Category Archives: Volunteer

Around Town: July 9-11

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Coming soon, to a DC-area non-profit near you!

Saturday, July 9

Noon to 1:30 PM — Escape the heat at a Kids on Ice Saturday Open Practice Session with Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena! No previous skating experiences necessary.

8:00 PM — At Dance Place, Human Landscape Dance and Anne-Marie Mulgrew & Dancers Co. present The Washington DC/Philadelphia Exchange: two companies, two visions, and two cities.

8:00 PM — Celebrate DCypher Dance’s 5th Anniversary during an evening at Joy of Motion packed with unique hip hop flair, powerful energy, and excitement. Continue reading →

The Amazing (Theatrical) Race

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Looking to combine volunteering, fundraising, and community outreach in one event? Draw some inspiration from The Theatre Lab’s newest venture!

By Jeff Scott, Marketing & Events Manager at The Theatre Lab:

On Saturday, June 18, The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts hosted its first-ever Amazing Race. The one-day event featured teams of volunteers approaching local businesses to solicit donations which could then be auctioned off at The Theatre Lab’s annual benefit in the fall (which helps to fund education and community outreach programs). The volunteer group included current and past students of The Theatre Lab along with their friends and colleagues.

The racers were divided into teams and each team was assigned a specific area of town to target, which included Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, and Georgetown. Armed with packets of information on The Theatre Lab’s education and community outreach programs, and dressed in matching fire engine red t-shirts, the volunteers set off into the unknown.

Prior to the event, certain stores had prearranged donations with The Theatre Lab. The volunteers were given clues by Theatre Lab staff members to direct them to these stores to add a scavenger hunt element to the activities. Theatre Lab alum Tina Ghandchilar recounted her team’s experiences:

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Around Town: June 4-5

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Welcome to the first weekend of June! Where would you like to spend it?

… at the theatre?

Encore Stage & Studio’s final production of the season, Jack and the Magic Beans, begins this weekend and you can expect another awesome all-kids cast. The dark comedy The B-Team returns to the District of Columbia Arts Center for a second weekend … with a a crew of second-string terrorists from Buffalo, NY. And last but not least … don’t miss the world premiere of Bootcandy (“a kaleidoscope of sassy lessons in sex education”) at Woolly Mammoth!

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Joplin, Missouri

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CNN reported this afternoon that the “toll in the tornado that ripped through Joplin soared to 116 on Monday … tying it for the single deadliest twister to ever hit American soil since the National Weather Service began keeping records.” Staff and volunteers from over forty agencies are still on the ground looking for survivors. According to the Post, La Nina (“cyclical drop in temperatures in the Pacific Ocean”) might be behind the over 300 tornadoes that have swept from Mississippi to Tennessee in the past several weeks — and nearly five weeks still remain “until the traditional end of the season.”

The blog Post also provided a list of ways to help on the ground and from afar. While we’ve seen this continually (and recently), social media’s power during unexpected crises sure is striking. Case in point: the blog points out that Relief Spark is keeping track of which shelters are open and then links directly to the organization’s Twitter feed — which not only lists the open shelters, but also gives the phone numbers for triage centers and donation drop-off points. Numerous Facebook pages have sprung up to help “residents find loved ones [including pets] and help one another recover.”

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Volunteer Because …

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By Jane Hess Collins:

Volunteering catapults my butt out of the house. Otherwise, as I discovered in the last 18 months since retiring from the United States Air Force, I’ll just sit in the fourth-floor loft of our townhouse, tapping away on the laptop about giving back.

Last month I decided to volunteer at least once a week (it’s now up to two or three times a week) with different nonprofits in the DC area, send out a few tweets while volunteering, write about it on my website then link it to Facebook and Twitter. The response from nonprofits and readers has been incredible, but the most surprising response has been from me. As I hop around the DC metro area, volunteering and tweeting, writing and promoting, I realized quite by accident that I’m not doing this because I love to volunteer.

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Around Town: April 15-17

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Welcome to a pleasant spring weekend, Washington! Why not spend it with one (or more) of our non-profits? Such as …

The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts (733 8th Street NW)

Rags, the dynamic Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz, Charles Strouse, and Joseph Stein, opens this Friday at 8:00 PM with an extremely talented young cast. Performances continue on Saturday & Sunday and you can nab tickets here.

Literacy Council of Northern Virginia (at the James Lee Community Center, 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church)

Interested in becoming an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) tutor and spreading literacy in the Northern Virginia area? Sign up for a training session, starting this Saturday from 9:30 – 3:30 PM.

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Around Town: April 1-3

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Hmm, not too much going on this weekend. Everything seems pretty quiet and chill … April Fools! I kid, I kid. We have a bundle of performances at our arts non-profits this weekend, plus a couple cool events early in the week:

District of Columbia Arts Center (2438 18th Street NW)

Friday, Saturday & Sunday at 7:30PM, Landless Theatre presents the winner of the 2008 NY Fringe Outstanding Musical, China: The Whole Enchilada, an irreverent march through four thousand years of history. More info right here.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (641 D Street NW)

This Friday & Saturday at 8:00PM and Saturday & Sunday at 3:00PM, The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs (by acclaimed monologist Mike Daisey) pulls back the curtain veiling America’s most mysterious technology icon. Tickets right here.

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Around Town: March 25-27

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Hey there, Greater Washington! For this final weekend of March, are you looking …

… For Community?

On Friday at 7:00 AM, The Reading Connection will host their annual Wine & Words: meet Jeff Kinney (author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid), taste Virginia wines and food from area chefs, and bid in a silent auction. For dedicated runners and leisure walkers alike, join the 1st Annual Red Shoe Run & Walk 5K this Sunday at 9:00 AM in Herndon, VA, to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Washington (prizes and surprises included!). Then at 10:00 AM, Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts begins its Cancer Help Program Retreat for adults and caregivers seeking physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. From 6:00-9:00 PM, the Literacy Council of Montgomery County will host a SCRABBLE SCRAMBLE to support its adult literacy programs (players will be able to buy a peek at a dictionary).

For Theater?

On Saturday at 10:00 AM, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop presents Sugarfootn’ with Sugarfoots: A Black History Storytelling Celebration through ARTdays, a series of free concerts and events. And at 3:00 and 8:00 PM, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company welcomes back renowned monologist Mike Daisey with his wickedly funny The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. And from 3:00 to 5:00 PM, District of Columbia Arts Center will host The District Monologue Slam, designed to showcase Washington’s most dynamic actors; each willing participant will place their name on a sign-in sheet for 16 slots that will be available on a first come basis!

For Dance?

Featuring all live music, Bowen McCauley Dance’s Kennedy Center Terrace Theater performance and Gala on Saturday at 7:30 PM will include two world premieres and notable guest performers from the Joffrey Ballet and Mark Morris Dance Group. And on Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday at 7:00 PM, you can ease on down the road to recession (and back from the brink) in Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black’s take on The Wizard of Oz for the Obama generation at Dance Place.

For Music?

Washington Bach Consort’s founder/artistic director J. Reilly Lewis and Assistant Director Scott Dettra join forces for an afternoon of virtuoso music performed on harpsichord and National Presbyterian Church’s magnificent pipe organ on Sunday at 3:00 PM. Also at 3:00 PM, catch the lively Concerto for Two Timpani and the enchanting Scheherezade from “The Arabian Nights” at American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras.

Remember! All details are available on Happenings.

Around Town: March 19-20

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Happy Friday, Greater Washington! I was not too pleased about “springing ahead” last weekend. But on the other hand, I am liking the extended daylight. So why not celebrate the prolonged light with one (or more) of our non-profits this weekend? Such as …

Prince George’s Child Resource Center (TBA, Largo, MD)

Volunteers needed for the Building for Success Conference on Saturday, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM! You would check-in and register participants, facilitate workshops for the trainers, and just be a friendly and helpful presence throughout the day. Email jregner@pgcrc.org for more info.

Literacy Council of Northern Virginia (James Lee Community Center, 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church, VA)

The annual “Reading: A Family Affairs” brings books to life for hundreds of families on Saturday from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Puppeteers, musicians, and storytellers will provide interactive performances that encourage family reading at home — in the most fun way possible. Learn more here AND read our “7 Questions” interview with LCNV’s Executive Director!

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Around Town: March 12-13

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Whew. That was quite a bit of rain. We’re supposed to see some sun this weekend, but we have indoor and outdoor events coming right up …

Literacy Council of Northern Virginia (James Lee Community Center, 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church)

Interesting in becoming a volunteer tutoring and spreading literacy in Northern Virginia? Start up Basic Literacy tutoring training this Saturday from 9:30 AM-1:30 PM.

Encore Stage & Studio (Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre, 125 South Old Glebe Road, Arlington)

Opening this weekend! The Brothers Grimm: Out of Order, in which pages are swapped, plots intermingled, and the fairy tales are all mixed up. Performance are Friday & Saturday at 7:30 PM and Saturday & Sunday at 3:00 PM; full schedule right here.

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