Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Making-It-Home Matches Colorful Furniture with Catherine's Bright Smile

By Chris Schwake, Making-It-Home

Making-It-Home brings furniture to formerly homeless people leaving emergency shelter and starting over in new but unfurnished apartments. Our clients lack the disposable income necessary to purchase and transport furniture to their new spaces. Without a comfortable place to sit, a table at which to eat and a dresser to store your clothing, a room can feel chaotic, lonely and uninspiring. That’s why we reached out to the Bergen County community to collect unwanted, gently-used pieces and give them to those who need and appreciate them.

Some of our clients are open to letting us add a little pizazz to their apartments. We knew Catherine liked pops of color the first time we met her. She was wearing a ruffled blouse and sparkling earrings, and she had a brightly colored blanket on her bed. We asked if she wanted a few pieces that would stand out against her beige walls, and if she was OK with the color purple. We always ask what people like and try to match their style with the donated pieces in our storage unit.

Making-It-Home furnished Catherine’s bedroom, dining area and living room with bright lights and colorful pieces. We dressed up a medium brown kitchen table with a shiny patterned tablecloth and livened up her living room with a love-seat, a flower printed fabric-covered side chair, a purple ottoman, and a matching green lamp shade. Now Catherine has a cheery space that she calls home.

Read more about Making-It-Home on our website at www.bergenvolunteers.org/making-it-home.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Poverty in Bergen County-- Young Leaders Perspective

College LEADS is a program for students to learn about local government and public policy. Students analyze community issues and develop new approaches to problem solving. The students take a deep look into a compelling issue. They look at the many facets of the issues figuring out where their generation can take a stand and make an impact.

During the 2017-2018 school year approximately 25 Bergen Community College (BCC) students under the leadership of Debbie Emery, BVC Advisor and Angie Goldszmidt, BCC Advisor participated in the program. The primary focus and challenge for this cohort of students was to look at the issue of poverty in Bergen County and its impact on different communities. Students were not only charged with proposing solutions to help alleviate the problem but also in educating the public about existing resources. In order to better make an assessment and understand the issues such as homelessness, transition from incarceration, low income health care and food insecurity, interactive site visits were planned to organizations such as:
  •  Bergen County Housing, Health and Human Services for Families/Individuals 
  •  CFA Food Pantry at BCC 
  •  Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative 
  •  MEVO Fresh Roots Farm 
  •  Bergen County Jail 
  •  Bergen County Law and Safety Complex 
  •  Transition Professionals 
  •  Ramapough Lenape Nation 
  •  Municipal Government – Village of Ridgewood 
  •  Family Promise of Bergen County 
These visits resulted in the students taking actions such as doing a food pantry drive for the Center for Food Action (CFA) located at Bergen Community College with advertisements for this CFA as 60% of the students were unaware of this on-campus resource. Others were motivated to help by volunteering at some of the organizations visited during the semester. A formal presentation of their findings was presented at their culminating activity on April 26, 2018. To read more about their full report, click here.

Thank you to all of our future leaders who participated in this year’s College Leads program. We wish you much success in your future academic and professional endeavors.


Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Meet the Matchmakers - Suzanne

Redefining Retirement, a new program at the Bergen Volunteer Center, works with
interested nonprofits to identify their volunteer needs and connect them with retired volunteers who have the specific skills needed. We are excited to introduce to you some of the programs volunteers! Redefining Retirement Matchmakers are trained volunteers who will make initial connections between the nonprofits and interested retirees.

Meet Suzanne!

As a recently retired professional I was actively looking for a purposeful rewarding volunteer role to leverage both my skills and my newly found “gift” of free time! I grew up in Bergen and County and I worked for 33 years, for a large global consumer product company. My career spanned across finance, training and development, and information technology. As a working mom I certainly had the stress of managing multiple priorities but always found time along the way to volunteer. I truly feel that giving back, through service to others, always helped me to find balance, relieve stress, and fuel my soul. The Redefining Retirement Matchmaker role has been perfect for me as it fills one of my passions, to interact with people, to coach and mentor in a new way, and learn more about the many nonprofit organizations of Bergen County. “One of the greatest gifts you can give is your time.” I hope you will share your skills and volunteer for one of our wonderful organizations. I promise you will get back more than you give!

To learn more about Redefining Retirement please visit, https://www.bergenvolunteers.org/redefining-retirement.

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Meet the Matchmakers Manager - Louisa!

Redefining Retirement, a new program at the Bergen Volunteer Center, works with interested nonprofits to identify their volunteer needs and connect them with retired volunteers who have the specific skills needed. We are excited to introduce to you some of the programs volunteers! Redefining Retirement Matchmakers are trained volunteers who will make initial connections between the nonprofits and interested retirees.

Meet Louisa!

Louisa Hellegers is currently in her third retirement. Louisa has been a volunteer with the Bergen Volunteer Center for about two years, first chairing the research to start the program, then designing, and now implementing the newest Volunteer Center program, Redefining Retirement. She says that all of her previous professional and volunteer experience has come together as she manages this important new initiative for the Volunteer Center: connecting retired volunteers with Bergen County nonprofits who need the volunteers’ expertise to best serve their communities and help achieve their goals.

To learn more about Redefining Retirement please visit, https://www.bergenvolunteers.org/redefining-retirement.