Looking to Expand Volunteer Opportunities

One of the visions for Volunteer Morgan Hill is to increase interaction and involvement with local service providers, city departments and the schools.  This past Tuesday, we made in-roads by participating in the  Parks and Recreation Commission meeting in Council Chambers.  In addition to introducing our organization to the Commission, we also met their special guest Dr. Wes Smith, Superintendent of the Morgan Hill Unified School District.  Dr. Smith was there to explore ways that the School District and Parks and Recreation Commission can work together.  Facing tighter budgets and a challenging economy, seeing our city come together to explore solutions is encouraging.  Sometimes the worst of times brings out the best in us, and it was refreshing to see these two groups come together and engage each other in a dialogue that I am sure will continue throughout the year.  

I am excited that we are part of this conversation and have the opportunity to make an impact going forward.  Although our organization is still under development, it is clear that there are plenty of opportunities for us to explore and to add value to this community.  We look forward to working with other departments, commissions and groups in town to increase volunteerism in our community.  If you are interested in getting together, or being a part of Volunteer Morgan Hill as we grow and develop, please comment on this post or send me an e-mail at: volunteermorganhill@gmail.com.

Thank you,
Victor Gaxiola
President- Volunteer Morgan Hill

p.s. I invite you read the story that ran last Friday before the meeting on Tuesday.  Click Here.

We're Sprouting

Our board sat down with Lindsay Bryant, staff writer for the Morgan Hill Times to talk about our organization and vision for 2010.

The result of our meeting is a great story that appeared in Friday's paper and on-line at MorganHillTimes.com, "Class project sprouts into volunteer operation".   The first part of our discussion with Lindsay involved how Volunteer Morgan Hill was developed.  We shared how our organization began as a project for the Leadership Morgan Hill class of 2009 and led to the success of our Volunteer Faire in September and the beginning of a new organization.

The second part of our discussion focused on our transition from a class project with Leadership Morgan Hill to an Alliance member with the Morgan Hill Community Foundation.  As a result of the change, we are now
preparing to grow the organization, recruit new members, and begin the process of building partnerships and relationships with the City of Morgan Hill and local non-profit organizations.

The final part of our meeting centered on our vision for 2010 and beyond.  Currently, our plans call for a repeat of the Volunteer Fair on Saturday, September 11th (Save the date!), and enhancements to our web site. www.VolunteerMorganHill.org

Our mission and vision remains the same- to be an integral part of this community and to add value to both service organizations and volunteers.  We'll need more help and we hope we can count on you to be a part of our new and growing organization.

As the article mentions, we are planning an information meeting in May and we hope to have a great turnout.  If you are interested in learning more about us and would like an invitation to our informational meeting, please send an e-mail to VolunteerMorganHill@gmail.com.

We also invite you to become our friend on Facebook to stay informed of upcoming announcements and events.  You can find our page by clicking FACEBOOK LINK.

Victor Gaxiola