New volunteer hours record!

Congrats YIA Volunteers! This summer you all set a new YIA record with 514.5 total volunteer hours. This was the tenth year of YIA and by this measure the best! Thanks to all of you for your hard work and dedication to making a difference in the community.

Storm Drain Marking

For our last YIA event we were scheduled to do a Stream Team at Flat Branch Park. Turns out that the Flat Branch has a dangerous level of e coli, YUCK! So we found another way to volunteer, Storm Drain Marking. Storm Drain Marking is an essential piece of stormwater education. It reminds individuals not to litter or dump things into storm drains because they end up in our local waterways. We did that for a while then spent some time at the spraygrounds. It was hot, but the spraygrounds were very refreshing.

Boone County Council on Aging

Youth In Action was able to help out a senior citizen in our community this week by volunteering with the Boone County Council on Aging. We helped a senior citizen who no longer has the ability to do yard work by picking up LOTS of debris. We must have had a dozen bags of yard waste. It was hard work but our volunteers were up to the task.

Rainbow House's Teen Shelter

This week Youth In Action volunteered with the Rainbow House's Teen Emergency Shelter. The Teen Shelter recently moved into a new building and they do not have a lot of decor. They asked YIA to spend some time making some art to hang. I am incredibly proud of our volunteers for the work they did. It was GREAT!

The Rainbow House's Teen Emergency Shelter serves teenagers ages 16-18 who are in need of housing.

Christmas in July!

On July 28th, YIA volunteered with the Voluntary Action Center at the Christmas in July event. It was fast paced and rewarding. Every year Voluntary Action Center puts on this event, and this year they served over 400 people. Unfortonately, because it was so fast and busy, I did not get a chance to take any photos of YIA volunteers hard at work. Here is a photo of YIA at Coldstone after the event.

Boone County Fair

YIA volunteered at the Boone County Fair on July 27th and 28th. We volunteered at the Children's Barnyard. Both days they opened this area up during the day so that preschoolers could come and look at the animals and learn about local farms. However, due to the heat not very many people showed up. That didn't stop us from having fun. We played games and even had a tractor race. Caitlin won that and was crowned the YIA 2011 Tractor Racing Champion in a fancy ceremony!

Project Homeless Connect

On July 26th, Youth In Action volunteered with Project Homeless Connect. We were able to help them set up for the event which was going on the next day. This year they are planning on serving as a "one stop shop" for over 100 homeless individuals. We learned about homelessness and what we can do to prevent it. Youth In Action volunteers were a great help, Thanks!