YouTube - Gutting in Galveston TX

When I was putting together the video from this weekend, I found this that had never been uploaded from spring break. Enjoy. I will look for others.

YouTube - Gutting in Galveston TX: "A video from the BonaResponds Spring Break 2009 trip. Gutting a house in Galveston Texas."

BonaResponds Summer service day video is online

YouTube - BonaRespondsSummer 2009 video

On Saturday July 11th a small group of BonaResponds volunteers helped to scrape a house in N. Olean and to build shelves for the BnaResponds storage facility.

BonaResponds plans summer service day

SBU press release: BonaResponds plans summer service day:

"With the vast majority of our students away for summer, we really need your help,”...“If you are available and in the area, we'd love to have you come out.”


BonaResponds will team up with Rebuilding Together, the nation’s leading nonprofit working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities, to work on ...homes in the Olean area. Work will include prepping homes so that they can be repainted on July 25."

Thanks Emily!

The Summer 2009 BonaResponds Newsletter is now available

It turned out pretty good. Only a few typos :)

It is online here.

New HODR video about Haiti

We work with HODR whenever possible. They just posted a new video that captures what both groups do.






As many of you know, BonaResponds benchmarks everything we do against HODR. They are the best. If you get a chance to donate to them, do so. They have a 2:1 match if you sign up for the monthly giving plan.

Sign-up Form for July 11th local service day

Hope you can come! And remember we need local volunteers with so many students gone, so come, bring your family, your co-workers, even your enemies.

BonaResponds local service day July 11

On Saturday July 11th BonaResponds will be teaming up with RebuildingTogether to work on three homes in the Olean Area. Work will include prepping homes so that they can be repainted on July 25th.

The work day is from 10:00 to 4:00. We will meet in Murphy Aud on the St. Bonaventure Campus. (It is the furthest WEST (towards Allegany) building on campus).

The work day is open to all! With the vast majority of our students away for summer, we really ned your help! So if you are available and in the area, we'd love to have you come out.

Bring gloves and work clothes. We encourage you to bring water and sun protection as the vast majority of the work will be outside. Lunch will be provided.

More information will be forthcoming as I know it and I will get a sign-up form online this weekend!


Here is the waiver form that must be signed by all participants.

Donors, be it companies or individuals, want to know they are making a positive impact

Something for BonaResponds to remember when working with companies:

From PWC:

Six Essential Strengths Of An Employee Volunteer Program | Social Finance:

"Non-profits ought to create programs in order to better engage specific staff. These are the ones with which companies will create long-term relationships. PwC wants to partner, not hand over a check. Realistic collaboration will always precede an accurate identification of needs.

And what would make it all better…?
ROI. It always comes down to this. I have yet to find an established EVP program that has logged hard data on the ROI of it’s programs. Shannon admitted that it is a challenge to produce the types of outcome metrics people are asking about such as: What are the satisfaction rates? How many people participated and how do we evaluate the value of that participation? What was the impact of the money we gave? ...How many high performing staff became that way as a result of volunteering? So far, Shannon’s experience had led her to decide that the best way to capture metrics is via surveys, but that has only yielded measurements found in stories and anecdotal information. More effective metrics are a “next step”"

The Worst Question to Ask About Charity - Dan Pallotta - HarvardBusiness.org

this is one thing we definitely do NOT do!

We have had entire local service weekends cost less than $200, slept 9 people in a single hotel room, and used hand me down tools etc.

So I hope people do ask us :)

The Worst Question to Ask About Charity - Dan Pallotta - HarvardBusiness.org:

"A 2008 Ellison Research study showed that 62% of Americans believe charities spend too much on overhead. In Paul C. Lightʼs 2008 NYU study, 70% of respondents said charities waste either 'a great deal,' or 'a fair amount of money.'"

Notice Board announcement

I just sent the following to the Notice-Board (SBU's daily email of current events)

BonaResponds Local Service days

Save the dates! July 11, Sept 12, 13

BonaResponds local Service days!

I am sure there will be many other small days, but the Summer Service Day is July 11th. The First Fall Semester Local Service Weekend is Sept 12, 13.

Please mark your calendars.

All BonaResponds events are open to ALL. Whether a student, faculty member, alumni, VP, or person off the street, we'd love your help and are ALWAYS in need of drivers, cooks, and others so even if you do not have any "construction" skills, please plan on attending :) And besides, it is fun!

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1 Year After Record Flood : NPR

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1 Year After Record Flood : NPR:

"'We had 8 foot of water in the building,' said flower shop owner Al Pierson. He's 6-foot-3 and stretches up to show how high the water rose in his shop in the northwest section of the city. It is a mostly working-class neighborhood across the river from downtown. It's full of older houses, many of which are boarded up or hollowed out.

That community, and the adjacent Czech Village neighborhood to the south, were the hardest hit by the floodwaters.

'We lost everything,' Pierson said. 'Everything in here looked like a bomb went off.'"

This is the area that we worked with HODR. Thanks @HODRopsUSA

how can bonaresponds get better?more

how can bonaresponds get better?more impact,vols,faster response/ organization. suggestions?

The HODR meeting is back online

Yesterday's HODR "Electronic All Hands Meeting" is now online again!

Highlights:
Review of recent projects and recap of planning
Introducing Jeremy as project director
Update on status of "watching"
Discussion of insurance
Discussion of possible training
Discussion of "experts"
Fundraising---an anonymous donor will match money you give this summer! GIVE!!

Chain Saw Safety

Having lost some experienced chainsaw volunteers to graduation this year, we are planning some training days in the fall so that we can be ready when a disaster hits. However for now these sites would be a useful starting place to get you prepared for the training.

Chain saw are very dangerous. That is the first and most important lesson today. Before and duong use be very careful. One way to be safer is to know what you are dealing with. So before cutting anything get trained.

This page is not the replacement for training, but rather a preparation for the training.

How dangerous is chainsawing? Here is a page which gives the average number of stitches following a chain saw accident at 110. When I was first trained they said 200, but whatever the number it is big. Chainsaws are great, but also very dangerous. Treat them with the utmost respect.

ACC | Safety Begins At Home:

"Used correctly, a chainsaw is a really useful tool, especially when dealing to the trees in your garden, or chopping your firewood. But most of us have also heard horror stories about nasty cuts or other injuries inflicted by a runaway chainsaw.

So it’s worth knowing a thing or two about chainsaw safety before you pull the ripcord.

ACC have made it easy, by creating Ten Top Tips for chainsaw safety. These tips are useful guidelines to keep in mind before, during and after using a chainsaw. It’s always a good idea to refresh your memory on chainsaw safety - especially if it’s been a while since you last used one."

Other sites that have a wealth of valuable information:

1. FEMA published a site on Chainsaw safety after Katrina. It is very good!
2. OSHA--several lists of things to look out for.
3. The Dept of Forestry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a site that gives many safety tips
4. North Dakota State University has an older page, but it is quite thorough and offers tips on not only using, but also handling the saw.
5. YouTube - chainsaw safety--
   YouTube has many good safety videos on Chainsaw use.
6. Stihl (the saws we use) has a 7 minute video. (warning, it is not the most exciting presentation ever but really has much good advice!)
   

Article on Amanda and Ashley from the Olean Times Herald

Congratulations Ashley and Amanda!

From the Olean Times Herald

"...each of them are education majors, have identical grade-point averages of 3.94 and were star softball players for the university team. They also were involved in the BonaResponds student outreach program, served as tutors for The Learning Center and Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), and were on the Atlantic 10 Honor Roll."

Amanda and Ashley have been with us on several trips to the Gulf Coast (along with their sister Allie for this year's Bridge City Trip) and their mom (Kim) played the pivotal roll in this year's Buffalo Service Day hosted by Villa Maria.