Your Help is Needed

Adopt-A-Highway

Each spring and fall, our club cleans up a section or Route 81 near the Tully Exit. OSC volunteers meet at the Burger King in Tully, usually at 9:30AM on a selected Saturday. Depending on the number of volunteers each time, the job is generally done around noon, when we all find a convenient place to have lunch together. It is fun and a great chance to give back to the community. Come and join in, you will feel good about the job when the roadside is back to ship-shape condition again. Read about some of our past volunteering at http://www.osc-ski.org/activities/adopt.asp You can get more information on this project by calling Carol or Neville at 487-8110.

CHRISTMAS BUREAU

Christmas Bureau is a collaborative program that involves over twenty public and private community partners who, in partnership with The Salvation Army and the United Way of CNY, coordinate community efforts in collecting food, toys and books for a mass distribution to low income families at Christmas.

Computers are used for collecting all the information needed for Christmas Bureau registration and the distribution of books, toys and food to needy recipients. It is the volunteer registrars and the distribution day workers that give "heart" to this process. Won't you consider volunteering your time and energy to help out in this program?

A big THANKS goes out to all of the OSC Members who have generously given of their time and energies, in the past, to help others during the busy holiday season. Their efforts helped over 2,200 families in our community have a very happy holiday. May God bless them with peace, joy and happiness in the New Year. The Salvation Army website is at http://www.salvationarmy.org/

NEED KNOWS NO SEASON

Volunteers are essential to the day-to-day operations of The Salvation Army programs and services not only at Christmas but all year long! . Interested in finding out more about volunteer opportunities? Please contact Lynn Hy, Volunteer Coordinator by phone at 479-1321 or by e-mail: lynn.hy@use.salvationarmy.org .

Holiday Opportunities - United Way

While the holidays can be a hectic time for many, finding a few spare hours to take on a volunteer task can be a very rewarding experience. United Way of Central New York’s Volunteer Resource Division has opportunities for individuals and groups of all ages. Listed below are only a few of the volunteer opportunities that are available.

Ring bells for donations. Every year, The Salvation Army needs hundreds of volunteers to ring the bell to bring attention to the red kettle drive, which helps The Salvation Army do its work all year. Groups will find this fun and very exciting. You can dress up in holiday attire, bring the family, and carol or sing.
Help families have a brighter holiday. Volunteers are needed in mid-November and early December to register families to receive food, books and toys for their families. If you have patience and love working with people, or if you can speak another language or have computer skills, this position is for you.
Deliver meals to the homebound. During the holiday season, Meals On Wheels needs you to deliver meals to the homebound. Only a few hours of your time are needed. Rescue Mission also delivers meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas and volunteer opportunities are available there as well.
Wrap gifts for charity. Don’t worry, it’s not that hard! Many non-profit agencies in the area gift-wrap at malls and retail stores to raise money for their programs. Hundreds of hours need to be filled from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve.
Donate toward holiday cheer. New books and toys, party favors, stocking stuffers, food baskets and food certificates are needed at over 45 agencies to spread holiday cheer.

In addition, party-helpers, meal-planners, map-readers and phone-answerers are needed at many agencies throughout Central New York. For more information about these or other volunteer opportunities, contact Lucretia Hudzinski at 315-428-2246.

OSC Trips

Trip leaders are needed to coordinate new and exciting trips for our members. If you are interested in learning how to or would like to share some of your favorite trip ideas, please contact our Trip Committee Chairman, Leo Naylor at 315-339-3741 or lnaylor@twcny.rr.com