270,000 Volunteer Hours Logged for 2011
During 2011, LANL employees and retirees volunteered in their communities for 270,000 hours, the equivilent to working 24 hours a day for 31 years. That brings to 997,000 the total number of hours since the Laboratory began using the VolunteerMatch software in 2006! As a result of the 2011 volunteering, more than $150,000 from Los Alamos National Security, LLC will go to the nonprofit organizations where they’ve spent their time volunteering. Where do employees spend their leisure hours doing good for others? They help seniors and youth, assist with sport activities, and support their religious institutions, among many other activities.
Our volunteers will be recognized at an event on June 28 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos where the nonprofit organizations they supported will be able join in the celebration as well as receive additional funding based on where the volunteers spent their time.
Last year, the Lab won VolunteerMatch’s Employee Volunteer Program award, and is a finalist for the award again this year. The award is based on outstanding achievement and results in program reach, connection rate, volunteer hours tracked per 1,000 employees, and volunteer impact.
If you would like your nonprofit organization to be listed on the VolunteerMatch website, please go to http://www.volunteermatch.org/. There is no cost for nonprofit organizations to be listed.
Support LANL Laces with Book Purchases
"Books Are Fun" will hold a fair on April 9 and 10 in the Lab’s Otowi Building (Technical Area 3, Building 261) that will benefit the LANL Laces program, which helps provide regionally deserving children with new shoes.
Last year, LANL Laces helped get shoes on the feet of more than 400 children throughout Northern New Mexico.
Book fair hours:
April 9, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
April 10, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, contact the Lab’s Community Programs Office at (505) 665-4400.
Homeless Women Veterans Need Your Help
The Middle Rio Grande YWCA operates Henderson House in Albuquerque, which provides a transitional center for homeless women veterans and their children. Now a year old, the House’s residents receive intensive one-on-one case management that can include classes in computer literacy, job training, financial management, parenting and childcare, holistic healthcare, and stress management.
The effort is the first of its kind in the nation and has received recognition from First Lady Michelle Obama and other state and national leaders for its groundbreaking efforts.
The facility’s needs are great and include monetary donations, gas cards to help defray transportation costs, children’s clothes, storage space for residents' personal items, and regional activity tickets to help with stress management.
One of the services supplied is professional attire the women need for job interviews and office employment. The Y’s “Our Sister’s Closet" program collects and supplies this clothing for free to Henderson House residents and other disadvantaged women.
If you would like to help the Our Sister’s Closet program, take your gently used women’s professional clothes to the Assistance League of Albuquerque’s Bargain Box at 5211 Lomas Blvd. NE (just west of San Mateo on Lomas, on the north side of the street). Donations are accepted Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m, to 4 p.m. The facility is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
For more information on Henderson House, go to http://ywca.sks.com/Womens_Veterans.aspx.
For more information on Our Sister’s Closet, go to http://ywca.sks.com/Our_Sisters_Closet.aspx.
For more information on this and other programs provided by the Middle Rio Grande YWCA, go to http://ywca.sks.com/Default.aspx.
May is Mental Health Month
As many as one in four people in the United States could benefit from mental health services but don’t get them because they don’t understand how those resources could really improve their lives or are afraid of the stigma attached to “needing help.”
Education is key to empowering people to get the help they need and to acceptance of those who receive mental health assistance, whether in the short- or long-term. You can do your part by educating yourself or supporting those who seek, or need to seek, professional assistance.
Resources are available in our region. Santa Fe is home to the Solace Crisis Treatment Center if people are unsure of where else to turn.
Solace’s 24-hour crisis advocacy hotline number is 800-721-7273 and is available throughout New Mexico and beyond.
As with most nonprofit organizations, Solace (formerly known as the Santa Fe Rape Crisis Center) can use your support year-round in the following areas:
Crisis line responders: Volunteers, who have completed the 40 hours of training, are needed to answer the phones during weekend and evening shifts.
Advocates: This can encompass everything from accompanying a woman who needs a medical examination after a rape to helping people locate other resources under more routine conditions.
Child education: Volunteers are needed to perform puppet shows for pre-school children to help them begin to understand healthy body boundaries.
If you need Solace’s help, you can call the crisis line above or (505) 988-1951.