How can your volunteer service benefit others as well as your business? What should you consider before taking on a volunteer assignment? What are your rights as a volunteer? When is it time to move on?
In August, we'll be learning about the benefits of getting connected, how to make the most of your time and effort, and the best ways to leverage your volunteer experience.
Tom Williams has worked in the nonprofit sector since 1996 in roles at the local, state and national levels. Twenty of these years was served with Habitat for Humanity, which uses volunteers to build houses for low income families. In his many roles with Habitat, Tom was responsible for recruiting volunteers, organizing their data and networking with volunteers to assure their volunteering experience was meaningful and resulted in a rewarding experience for everyone.
While at the state level of Habitat, Tom's role included training volunteer coordinators and assisting local chapters in their efforts to recruit and empower volunteers to serve on the board of directors. He currently interacts with over 3,000 volunteers who plant and harvest a 100 acre farm to stock food banks.
In Tom's current role with Jackson's Nonprofit Network, he conducts workshops and convenes consulting services with staff of nonprofit organizations. He sees his role as empowering volunteer board members to successfully direct nonprofits as key in making a difference in the communities of Michigan.
WARNING! YOU CAN’T GET HERE FROM THERE!
We’ve planned a great meeting for August. However, the Michigan Department of Transportation continues to fix up the roads we usually use and all the ramps that are involved – I-275, I-696, M-5, exits on I-96, etc.
Our “home”, the Holiday Inn Express, is on Haggerty Road, just north of 8 Mile Road. The closures continue to shift as work progresses, so you'll need to find yet another alternate (surface) route to NAPO meetings until the project winds down. Some expressways will be down to one or two lanes, some will be completely closed.
Project details can be found at
www.revive275.com and up-to-date closure information is available at the Mi Drive app and website:
www.michigan.gov/drive. Allow some extra time to explore. Some suggestions are to take either 12 Mile, 10 Mile, or 8 Mile across to Haggerty. Or, try getting off I-96 at Novi Road, and take Grand River to Haggerty.
I-275 and I-696 can use the patching, but ... in the meantime ... charge up your phone/GPS! P.S. If approaching from the north on Haggerty, remember to turn into the BP station to get to the Holiday Inn Express – it’s easy to overshoot that turn! We’ll be waiting for you – and commiserating with you!
