ministries of Durham, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina and South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces (SEEDS).
Giving back is a tradition at NCCU and students are required to complete at least 15 hours of community service per semester. Read more about this project and other ways students have given back this year.
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Durham's Sunrise Rotarian Club: The little club that can, and does
Photo from The Herald Sun
February 23rd marked the 20th anniversary for the Durham Sunrise Rotary (DSRotary) Club. With fewer than 20 members, DSRotary has been affectionately referred to as, "the little club that can, and does." Early each Thursday morning, DSRotary members fill backpacks full of nourishment for 10 Forest View Elementary students. The program called Backpack Buddies began 4 years ago at the Interfaith Food Shuttle; DSRotary has been involved for the past 2 years. Backpack Buddies is possible through collaborative efforts by:
- The Interfaith Food Shuttle, which collects the food and delivers it to the hotel
- The Millenium Hotel, which stores the food on site for the weekly meetings
- DSRotary, whose members pack the food into donated backpacks
- Forest View Elementary, which has identified children at-risk for hunger
- Teachers, who parcel out food items over the remainder of the week if the child is too young to carry the weight of all the food
DSRotary member Mary Liebhold said of the project, "We can't hear about a project of this scope and leave it undone, hungry children are not acceptable."
DSRotary's mission is to support projects that focus on and benefit young children. Other activities by DSRotary are getting underprivileged children to ball games, concerts, the ballet, camp, Thanksgiving meals and holiday surprises.
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Triangle Community Foundation Board Member and Team Provide Medical Relief in Haiti
Cécile Noël providing medical assistance in the tent clinic
Triangle Community Foundation Board member Cécile Noël, a medical provider, traveled to Haiti with a medical team through a local church, Crosspointe Church in Cary. The medical providers went to Jacmel, Haiti, an area south of Port-au-Prince, that was not reached by initial relief groups. The group consisted of 15 volunteers, 3 men and 12 women; 5 medical providers, a physical therapist, nurses and all different professions ready to do what was needed. The non-medical volunteers became the pharmacy technicians and Noël described them as, "super good and accurate." Through funds from the Triangle Community Foundation's Haiti Relief Fund, and many other generous supporters, the group was able to provide immediate medicine, supplies, and kits to Haitian residents.
When asked about what struck her the most about the trip, Noël replied, "Plenty was incredible but what stuck out was how smooth 15 people who did not know each other were working in unison with humor, flexibility and courage. Also the resilience of the Haitians is extraordinary. The relief will be a group effort, some giving money, some giving planes for transport, some giving construction material and knowledge. No one will make a difference without the help of everyone involved. It's really a group effort going on there."
Check out local news coverage of the trip here.
Above photos from left to right: Tent city in Jacmel, Dr. Brad providing medical attention to young girl, A line of residents waiting for the clinic to open, and a tent city resident.
For more information about Jacmel:
Haiti’s Cultural Capital Jacmel Damaged In Quake: NPR Story about Haiti’s Cultural Capital Jacmel affected by the quake “mostly two-story stone buildings with ironwork and balconies reminiscent of New Orleans’ French Quarter is now in ruins.”
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North Carolina Giving: Stories of Philanthropy Across the State
Photo from UNCTV.org
A documentary sponsored by NC Gives, "North Carolina Giving: Philanthropy Across Cultures & Communities," features 13 stories of giving across the state of North Carolina. Narrated by Ambassador James A. Joseph and with an introduction by William C. Friday, this documentary highlights North Carolinians' generosity and support through giving back to their community. This documentary will air on UNC-TV on Friday, February 5th at 10pm.
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Volunteers Pack Over 50,000 Meals to Send to Haiti
On Wednesday night, over 120 volunteers from NC Central University, Duke University, Southern Durham High School, and The Durham Rotary gathered in Southern Durham High School's cafeteria for one purpose, to give back. In only three hours, the volunteers packaged over 50,000 meals to help feed the hungry. The Feed 50,000 packing event is a yearly event by Stop Hunger Now, a nonprofit organization in Raleigh whose mission is to provide direct food relief in crisis areas and in areas where chronic hunger and malnutrition exists.
This year, packaged meals will go to the victims in Haiti. According to Durham Rotary volunteer Mitzi Viola, the meals will be delivered within a week. A student volunteer from Duke University said that it was so encouraging to see the immediate results of their efforts in such a short time; three hours, 50,000 meals!
For more information about how you can hold a meal packaging event, check out Stop Hunger Now.
Students from Southern Durham High School
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Haiti Disaster Relief: Fundholders Respond to the Need
Triangle Community Foundation fundholders have already contributed more than $35,000 to various organizations providing immediate relief to Haiti. For more information on how you can give, visit our disaster relief site.
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Cary Volunteers Help Rebuild a Life
Photos by TED RICHARDSON - trichard@nando.com
When Alan Branson's burned down last year, it seemed like nothing in his life was right. Now he is on the verge of living in a bigger and better house than before. The up to 20 volunteers a day, church fundraisers, community grants, and churches have rebuilt Branson's house and inspired him to give back. Read the full story.
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Guests at the Triangle Community Foundation's Annual Holiday Party Tell How and Why They Give Back
Staff was armed with Flip cameras at Triangle Community Foundation's Annual Christmas Party and asked guests about giving back. We wanted to learn about ways that people are giving back and why they think it is important. Several community members, nonprofit and civic leaders volunteered to let us know how and why they give back. Check out the compiled video here.
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Duke Students Building Homes and Bridges
So many Duke students showed up to help build a home for the Katrosciks family that they had to reduce shifts to one hour. Student organization, Blitz Build, seeks to build houses for families and bridges to the Durham community through volunteerism. Through a cooperative relationship with Habitat for Humanity in Durham, college students are spending Saturday morning giving back.
Check out the full story here.
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Got beef? Give back!
Photo from WRAL.com/golo
After one in solider Afghanistan told his family that what he really missed from home was beef jerky, they sprang into action. They collected over 100 bags of beef jerky and sent it to our troops!
Check out the family's reaction and photo here.
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Triangle Community Foundation Gives Holiday Party Guests Cash to "Seed" Giving
At The Triangle Community Foundation's Annual Holiday Party, guests enjoyed food, drink, and entertainment at the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh. The festive night ended with a surprise involving envelops with $10 cash and a challenge introduced by Executive Director, Andrea Bazán. The Give Back Giveaway has three rules, 1) match the $10 with at least $10 of your own 2) go out and give the money to someone you do not know or an organization doing good in the region and 3) tell us what you did on Triangle Gives Back's Facebook page! Check out the full story from the Philanthropy Journal.
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University of North Carolina Group Recognized for Giving Back
The Epsilon Gamma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was recently recognized with the 2010 Named Grant Award by Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test at the 14th Annual Gathering of Friends in Greensboro, NC. Each year, the chapter sponsors the Tar Heel Trot in Chapel Hill and since the first race in 2000, the event has raised over $80,000 for breast cancer research and the Friends for a Earlier Breast Cancer Test.
Do you have a story about a group or individual giving back? Contact Kayla@trianglecf.org
