We invite you to join us in "writing women back into history," as we celebrate the MANY contributions of time, talent and treasure made by women in our state.

"Public service" has become more than a phrase or a school requirement in our country--it's now a way of life for Americans of all ages. "People who are out of work are volunteering to stay connected to their communities and to hone their job skills," Corvington explains. "But I think part of what is driving the overall increase is the growing understanding that service is an essential tool to achieve community and national goals."

The findings of the new PARADE poll confirm Corvington's observations: Respondents were almost unanimous in the belief that it is "important to be personally involved in supporting a cause we believe in" in our communities (94%) and in the world at large (91%). More than three out of four (78%) think that the actions of one person can improve the world, and 78% also believe they're more involved in making a difference than their parents were...

The PARADE survey has uncovered three distinct types of Americans who are driving change in our communities and country today.

YEPPIES (YOUNG, ENGAGED PROBLEM SOLVERS)
Yeppies--a group of young people distinguished by a reliance on social media and socializing to fuel their activism--came into existence only a few years ago. They enjoy volunteering and have the most faith that individuals can solve social problems. Improving the world is both important to them and a way to connect with like-minded peers. Open to a variety of causes, they're particularly susceptible to getting involved because of a friend's "ask." They derive great stimulation and satisfaction from their activism and donate often and widely. Two-thirds of Yeppies are women, and of the three types, this one has the highest percentages of African-Americans and of single people.

RAPID RESPONDERS
Rapid Responders are not out to improve the entire world--their civic engagement is much more focused and personal. Their causes tend to stem from a specific problem, like a health or neighborhood issue, that may have come to their attention through a family member's or friend's negative experience. Rapid Responders often organize community events to raise awareness or money for the causes they support. Of the three groups, they're the most likely to have been involved in a local beach or park cleanup. They believe that the government has the most responsibility and the best resources to improve our society.

THE MISSION-MINDED
The Mission-Minded consist of mostly older Americans who are largely motivated by their faith. To them, supporting basic needs, like food and shelter, is a religious duty, but they may also rally to a cause they learn about from a secular community leader. Like Yeppies, they actively seek out opportunities for civic engagement. Generous with time and money, they're the most likely of the three types to travel in order to volunteer. The Mission-Minded are the least likely to cite a negative experience as a catalyst for action and have the most confidence in the ability of religious groups to fix the world's problems....

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That desire, and frustration, continued into her high-school years and eventually inspired her to make volunteerism and nonprofit leadership the focus of her education and future career. And through a course she has designed for one of Wake County’s oldest high schools, she aims to equip today’s teens with the knowledge and skills she lacked at their age. 

We invite you to join us in "writing women back into history," as we celebrate the MANY contributions of time, talent and treasure made by women in our state.

Maria Tucker embodies the spirit of giving through her profession and culture. As Program Manager of the Diabetes Center at Duke Raleigh Hospital and a Certified Diabetes Educator, Maria counsels Duke patients on diabetes and healthful eating and manages the Diabetes Center which works with patients referred by their own physicians. Additionally, Maria spends weekday evenings and weekends promoting diabetes education and proper eating to people of all ages and backgrounds.

The giving circle, one of the original giving projects supported by NCGives in partnership with the Cumberland Community Foundation, awards high-impact grants to projects focusing on women and children in Cumberland County, NC.  Basic needs is the focus area chosen by the membership for the 2010 grant cycle (this can include but is not limited to health care, food and shelter).

Nonprofit organizations serving Cumberland County may apply for grants of up to $48,00. Initial letters of inquiry are due this Friday, March 5; grant information and other details can be found online at www.cumberlandcf.org.

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• We recently received this information from Raleigh's City Manager's Office:

Negron-Rios, who is Puerto Rican, was raised in a single-parent household in the Harlem community of New York City, and while she was surrounded by strong and positive female role models, none had gone to college.

“I knew it was an option,” she says. “But I didn’t know how to go about it. It was more important to me to get out into the working world and not be a burden to my mom.”

She had intended to go to college at some point, but life kept getting in the way -- a job loss in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; marriage; and the birth of her son. In 2004 she and her family relocated to Charlotte for work and to be closer to her husband’s family, a move that resulted in severe culture shock.

“Growing up in New York City, it wasn’t an effort to hold on to my cultural identity because you’re hit in the face with it everywhere you go,” Negron-Rios says of the city’s music, food and densely populated Latino neighborhoods. But it was different in Charlotte, where communities are more spread out and she has to drive 20 miles to find a grocery that carries the products she uses for cooking.

“I cried for the first year-and-a-half,” says Negron-Rios, who now works as an executive assistant at GMAC Financial Services. “I felt like no one really understood me here because there’s not as much of a Hispanic population.”

That began to change in 2007 when she connected with Rosie Molinary, a Latina educator and author who was planning to launch a giving circle that would provide intensive mentoring to middle-school Latinas, along with the promise of funding to help with post-high-school education. Negron-Rios joined the effort and became a founding board member in 2008.

Molinary “allowed me the opportunity to do something that’s bigger than myself and give back to the Latino community,” she says. “When she first presented the idea, it made me think of my grandmother because women in the Hispanic community just make things happen.”

The focus on giving was part of a Dime Time Coin Drive, a fundraising event that was held in all schools in the attendance area of E.E. Smith High School and spearheaded by the E.E. Smith Academic Excellence Giving Circle at the Cumberland Community Foundation.

As a way to grow giving among youth, a goal of the Community Foundation and NCGives, and as a way to make a difference in the schools, the giving circle challenged the schools, offering to match each dime donated with a dollar, up to $2,000.

NCGives, which promotes giving among communities of color, women and young people, provided seed funding to create the giving circle at the community foundation.

At Lucile Souders, an elementary school where 89 percent of the students are African American and 77 percent receive free or reduced lunch, Holland kicked off Dime Time with a letter to parents.

Kids were encouraged to ask their parents for dimes and to ask their parents to ask other family members and people at church and at work. It was all about "expanding the circle," Holland says.

Each classroom was given an initial goal of collecting 100 dimes. Classrooms that met their goal would be treated to a popsicle social, and grade levels that met their collective goals would be treated to a skating party at a local roller-skating rink.

All those goals were met in the first two days. So the goal for the entire school was raised to 15,000 dimes from 10,000. In addition to the daily broadcasts, a megaboard was placed in the cafeteria that included daily updates on the total raised by each class. Teachers also were encouraged to give.

When the final count was in, the kids had collected 19,943 dimes, or $1,994.30, a total that was matched with $2,000 from the giving circle.

Students at the four schools that participated in the challenge, including Lucile Souders, collected 28,393 dimes, or $2,839.30 and the giving circle matched those with four grants totaling $7,022.

Mary Holmes, executive director of the Cumberland Community Foundation, says Dime Time was an "effective way to engage youth in giving for their schools in a short, low-cost/high-impact program. The idea, she says, was to "teach the kids how to give back and show them that collective giving can really make a difference."  

The above story is excerpted from the Philanthropy Journal’s Giving and Community page, sponsored by NCGives. Read the full article here.

When Kerr told Kennelly her retirement plans had accumulated substantial assets, Kennelly replied she wanted to "give a bunch to charity," Kerr says. Kennelly, who was vice president for sales channel and consulting for Hill-Rom, died last Sept. 21 at age 50, leaving a total of $260,000 to five local charities she designated in her estate plan.

"Lynn gave away everything that she had earned," says Kerr. With her other assets, she set up a trust for her elderly parents, and provided bequests to benefit other individuals and her pets.

Every Saturday, Kennelly attended yoga practice with Kirsten Sikkelee, a long-time personal friend and Komen team member who is CEO of YWCA Central Carolinas. Sikkelee, who created and for 12 years directed the YWCA's Women in Transition program, Charlotte's main transitional housing program for homeless women, says Kennelly attended events for the program and supported it.

Kennelly's estate plan left Women in Transition $65,000, which the YWCA put in an endowment to support the program. It also named the exercise studio in its fitness center for her.

Other bequests included $65,000 to Komen Charlotte, $52,000 to the Charlotte Gay and Lesbian Fund at Foundation for the Carolinas, $52,000 to the Greater Carolinas Chapter of the American Red Cross, and $26,000 to the Humane Society of Charlotte.

That team, known as "Circle Up," had grown to over 300 members over the years, including many of Kennelly's friends from Charlotte's lesbian community.

In the last 10 years, Circle Up, a name that refers to circling up to help friends, raised over $300,000 for breast-cancer research.  

The above story is excerpted from the Philanthropy Journal’s Giving and Community page, sponsored by NCGives. Read the full article here.

McAfee should know: A child of public housing in Cincinnati, he became a star runner in high school in Ohio and college in North Carolina. Now, he heads a Charlotte-based nonprofit that uses running as a tool for teaching kids to keep on keeping on.

"If you're used to persevering and setting goals, and if you're committed, you can achieve any goal," says McAfee, chairman and executive director of Cross-Country for Youth. "Those skills transfer to everything in your life."

McAfee launched the nonprofit in 2006 after taking early retirement at Xerox.

Operating with an annual budget of roughly $125,000 and 60 to 70 volunteers, Cross-County for Youth uses cross-country running as a tool to teach kids in elementary and middle school "to live healthy lives with character."

The nonprofit teams with schools, offering a 10-week program each fall for roughly 16 kids per school, with each kid paying $125 to participate.The kids attend a one-hour practice twice a week run by two volunteer coaches, with each practice following a 30-minute session on character, also led by volunteers.

In just three years, the program has grown from 70 kids the first year to 205 this school year. And the kids represent a broad demographic group, divided roughly evenly among whites, African Americans and Hispanics, including both at-risk kids and affluent kids.

Scholarships are available, funded with money raised at an annual bowl-a-thon set for April 24 at AMF Carolina Lanes in Matthews. McAfee aims to expand the model throughout North Carolina.

In 1999, McAfee was the top Xerox salesman in the U.S. In 2006, when the company offered him early retirement, he figured it was a perfect time to pursue his dream of giving back by working with kids. "I did not have a father figure," he says. "But there were so many people who stood in the gap to be that person. I always said, ‘If I have an opportunity to give back and improve the lives of others, I will.'"

This fall, McAfee hopes to expand the nonprofit's program within a 75-mile radius of Charlotte, and is looking for schools with volunteers who have good character and a passion to work with kids. "This program is not about being great runners," McAfee says. "It's more about having kids be great people." 

The above story is excerpted from the Philanthropy Journal’s Giving and Community page, sponsored by NCGives. Read the full article here.

But if you miss it, having a copy to watch at your convenience is as easy as 1-2-3: the DVD can be ordered for only $5 to cover shipping and handling! (We're picking up with rest of the cost.)

The DVD includes: Statewide Documentary (as seen on UNC-TV) • 6 short Community Videos • 15-minute Bonus Sampler • Discussion Guide

Learn more about the documentary project at: www.ncgives.org/documentaries

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Order by Phone: 919-454-7429

We hope you will be as inspired as we were...our thanks go out to the 120+ North Carolinians and 40+ organizations whose time, space and stories made this project possible!