Work Day Houston Zoo Discovery Garden - Saturday, December 8

Richard Klein has requested help to get the Discovery Garden in 'tip-top' shape, in readiness for the Zoo's accreditation. The Committee will be coming on December 9, 10, 11 and 12.

He would like to organize a work day for Saturday, December 8. Weeding, pruning, painting and general tidying of the flower beds will be the order of the day.

Please contact me if you are able to help steph_wheatley@hotmail.com

Look forward to hearing from you

ps. Maybe we could kick off the Christmas Season early with hot apple cider and mince pies!!!!!...while working hard of course!!!

Rice University Good Works Fair

Monarch will have a table at the Rice University Good Works Fair, a volunteer and non-profit career fair sponsored by the university's Community Involvement Center. The fair will take place on Tuesday, October 9, 1:00-5:00, in the Rice Memorial Center. Please let me know if you're interested in participating for some or all of the afternoon.

-Miranda

PS Rice students mostly live on campus--easy walking distance to Monarch's Houston Zoo garden!

Medical certification for family leave in TX?

Jessica sent this request to the group:

"I have a mom from Alabama who is bringing her daughter here for the summer program. She has filed A State of AL Medical Certification form Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 packet to get help from being off work. I would love someone to explore this for us to see if we have the option here in TX and could share that with out parents. Can you research this for me?"

I'll look into this when I have some time, but if anyone else wants to work on it in the meantime, that would be great. Thanks!

Miranda

Opportunity to Help with Symposium

I have an opportunity for anyone who would like to help make our symposium with Dr. Ross Greene a success. We are in need of approximately 1000 bottles of water to be served to our guests at the symposium and we would like to try to get them donated. Is anyone interested in helping to solicit local businesses in their area for donations of bottled water? Some businesses like Sam's Club and HEB are pretty good about giving $25 - $35 gift cards which can be used to purchase bottled water. Let me know if you are willing to help and I will provide you with a copy of the schools tax exempt letter which you will need. You can email me at jmeaux1@houston.rr.com if you are willing to help.

Hey Heralds!

I have a project idea/request for you. I'm working on recruiting new volunteers from local universities, and it would be really helpful to have a simple, one-page brochure or flyer about Movers & Shapers (who we are, what we do, etc.). We have the Monarch packets, of course, which are great, but I think a piece of introductory literature about our group would be very handy for situations like this. Any chance one or more of you could work on this soon? It certainly doesn't have to be anything fancy, just short and sweet.

Thanks!

A Volunteer Opportunity from Kay Kahl

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunity!
Monarch Movers & ShapersThe Educators Committee is seeking volunteers who are interested and available to partake in Monarch's Challenger Campus holiday celebration on Friday, December 15th from 9am-noon. Volunteers are needed to share information and insight to students about holiday celebrations from different traditions (Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, traditions from countries and cultures around the world). The students will be traveling to different stations during this time, and each presenter will offer knowledge to a small group in a fun, fascinating way such as speaking and showing items specific to their culture (menorahs, Christmas pickles, etc.). Speakers may want to present a brief project, recipe, or share stories. Creativity is welcome! Please e-mail Kay (kkahl@monarchschool.org) as soon as possible if you are interested or know of someone who may be interested in volunteering. Even if you are only available for an hour or 2, we'd love to have you! Thanks!

Another Volunteer Opportunity Nov. 10th

If anyone is interested in helping stuff about 700 information packets for the Miracle Makers Morning Breakfast I could use a couple of volunteers. We will be meeting the morning of Friday, November 10th at my house (not far from Monarch). If you are interested in helping please contact me at jmeaux1@houston.rr.com.

Volunteers Needed for Reading Program!

Dr. Neal is looking for volunteers to listen to students read. If you'd like to help out and are available during school hours (specific days/times not yet available), please let me (mhenry4@uh.edu) know.

FYI: This is also a great opportunity to interest new recruits in Movers & Shapers. However, because this activity involves direct contact with students, new folks will need to go through the initial orientation before participating. If you find someone who would like to get involved, just send his/her contact info to Justin, and he will start the initiation process.

For projects not involving direct student contact, non-M&S people are welcome to take part before getting oriented. (All this policy stuff comes from John Barone; I'm not just making it up as I go along!)

By the way, thanks for making such great use of the blog! (I knew I'd hook you sooner or later....)

-Miranda

Volunteer Opportunity October 30th and 31st

If anyone has some free time on Monday, October 30th between 8:30am and 3:00pm and/or on Tuesday, October 31st between 8:30am and 11:30am we will be stuffing and labeling approximately 10,000 envelopes in the Learning Center for a mass mailing and could use your help. If you are interested in helping with this task please contact me. If you find you have some time to spare at the last minute feel free to just show up - I'm sure there will be plenty of work to go around.

Spreading the Word

The Learning Center is looking to expand its list of contacts for this year's workshops. Because it is our first year to offer continuing education units to professionals, we're hoping to increase our contacts with special education professionals in the schools. If any movers and shapers have contacts in public or private special education or any mailing lists of professionals that they would be willing to share, please either email Emily Reiter at ereiter@monarchschool.org or call 713.933.0568, thanks!

Calling All Heralds!

Monarch is hosting a free workshop on hair pulling and skin picking on Oct. 19. Any help in getting the word out would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

JB

Volunteer opportunity on October 3!

Linda Caruso invites volunteers to join Monarch students at the Italian Cultural and Community Center on October 3. For more information, please contact her: lcaruso@monarchschool.org.

Monarch's Garden at the Houston Zoo

This is just one of the six photos I took while I was at the garden this morning. To see the rest (and, incidentally, a bunch of other work and personal photos, so you are fairly warned), go to my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/inthehoosegow

For now, we need a group of 2-3 folks to commit to going to the zoo every week or every two weeks to do some basic weeding. This will allow the kids to spend less time weeding and more time doing fun jobs and activities. The zoo would prefer that we go A. during the day and B. early in the week, when they are not so busy. Monday mornings are especially good for me. If you know you want to weed, please leave a comment here or let any of the usual suspects know--me, Penny, or Emily so she can let us know.

Opportunities from the Educators

At the Movers & Shapers meeting on September 11, we discussed upcoming opportunities for volunteers to work with Monarch students. These include:

• Internships: Monarch students are looking for real-world work experience. If you or someone you know could use on-the-job help with basic office tasks or other entry-level assignments, please consider offering internships to Monarch students to help them learn new skills and increase their confidence.
• Mentorships: Speakers are needed to give presentations or mini-workshops to Monarch students. Mentors, who need only commit to a one-time session at the school, can address students' interests (possible topics include various computer applications, cooking, arts and crafts of all sorts, first aid skills, animal rescue, and video game design) and/or discuss their life experiences, with an emphasis on making decisions and overcoming challenges. Lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on instruction are all encouraged.
• The Ultimate Gift: Monarch students are using this curriculum to reflect on their gifts and the legacy of their family heritage. Later in the fall (October/November), volunteers can assist individual students with the writing and recording of their reflections. This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know Monarch students on a personal level!

Movers & Shapers, please start thinking about how you might like to participate in these projects--and use them to recruit new volunteers, too!