FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Spring is in the air!

I can't believe the temperature is now in the 70's and my tulips and daffodils are in bloom!
I love this time of year as it reminds me of re-birth when everything old is new again and how such beauty can come from dead twigs etc is beyond me.

With the warmer weather of course come events, such as the Fishes for Wishes put on by the Southaven Police Dept. last Saturday. If you've never tasted one of those ugly critters ( crawfish) you don't know what you're missing! Sure, it's a lot of work for a little bite but oh so worth it!

The next event is Dishes for Wishes (someone has to come up with something more original) held at Felicia Suzanne's restaurant down town. Appetizer tasting at it's best... tickets are $150 each.

In June Shaun Micheel will be hosting his annual Golf Classic at Southwind and if you are an avid golfer this is where you need to be. I'm still taking names for volunteers for this event so call me if you are interested. It will be on Monday June 23rd from 11am to 6pm.

Upcoming trainings are Saturday April 26th at 9am here in the Memphis office and then on May 17th in Memphis. If you would like to know more about them let me know.

Have you reviewed the new award categories for this year? Go to my previous blog to get more details of how you can submit an entry.

Volunteer Award and Recognition Program

We are so excited to be able to finally roll out the new and ( we hope) improved Volunteer Award and Recognition Program. The awards are easily attainable for anyone to acheive whether you are an event, a wish granting or an Office Angel Volunteer so we feel it will be fair for all. If you are only able to work one wish a year or twenty everyone has an opportunity to win an award and be recognized.

Remember, You will be responsible for nominating yourself in two of these categories and you must complete the event survey for your hours to be noted.

Note: Each award will be given in both offices with one winner in AR and one winner in TN/MS.

Volunteers will nominate themselves for the following two awards by completing the required paperwork (to be mailed to you and returned with volunteer Quality Wish Evaluations).

Life of the Party Award: Enhancement of the Year –In order to qualify for this award, volunteers will make the celebration magical and special. Volunteers will go all out to make it a day the wish child will never forget.

Shutterbug Award: Picture of the Year –The winners of this award will have taken a picture that tells the story of a wish child. Details (participants, decorations and/or gifts) will be clearly seen and the wish child will be looking at the camera. Picture’s worth: One thousand words.

For the following four awards, staff will nominate volunteers based on certain criteria.

Hall of Fame –One volunteer will be inducted each year. Volunteers will be nominated by staff members throughout the year based on specified criteria.
· Must be active for the current year
· Must have "can do" attitude
· Must have gone "above and beyond " at least once in past year
· Must have taken the lead on at least two projects and/or wishes
· Must have fulfilled all commitments within reason in the past year.
Intern of the Year –This award will go to the volunteer who has successfully completed their internship while developing and strengthening their skills. Staff will nominate interns based on certain criteria.
· Kept schedule or called in advance when necessary to re-schedule
· Professional behavior
· Completed tasks with efficiency
· Positive attitude to serve
· Invested in their tasks/projects by doing more than was required
· Initiated a project and saw it through to completion ( ex. scrapbook of wish children)

Paper Pusher Punctuality Award –The winners of this award will consistently return all paperwork to the wish coordinator within 10 days of the wish visit. Staff will date paperwork received to determine if this timeline is met. This volunteer will contact the office after the wish visit to discuss details with the Wish Coordinator and turn in details of the enhancement two weeks before.

My Right Arm Award –This will be awarded to an event volunteer from each internal event (i.e. Shaun Micheel Golf Tournament, Celebrity Golf Classic, etc.). The recipient will show up early, stay late if needed and generally work well with staff throughout the event to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Winners for the following three awards will be determined by records from the previous fiscal year.

Big Timer Volunteer of the Year –This award will go to the volunteer with the most hours served while planning or staffing Make-A-Wish events in the past year.

Penny Pincher of the Year – This award will go to the volunteer(s) who has secured the most in-kind total donations in the past year. This volunteer will consistently work to make wishes magical while using community resources.

Office Angel of the Year –This award will go to the volunteer with the most hours served helping the office staff with office duties, mail-outs and other projects.

So start your engines and OFF WE GO!!!!!

This is a web site my counterpart in the Arkansas office posted and it really is too good not to share. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.wish.org/stories/inspired_creations/videos/shelby_s_wish_video.

Have you granted an enhancement lately and would like to tell us about what it meant to you? Please post a comment here and share your experience.
I have begun to work on my training schedule, and am interested in hearing from you about any special classes you would like me to do.
Is there anyone out there willing to help out our friends in Arkansas and is willing to visit a wish child there? Please let me know if you can do this.

I am really ashamed to say I have not updated my blog since October of last year and the only excuse is I have been busy and it is at the bottom of my list of things to do.

However, I have made a promise to myself that I will try to update this at least once a week, so I do hope you come back to visit often. You never know what you may learn or even win!! I'd really love to share your stories and hear about your wish kids, so please stay in touch.

We have recently spent 2 days away from the office on a full staff retreat and did a lot of brainstorming. As Felisha mentions in her blog, we have come up with some great ideas, innovations and will be contacting you via a survey to find out how you feel, so be sure your opinion counts and respond when it comes in the mail.

We have really missed Lawanda's smiling face around our office and look forward to her return from maternity leave. Her baby boy is doing well and Mom is ready for some adult conversation!

As we near the end of our fiscal year [ 8-31-07 ] I have to take a moment to thank each and every volunteer for all they have done to help us reach our goals. I feel we have had a great year and look forward to 2008 and even more success. If I had my way each volunteer would receive an award. I particularly appreciate the way you step up when I ask you to accept a wish assignment.

Kudos go to the Holiday Calendar committee for reaching their goal of raising enough money through the sales of the calendars to be able to sponsor a wish. Moreover, they have decided to allow an Arkansas child to benefit from their success and will be making plans to help grant a magical wish to a very special child.

If you have an idea for volunteers to raise money for a Volunteer-Sponsored Wish please let me know.

Calendar Sale Update

The volunteers interested in sponsoring their own wish by selling holiday calendars met at Susan Grinder's home last night and enjoyed a fun -filled evening of cheese, wine and candlelight. ( thanks to MLGW for lack of power!!). Below is a summary from Robyn who is in charge of inventory control. All I can say is............. "Way to Go Volunteers"


The first Tally is in! Thanks to just a few (19) volunteers 225 calendars are committed to! Please feel free to share experiences as we take the calendars into our communities; what really worked or didn't work for you. We will begin an e-mail list of contributors who would like to hear the 'rest of the story' …in the future we will forward a photo of our volunteer-sponsored wish child to them (and hope to involve them further in Make-A-Wish) !
Thank you to Susan for a fun kick-off party that got us rolling! Please let me know if you need additional calendars or have any questions!

Volunteer need

Today is Monday Oct 16th. I really need a couple of volunteers to help sort our Holiday Cards on Wednesday and Thursday for about 3 hours on each day. This will mean a savings of $359 for us. Please let me know if you can help.

Volunteer Kudos

Kudos to Susan Grinder today. She volunteered to help deliver cookies to our donors with Brooke and after 4 hours of driving all over town Brooke learned it was Susan's birthday!
Imagine giving up your own special day to spend it doing something for someone else.
Thank you Susan and Happy Birthday!!

The Birth of a Blog

I would never have believed I would be technical as to own my own blog! How awesome to be able to contact all of the volunteers in just an instant!! Alright, I confess, I didn't set this up.. our Media Coordinator, Amanda, did it for me but I think I'm going to like this. I hope to get a lot of comments and entries so please feel free to use it to let the rest of the volunteers know about your enhancements, in-kind finds and ask questions.
I look forward to hearing from all of you soon.