Step Right Up! Volunteer Carnival Teaches Importance of Giving Back

GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER. This is the credo that Heart of Florida United Way lives by and this weekend’s Step Right Up! volunteer carnival was a perfect illustration of this belief.

Despite threatening weather, nearly 350 people came out with their family, friends and co-workers to help make a difference by participating in hands-on volunteer projects and learning about volunteer needs in the Central Florida community.

Each of event’s onsite volunteer projects supported United Way’s focus on Building Safe Communities through Education. They included assembling 150 “Hi-5” food packs for children served by Second Harvest Food Bank, 225 letter of encouragement written to students served by the Interfaith School Turnaround Project, creating 150 education kits for the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, packaging 198 hygiene kits for Clean the World, and sending 68 personal emails to local elected official, urging their support of education funding.  

Guests also had a chance to learn about ongoing volunteer opportunities by visiting 25 booths staffed by local nonprofit agencies. Other fun activities included a bounce house, dunk tank and interactive presentations by the Orlando Police Department’s K-9, mounted patrol, motorcycle and SWAT team units.  

While helping guests draft e-mails to support school funding, I was taken aback by the large number of volunteers wanting to participate. Many were teachers or parents who understood the value of education, including one mother who took time to read the e-mail to her six-year-old daughter. When the little girl asked why anyone would want to cut school funding, the mother replied, “Because people like you and I are not asking them not to.”

For me, this moment really exemplified the importance of being engaged in the community, advocating for what you believe in and showing that making a difference can start at any age.

All in all, Step Right Up! turned out to be a great success, full of food, prizes, volunteerism and advocacy that showed Central Floridians how easy and fun it is to be engaged in the community. 

To view more photos from Step Right Up!, visit United Way’s Facebook page. To learn more about volunteering through Heart of Florida United Way, click here.

Katrina Ganzler
United Way 2-1-1, Marion County Liaison
Heart of Florida United Way

 

United Way’s First-Ever Statewide Legislative Agenda Supports Positive Change for Children, the Elderly and Volunteers

For the first time ever, United Way organizations across Florida, including Heart of Florida United Way, have joined together in a unified effort to advocate for legislative issues that are of critical importance to the communities they serve.

As outlined in the 2012 Florida United Way Consensus Legislative Agenda, these priority issues include:

• Creation of a comprehensive background screening system that ensures the protection of children, seniors and other vulnerable groups without excessively impeding volunteers, nonprofit agencies and others who provide assistance.
• Maximizing funding for Community Based Care for the Elderly and Home Care for the Elderly.
• Providing greater access to high-quality school readiness programs for Florida’s children.

“Supporting these three issues will ensure that volunteerism can continue to thrive; the elderly can live with dignity and with less cost to the state; and our future work force will be improved,” said Ted Granger, President of the United Way of Florida. “At the same time, they will save taxpayer costs for nursing home placements, juvenile justice, crime fighting, corrections, education and more. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

The agenda, drafted by a statewide panel of community, business and nonprofit leaders, addresses some of the most pressing problems facing all Floridians, according to Robert H. (Bob) Brown, HFUW President and CEO. “The breadth of United Ways’ relationships across all sectors of the communities they serve ensures that the Consensus Agenda is not a special interest agenda, but is an agenda ‘of the people,’” he said.

For additional information about United Way’s 2012 public policy agenda, click here. To learn how you lend your voice and make a difference, e-mail advocate@hfuw.org.