New Volunteer Project added to our Calendar

Activities with Teens (Children of the Night)
Van Nuys

Children of the Night is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1979, dedicated to assisting children between the ages of 11 and 17 who are forced to prostitute on the streets for food and a place to sleep. Residents follow a highly structured program that includes attending an on-site school where they study a curriculum individually tailored to their specific needs so they can reach age- appropriate grade levels in all subjects before leaving.

With the help of caseworkers, each youngster formulates a "life plan" and attends independent living classes, as well as participating in sports and recreational activities plus evening workshops in crafts, yoga, 12-step meetings, poetry, AIDS education, and more.

LA Works has the exciting opportunity to lead fun and enriching evening workshops for 12-15 of these teens. The Project Leader will have a planned activity for each session, and volunteers are needed to help facilitate. Please come join us in this unique volunteer opportunity!

This project will take place on the 3rd Thursday of every month starting January 19.

Click here to sign-up

Disaster Response Exercise

Help L.A. prepare for a terrorist attack!

Feb 2

7:00 am - Noon
Two Locations:
Glendale
Long Beach

How would Los Angeles cope with a major county-wide catastrophe? L.A. needs hundreds of volunteers to role-play as disaster victims to help train county first responders (doctors, nurses, fire and police personnel, paramedics and other health professionals) in a major simulation of a bio terrorist attack. Drills will take place on Thursday, February 2nd from 7:00 am SHARP to noon in both Glendale and Long Beach.

There are no age restrictions for this volunteer opportunity so feel free to sign-up your entire family! This event is being coordinated with the Volunteer Center of Los Angeles.

To sign-up:

For this special event there is a two step process to volunteer:

1) Click on the Have Agency Contact Me button. (This will notify the Volunteer Center that you are potentially interested in volunteering).

2) You will get an email with an Internet Link instructing you where you MUST go to complete your sign-up online. Be SURE to read this email and follow the directions to complete your sign up for this event.

Click here to be taken to the L.A. Works website and the referral link.

Thanks for your support in helping to keep our county safe!

You're Invited! Please join us on January 29

Please join us on January 29 at the Los Angeles River Center & Gardens to celebrate the New Year and to honor the L.A. Works volunteers who are this year's recipients of the President's Volunteer Service Award.

This is our chance to recognize and thank the individuals who have demonstrated a sustained committment to voluneer service during the last twelve months. The award is issued by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers make to our Nation.

We'll also be recognizing our outstanding project leaders, and volunteers who have made special contributions during the last year.

Bring friends and family to make new friends, reconnect with old friends, and learn more about L.A. Works and our plans for 2006.

There will be cake, light snacks and a special prize -- if you've volunteered with L.A. Works during 2005 you'll be eligible to win an Apple Ipod Nano! Drawing will be at 3:30 pm (you must be present to win).

We hope to see as many of our volunteers and Project Leaders as possible, so we can personally thank you for the amazing job you've all done transforming Los Angeles in the past year.

Click here to RSVP. (log into your account, and click on SIGN ME UP).

Save the Date

Hot Project of the Week

Do you like bikes? We need more volunteers to help with this great project on January 14 from 10:00 - 3:00. This is a fun project for anyone who enjoys working with their hands:

Project Information:
Each month Bike Out gathers volunteers to repair, fix, and tune-up donated bikes. No experience is necessary, but experienced mechanics are more than welcome! Here's a chance to help others while learning bike maintenance yourself! Wear grubby clothes. Pizza will be served!

Bike Out's mission is to promote health and foster self-confidence in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and their straight supporters through mountain bike expeditions. Teenagers have a hard time growing up. LGBT teens have the added pressure of growing up without social approval.

Some LGBT youth are harassed so severely they are forced out of their schools and sometimes their homes. Bike Out provides a safe place for young people to be themselves.

The bikes repaired by volunteers will help raise funds for Bike Out’s youth programming through the Recyclery.

To sign up for this project, click here.

Next Round of Let's Read starting Jan 21 - Sign up Now!

Want to make a real impact on Kids' lives? L.A. Works' Let's Read Program is a program whose purpose is to provide kids with the tools to help them reach their dreams. We work individually and as a group, with kids' school-related materials, as well as try to expose them to other topics that they may not otherwise encounter. If you like kids and wish to develop a relationship with one or a few of them, this program can be one of our most rewarding.

Volunteers in this program must commit to the full 10 week session on consecutive Saturday mornings Jan 21 - March 25 from 10:00 a.m. - noon. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age. Volunteers will develop a mentoring relationship with kids during the ten week semester.

The Let's Read program takes place at two locations:

Pueblo Del Rio in central Los Angeles. Click here to sign up! If you've never volunteered for Let's Read at Pueblo Del Rio, you must also sign up for the orientation session for new Let's Read volunteers on January 14. Click here to sign up for orientation.

Mar Vista Gardens in Culver City. Click here to sign up for the 10-week session, January 21 - March 25.

Get Trained to assist in Los Angeles Disasters and Emergencies

L.A. Works encourages its members to attend Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. This all-risk, all hazard training, presented by the Fire Dept trains you to assist conventional emergency response teams in times of crisis and emergency. Training is offered in locations all over Los Angeles.

The training is a seven session course (one day a week for seven weeks), and is provided free of charge. The next round of classes begins in January 2006. For more details click here.

Share your Holiday Volunteering Stories

More people volunteer during the holidays than any time of the year. We'd love to hear your stories of why volunteering is important to you during this season. Have you had a great volunteer experience that has enriched your holiday? Click on the comments link and tell us your experiences!

Here's Another New Thanksgiving Referral - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

Wow. Thanksgiving requests are coming in quickly. Do you live in Long Beach / South Bay area? This one is a referral to "For the Child". They need volunteers to help prep and distribute Thanksgiving meals this Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. It's very short notice, but I know they'd appreciate some help.

Click here to let us put you in touch with "For the Child".

New Thanksgiving Day project added to calendar

We've just gotten a call asking for 10 volunteers on Thanksgiving Day. It's short notice, but we know there's a lot of you looking for a chance to help out on Thanksgiving Day. Here's the Project Details:

The Hollywood Senior Multipurpose Center needs 10 volunteers to help deliver Thanksgiving holiday meals to homebound seniors in the Hollywood & Silverlake area. Delivery times will be from 8:00 am - noon.

This project will be supervised by the HSMC staff, rather than the L.A. Works Project Leader since volunteers will all be working seperately on deliveries.

Volunteers must have their own vehicle and be able to deliver 10-12 meals.

Click here to sign up for this project.