For those curious to what organizations that I've volunteer for during the 2013 year, this is the listing of them. I am a small cog in a very large machine.
I don't post this to brag, only to remember. It is my own unique brand of insanity. I do this stuff because I like helping out. It gives me claim to being able to say that I've worked at: art shows, concerts, parades, cookoffs, beer festivals, fundraisers, STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), around robots, and at the circus.
286.50 volunteer hours and current to August 27, 2013.
321.5 as of September 22, 2013
Art On The Square
Bluesweek
Catsup Festival
Cinema St. Louis International Film Festival
Circus Flora
KDHX and Twangfest
Kiwanis of O'Fallon
FIRST Robotics
LouFest
Midwest Wingfest
Midwest Salute To The Arts
Rock 'n' Roll Marathon
Sheldon Concert Hall
Strange Folk Festival
St. Louis Earth Day
St. Louis Fringe Festival
St. Louis Heritage Festival
St. Louis International Film Fest
St. Louis Mardi Gras (Parade and cajun cook off.)
St. Louis Micro Festival
St. Lous St. Patrick's Day
SGI-USA of St. Louis
Toastmasters
Tour de Belleville
Showing posts with label Kiwanis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kiwanis. Show all posts
Friday, December 13, 2013
Saturday, April 27, 2013
FIRST World Championships 2013
Another year in the books for volunteering at the FIRST Robotics World Championships. Easily one of my favorite events to volunteer for. It's usually the one event I try to get on for multiple days for either the Regional St. Louis competition or World event depending on how much time off I have banked up at work.
It starts with a challenge that is given to each of the different levels (JFLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC) and based on some theme. This year was a combination of ascending higher and mobility. The FTC were moving rings from one rack to another tic-tac-toe like board. The FRC were shooting flying discs at holes 15 feet high or so. It's great to see the ingenuity that the students bring to the table to create the robots and accomplish their goals. The students only get about 3 months to accomplish these goals and do the tasks at hand. By the time these teams get to the World Championships the machines they create are pretty awesome. Wish I could of been doing this cool stuff as a student. In lieu of that, I shall volunteer for FIRST Robotics.
Kiwanis should almost start supporting teams or the organization. But that's just me.
It starts with a challenge that is given to each of the different levels (JFLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC) and based on some theme. This year was a combination of ascending higher and mobility. The FTC were moving rings from one rack to another tic-tac-toe like board. The FRC were shooting flying discs at holes 15 feet high or so. It's great to see the ingenuity that the students bring to the table to create the robots and accomplish their goals. The students only get about 3 months to accomplish these goals and do the tasks at hand. By the time these teams get to the World Championships the machines they create are pretty awesome. Wish I could of been doing this cool stuff as a student. In lieu of that, I shall volunteer for FIRST Robotics.
Kiwanis should almost start supporting teams or the organization. But that's just me.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Mardi Gras 2013 and other Volunteering
Thus far for January and February, I've managed to get on the ship for volunteering for Mardi Gras. First time for doing stuff with the Mardi Gras festivities here in St. Louis. They have something like 5 different events going on during the Mardi Gras time frame. There is a pet parade, a Cajun cook off, various alcohol tastings, music, and a huge parade on the last weekend. Only really got to hit the Cajun cook off and the big parade. The Cajun cook off had a lot of interesting chefs going head to head cooking stuff up. Think the winner of the pro chef side involved some dry ice and a fish bowl. I'm sure it's probably in the Riverfront Times or something. I'm a bit behind in documenting this stuff, you may have to search for it.
The Mardi Gras Grand Parade was huge. It was packed full of people and about 85 floats. Lots of beads where thrown over like 2 miles. Glad I don't have to clean up after the event. It's a huge draw for the flow of money for the city. Glad I could help.
I've also been digging around for more volunteering opportunities. Honestly I'll probably be a bit restricted on volunteering and limited to Friday nights into Saturday/Sundays. Perils of starting a day job and not having the time off yet.
Any one that is in the vicinity of O'Fallon, Illinois, the Kiwanis of O'Fallon is having their annual Spaghetti Dinner on February 23, 2013 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. It'll be at the KC Hall (map). Adults: $8, Kids: $4, and families are $20. Bring your friends, family, kids, and enemies to help a great cause.
For March there is the St. Patrick's Day run and parade on March 16, 2013. FIRST Robotics is also having a few St. Louis events coming up in March and April.
The Mardi Gras Grand Parade was huge. It was packed full of people and about 85 floats. Lots of beads where thrown over like 2 miles. Glad I don't have to clean up after the event. It's a huge draw for the flow of money for the city. Glad I could help.
I've also been digging around for more volunteering opportunities. Honestly I'll probably be a bit restricted on volunteering and limited to Friday nights into Saturday/Sundays. Perils of starting a day job and not having the time off yet.
Any one that is in the vicinity of O'Fallon, Illinois, the Kiwanis of O'Fallon is having their annual Spaghetti Dinner on February 23, 2013 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. It'll be at the KC Hall (map). Adults: $8, Kids: $4, and families are $20. Bring your friends, family, kids, and enemies to help a great cause.
For March there is the St. Patrick's Day run and parade on March 16, 2013. FIRST Robotics is also having a few St. Louis events coming up in March and April.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Balloons, Peanuts, Jazz, and Sound Cloud
2nd weekend of selling peanuts for the Kiwanis but also made balloon animals for the kids. Pretty good times. Still much to learn in terms of making art with balloons.
Helped out at the U City Jazz Festival with KDHX. Overall a good event for it's second year. Lots of jazz to be had there and giving out stickers. Just needed a few more food vendors and lights at sunset.
Also can't forget to listen to Sound Cloud. You should listen to the KDHX Sound Cloud Page. Lots of hardworking people uploading 25 years worth of live performances recorded at the KDHX studio/station.
I'm up to 275.5 hours of volunteering. It's not about numbers but still interesting number.
Helped out at the U City Jazz Festival with KDHX. Overall a good event for it's second year. Lots of jazz to be had there and giving out stickers. Just needed a few more food vendors and lights at sunset.
Also can't forget to listen to Sound Cloud. You should listen to the KDHX Sound Cloud Page. Lots of hardworking people uploading 25 years worth of live performances recorded at the KDHX studio/station.
I'm up to 275.5 hours of volunteering. It's not about numbers but still interesting number.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Art, Tie Dye, LouFest, and Running Totals
Busy weekend over August 24-26, 2012. Hung out at the Midwest Salute To The Arts, The Shanti & KDHX Tie Dye Fundraiser, and LouFest. Pretty neat. Got to help out artists on Friday and Sunday and talk with them. Got to meet a neat lady that makes didgeridoos. Also tore down the event and consolidated rental equipment and electrical cords.
The Shanti and KDHX tie dye event was cool. Got to tie dye a few shirts for other volunteer events. Turned out pretty well. Pretty simple process of scrunching up your shirt and wrapping rubber bands where you want them. It's kinda cool knowing that I can now tie dye my own shirts. The "tie dye" shirts you can buy at the store seem so generic. They all look the same. When you actually do your own tie dye you get the imperfections and that's the way it should be. No two shirts should ever be the same. Similar at most but very unique and different. A lot like boomerangs in that regard. No two boomerangs should ever be exactly the same, as much as they look like it. Boomerangs should fly similar but different. All part of the fun in tie dye and boomerangs.
Got to hang out at LouFest. Saw Little Barrie, Son Volt, Phantogram, and Dinosaur Jr. Lots of great music at the event. Meet a lot of fans of KDHX as well. Gave away a lot of stickers, fans, and station info. Even wandered the crowds to give away stickers. The musician were very melodious and gave me an idea for a new KDHX give away. The idea has been passed up to the station folks and we shall see where it goes.
I do enjoy the process of spending a weekend volunteering at local events and radio stations. It gives people a chance to meet their community.
On a side note, it does get me to wonder about organized service groups. I am a member of the Kiwanis and frequently hear about Rotary. Seems like they are all in need of members but I still never hear about them, at least from members themselves. If I weren't a member of Kiwanis, I probably would not know about them, nor Rotary. Attendance policy is another story.
Think I will try to include stats of how far I've gone hour wise with volunteering as I do them. I'm not going to retroactivly update posts but I will continue them forward from here. Therefore I will give the stats as of the details of this post. Started logging at the 2011 Midwest Salute To The Arts last August. Moving forward I will only post the cumulative for 2012 and then at some point stand out the year end total.
The totals as of the completion of these events are:
Event year (Aug 2011 to Aug 2012 Midwest Salute To The Arts): 330 hours
Cumulative 2012: 247
The Shanti and KDHX tie dye event was cool. Got to tie dye a few shirts for other volunteer events. Turned out pretty well. Pretty simple process of scrunching up your shirt and wrapping rubber bands where you want them. It's kinda cool knowing that I can now tie dye my own shirts. The "tie dye" shirts you can buy at the store seem so generic. They all look the same. When you actually do your own tie dye you get the imperfections and that's the way it should be. No two shirts should ever be the same. Similar at most but very unique and different. A lot like boomerangs in that regard. No two boomerangs should ever be exactly the same, as much as they look like it. Boomerangs should fly similar but different. All part of the fun in tie dye and boomerangs.
Got to hang out at LouFest. Saw Little Barrie, Son Volt, Phantogram, and Dinosaur Jr. Lots of great music at the event. Meet a lot of fans of KDHX as well. Gave away a lot of stickers, fans, and station info. Even wandered the crowds to give away stickers. The musician were very melodious and gave me an idea for a new KDHX give away. The idea has been passed up to the station folks and we shall see where it goes.
I do enjoy the process of spending a weekend volunteering at local events and radio stations. It gives people a chance to meet their community.
On a side note, it does get me to wonder about organized service groups. I am a member of the Kiwanis and frequently hear about Rotary. Seems like they are all in need of members but I still never hear about them, at least from members themselves. If I weren't a member of Kiwanis, I probably would not know about them, nor Rotary. Attendance policy is another story.
Think I will try to include stats of how far I've gone hour wise with volunteering as I do them. I'm not going to retroactivly update posts but I will continue them forward from here. Therefore I will give the stats as of the details of this post. Started logging at the 2011 Midwest Salute To The Arts last August. Moving forward I will only post the cumulative for 2012 and then at some point stand out the year end total.
The totals as of the completion of these events are:
Event year (Aug 2011 to Aug 2012 Midwest Salute To The Arts): 330 hours
Cumulative 2012: 247
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Three out of four is not bad....
Busy day for March 31, 2012.... Started at 7:15am with a Kiwanis Blood Drive. Got the room all set up and situated for the drive. Food table was stocked with snacks, food, and coffee. The problem was that the supply truck for the Red Cross never showed up. GRRRRR. Don't know the details of what happened yet but I will let you know when I find out. Early April Fools Joke?
Next up Toastmasters Division 6 contest. Got to be the Sergeant at Arms and Ballot counter. Escorted contestants to the sound proof booth and preparation areas. Interesting experience for doing both duties for the first time for the Toastmasters at a contest. The after contest hang out was cool at the IHOP too. Tasty.
Also helping KDHX with their phone drive to collect funds for the station. It's a 10 day process biannually. It's a great station. Member supported. They can play pretty much anything, as long as it complies with the rules of broadcasting stuff. You should give it a listen. I'd bet there is something there for you, if you give it a sufficiently long listen.
Three out of four events that happened successfully is not bad at all.
Next up Toastmasters Division 6 contest. Got to be the Sergeant at Arms and Ballot counter. Escorted contestants to the sound proof booth and preparation areas. Interesting experience for doing both duties for the first time for the Toastmasters at a contest. The after contest hang out was cool at the IHOP too. Tasty.
Also helping KDHX with their phone drive to collect funds for the station. It's a 10 day process biannually. It's a great station. Member supported. They can play pretty much anything, as long as it complies with the rules of broadcasting stuff. You should give it a listen. I'd bet there is something there for you, if you give it a sufficiently long listen.
Three out of four events that happened successfully is not bad at all.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Change The World
Changing the world is not as hard as it seems. It does not matter if you're the small fish in the pond or the top dog. We can all do things that can have an impact on the world. It can be the little thing such as picking up a piece of litter. The little things count even if no one is around to observe it. You can make a different.
The cool stuff I'm doing, you can do to. You can have the influence over your world. You can be the person behind the scenes too. It does not have to start out as some big thing that you have to organize. There are organizations out there that are out to improve situations of the community and the world. The Kiwanis, Rotary, or United Way are all great places to start out volunteering and making a difference. Alternatively if you feel shy and reluctant to meet up with new strange people you can work on it with the Toastmasters.
Anyway's I'm going to be at the KDHX radio station tonight (7p to 9p) and tomorrow (5pm to 7pm). Give me a call and support a great radio station. The number is 314-664-3688.
The cool stuff I'm doing, you can do to. You can have the influence over your world. You can be the person behind the scenes too. It does not have to start out as some big thing that you have to organize. There are organizations out there that are out to improve situations of the community and the world. The Kiwanis, Rotary, or United Way are all great places to start out volunteering and making a difference. Alternatively if you feel shy and reluctant to meet up with new strange people you can work on it with the Toastmasters.
Anyway's I'm going to be at the KDHX radio station tonight (7p to 9p) and tomorrow (5pm to 7pm). Give me a call and support a great radio station. The number is 314-664-3688.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Great concert at Sheldon Concert Hall with Hayes Carll
Got to hang out at the Sheldon Concert Hall with KDHX on March 18, 2012. Neat show. Got to see Hayes Carll and the opening act of Honey Honey. Not a bad gig to put in a few hours of work for a show with awesome music. There were funny stories, great music, and great people.
Should be an interesting start to the volunteering season. Coming up next weekend is the FIRST Robotics Regional completion. The following weekend of March 31, 2012 there is going to be a Kiwanis Blood Drive at the Public Safety Building in O'Fallon, from 9am to 1pm. I then run over to the Toastmasters Regional Contest later that afternoon and a KDHX phone drive. Looking forward to the madness.
Should be an interesting start to the volunteering season. Coming up next weekend is the FIRST Robotics Regional completion. The following weekend of March 31, 2012 there is going to be a Kiwanis Blood Drive at the Public Safety Building in O'Fallon, from 9am to 1pm. I then run over to the Toastmasters Regional Contest later that afternoon and a KDHX phone drive. Looking forward to the madness.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Slow Winter...or not.
Winter time is the slow time of the year. There is not much that goes on. I did manage help out KDHX with a few concerts at the Sheldon. The specific shows were Jay Farrar show and the Todd Snider show. Volunteering is cool. Some times you get to be behind the scenes and see stuff not many people get to see. I didn't see a large part of the Sheldon Concert Hall but I've seen more than most. KDHX membership drive is coming up again. Seems like it was only a few months since the last one in October. If you would like to send in a few bucks, it wold be appreciated.
Also helped out the O'Fallon Kiwanis a few times in the last few months. There was the Salvation Army Bell Ringing in December. Recently we has spaghetti dinner. It was good as always. Don't know how we did by the numbers though.
I am also a fully trained secretary by the Toastmasters. Kinda sucks that I've been out of service since mid-December. Life of a student but I am only 4 classes away from a Masters in Information Technology Management. I am on a mission to document all of these experiences. I've got 87 hours between August and December for 2011 and I want to beat that this year.
And I have moved this blog over to blogger. Figure I'd try it out for a while.
Also helped out the O'Fallon Kiwanis a few times in the last few months. There was the Salvation Army Bell Ringing in December. Recently we has spaghetti dinner. It was good as always. Don't know how we did by the numbers though.
I am also a fully trained secretary by the Toastmasters. Kinda sucks that I've been out of service since mid-December. Life of a student but I am only 4 classes away from a Masters in Information Technology Management. I am on a mission to document all of these experiences. I've got 87 hours between August and December for 2011 and I want to beat that this year.
And I have moved this blog over to blogger. Figure I'd try it out for a while.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
More volunteer opportunities....
This past weekend I gave blood for the O'Fallon Kiwanis and worked at the local homecoming. Prior weekend I was at Off Broadway giving away stickers for KDHX and at Wingsfest in Fairview Heights. All very cool events and lots of opportunities to meet lots of interesting people, interesting music, behind the scenes, and I love this stuff. Just being involved doing thing to bring people together.
With all of these people coming together and organizations that need more members, there could be unlimited possibilities for cooperation. If we could only step outside our boundaries and reach out to others. Events that need more volunteers. Getting a group of people that come alone instead of coming out in groups.
What if instead of focusing on a particular area, an organization(s) over an area teams up and work on the area. We scratch your area and we scratch our area. Not just one town but many more. A team up of sorts. Organizations can reach out to other organizations to utilize the unique skill sets and missions. Toastmasters that emcee a Kiwanis auction or local concert. Some weird skill set of two or more organizations that improve the whole. There are hand full of organizations over a single town that have similar purpose but don't interact with each other but each struggle with membership and getting new ideas.
What if you needed more members only required opening up to more people? Truly building a stronger community by sharing and combining forces. Utilizing talents that we can all provide in our unique way. I'm one guy dedicated to being more open to my area. Using all the skill I've learned to pay it all forward. I can't do it alone but I can sure try.
In a nutshell what I am saying is that: if you want an community presence have a presence in your community. It doesn't have to be anything expensive but people just have to step out.
With all of these people coming together and organizations that need more members, there could be unlimited possibilities for cooperation. If we could only step outside our boundaries and reach out to others. Events that need more volunteers. Getting a group of people that come alone instead of coming out in groups.
What if instead of focusing on a particular area, an organization(s) over an area teams up and work on the area. We scratch your area and we scratch our area. Not just one town but many more. A team up of sorts. Organizations can reach out to other organizations to utilize the unique skill sets and missions. Toastmasters that emcee a Kiwanis auction or local concert. Some weird skill set of two or more organizations that improve the whole. There are hand full of organizations over a single town that have similar purpose but don't interact with each other but each struggle with membership and getting new ideas.
What if you needed more members only required opening up to more people? Truly building a stronger community by sharing and combining forces. Utilizing talents that we can all provide in our unique way. I'm one guy dedicated to being more open to my area. Using all the skill I've learned to pay it all forward. I can't do it alone but I can sure try.
In a nutshell what I am saying is that: if you want an community presence have a presence in your community. It doesn't have to be anything expensive but people just have to step out.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Salute to the Arts Weekend
Busy weekend this past weekend. (Aug 25 - 28, 2011) The 25th was a setup day just setting up tables chairs, pulling electrical chord for artists, and just making the location look awesome. Went really quick but I didn't get their till 2pm. Only put in 4 hours that day.
I had to get to prior obligations to the O'Fallon Toastmasters and the humorous speech/table topics contest. I did place in both categories. Won myself a few gift cards. Think the system could be tweaked a bit but that's is a matter to bring up with the group specifically.
Anyway...Saturday (Aug 27) for the Salute to the Arts, I was helping the Fairview Heights, Illinois Kiwanis setup their ice cream booth and photo booth. Think it went pretty well throughout the day but the crowd seemed small outside the main event.
Sunday (Aug 28) was a Salute day once again. Helped out some of the artists with breaks and beverages. Watched their pieces as they took off for whatever. Followed though to also tear down the event. Consolidated the tables, chairs, plants, any rental equipment. Helped the musicians a bit to move their equipment.
All in all a good weekend, glad it wasn't raining like it was for the Art On The Square (Art On The Square Post). Weather started warm and in the mid 90's for the first few days but got down to mid 80's for the later days of the event.
Link to the event for future reference Midwest Salute to the Arts. Don't mind the erroneous title it does still say "Midwest Salute To The Masters", it has been brought to their attention for correction.
I had to get to prior obligations to the O'Fallon Toastmasters and the humorous speech/table topics contest. I did place in both categories. Won myself a few gift cards. Think the system could be tweaked a bit but that's is a matter to bring up with the group specifically.
Anyway...Saturday (Aug 27) for the Salute to the Arts, I was helping the Fairview Heights, Illinois Kiwanis setup their ice cream booth and photo booth. Think it went pretty well throughout the day but the crowd seemed small outside the main event.
Sunday (Aug 28) was a Salute day once again. Helped out some of the artists with breaks and beverages. Watched their pieces as they took off for whatever. Followed though to also tear down the event. Consolidated the tables, chairs, plants, any rental equipment. Helped the musicians a bit to move their equipment.
All in all a good weekend, glad it wasn't raining like it was for the Art On The Square (Art On The Square Post). Weather started warm and in the mid 90's for the first few days but got down to mid 80's for the later days of the event.
Link to the event for future reference Midwest Salute to the Arts. Don't mind the erroneous title it does still say "Midwest Salute To The Masters", it has been brought to their attention for correction.
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