On Sunday, September 26, 10 SOWSA members helped put finishing touches on a new house for a family in need. It was a “first” for many members, and while it was blazing hot outside, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. SOWSA wants to thank all who were able to participate in the event. I will let the pictures do the talking. :)
We look forward to seeing you at future SOWSA events!
SOWSA would like to invite you to our next meeting which will take place on Tuesday, October 5th at 7PM in room SO 285 (FAU Boca). We will have a guest speaker from Family Promise, and we be discussing our “Adopt an Agency” initiative and planning related events. We look forward to seeing you there.
Please see the following related announcements and information on upcoming events and community service opportunities:
During our first meeting on September 9, members voted on a community organization to “adopt.” Through this initiative, our goal is to support a local social service agency throughout the 2010-2011 academic year. Based on the needs of the selected agency, SOWSA will arrange a number of activities to benefit the agency, including food and clothing drives, holiday toy drives, and volunteer events. The organization that the members selected was Family Promise of South Palm Beach County.
Family Promise is an organization that assists homeless families. They work with local churches that provide facilities in which to feed and house the guests. Family Promise works daily with the families, the faith community network, and social service agencies to transition the families back into the community on a self sufficient basis. The supporting congregations also provide volunteer and fundraising support, as well.
We are excited to announce that Family Promise has accepted our offer and the Network Director, Kokie Dinnan, will be attending our next meeting on Tuesday, October 5 at 7 PM in SO 285. Kokie will introduce the agency to SOWSA and explain the organization’s needs. This is an exciting partnership for SOWSA and we hope that you join us in welcoming Family Promise at our next meeting. With your input, we can work together to plan appropriate activities and events that best fit the needs of Family Promise.
SOWSA is excited to announce a new partnership with a national philanthropic organization. The Office Depot Foundation will provide SOWSA with volunteer opportunities to support them in impacting the community through their initiatives listed below:
![clip_image001[6]](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xzh1RE4bLFU/TKR8fvc-Z7I/AAAAAAAALV8/Te3KJ41HziE/clip_image001%5B6%5D%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800 "clip_image001[6]")
Office Depot is known throughout the world as a company with a heart. They have distinguished themselves through consistent support of charitable organizations and worthy causes on a local and national scale. Today, the independent Office Depot Foundation is continuing this tradition. The Office Depot Foundation is focusing on the following five strategic priorities for a period of five years:
The Office Depot Foundation has also launched a website to help connect volunteers to opportunities they would be interested in pursuing. This website is called Caring Connection – check it out! http://caringconnection.volunteermatch.org/.
Please continue to check our blog and Facebook page for more information on upcoming events and volunteer opportunities through this exciting new partnership.
EARN 9 EXTRA HOURS OF FIELD TIME
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2010
8 AM – 5 PM
Get experience with community organizing and being involved in a multi-disciplinary macro project. You can earn 9 extra field hours by working with Dr. Hawkins and Dr. Kaplan who will be conducting a Livability Study with the residents of Broward County. Dr. Hawkins and Dr. Kaplan are participating in a collaborative community involvement process involving the School of Social Work, the School of Architecture, the School of Urban and Regional Planning and the Broward Metropolitan Organization. Students are needed to assist with the community engagement process by participating in a short walking tour with community participants from Sunrise and Plantation and then leading a small group to process the participants’ observations. The purpose of the project is to empower the community to participate in the conceptual approach of identifying areas that need improvement in shaping the future use of communities.
The event will take place on Saturday, October 9 from 9:00 am-5:00 PM at a location to be determined in the Sunrise/ Plantation area. From 8 AM – 9 AM we will provide training to the students on what they will need to do for the day. Please RSVP to Dr. Kaplan at afkaplan@fau.edu if you are interested in participating or if you have any questions.
A major thank you to all of the members, officers and committee chairs who attended SOWSA's first meeting of the school year! We had 24 members, plus our guest speaker! Personally, I think this is an incredible turnout! We hope to keep up the momentum, and we need your help!
For those that missed this meeting, our Agenda, Meeting Minutes and Power Point Presentation can be found below.
Agenda
September 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Documents from the meeting:
Pictures from the meeting
Our Guest Speaker: Stacy Bennett from Broward House
I would like to take a minute to remind you all that you can subscribe via email to this blog (see right sidebar) so that you do not miss out on any blog posts, which offer valuable information regarding SOWSA!
Upcoming Schedule:
As always, please see our Calendar of Events on the top toolbar for more details.
