The Food Group needs volunteers!! Help pack and sort food in our warehouse in New Hope this holiday season and winter. The need remains high and we need your support. Check out opportunities here to sign-up or email Colette Illarde to learn more.

Second Harvest Heartland is currently looking for volunteers with professional expertise to partner with us on two pro bono projects: HR/Operations Safety Program Development and FOODRx Program Warehouse Capacity Planner.

Let’s meet Julie Greene from Second Harvest Heartland

Save November 4 for the CVC Nonprofit Partners Lunch and Learn.

The Lunch and Learn will be 12 pm to 1 pm via Zoom.

If you know of an individual or organization that you would consider a HERO THROUGH SERVICE, please fill out this form and submit your HERO to be recognized on our social media channels and newsletter. Submission of an individual, group or company are all welcome!

The pandemic did not hold Xcel Energy’s spirited volunteers back for the 11th annual Day of Service. More than 1,450 volunteers came together and put good energy into action throughout Xcel Energy’s Upper Midwest footprint on September 9 – 11.

Volunteers chose from more than 70 nonprofit projects spread across Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, including in-person projects and take-home activities. Here are just a few of the ways volunteers made a difference:

• 15,000 meals packed for families
• 10,000 pounds of produce sourced from local Latino farmers distributed
• 5,000 hygiene kits and snack packs assembled
• Thousands of trees and pollinator plants planted

Xcel Energy’s Day(s) of Service campaign provides an opportunity for employees, retirees, their family and friends and members of the public to support nonprofit organizations across a variety of focus areas in communities they all live and work in.

The best volunteers possess a sense of self-awareness. It is important for us all to reflect on the preconceptions and biases that we may have about the community before engaging. This is why HandsOn Twin Cities is thrilled to partner with REM5 For Good to offer this exclusive learning experience! Join us for "1 City. 2 Realities." the world's first truly virtual exhibition space highlighting racial inequalities in our nation and community. Minneapolis has long thrived on the reputation of being one of the "Best Places To Live" in the country, while at the same time, has one of the largest racial inequality gaps in the nation.

Through photos, videos, audio clips, and data visualizations, this virtual exhibition highlights this reality to help us get past "Minnesota Nice" and into the place where we can address the systemic inequality in our community head-on. Find out more at https://www.handsontwincities.org/1-city-2-realities. If you would like to offer this to a larger group, don’t hesitate to email Tracy Nielsen directly for more information.

 Redefining Volunteerism is a podcast about deepening understanding of social issues and inspiring action. HandsOn Twin Cities created this podcast for a few important reasons:

• To contextualize some key community issues so that volunteers have a background and a deeper understanding of how and why nonprofits and partner organizations exist.
• To challenge folks to dig deeper and think about how their actions can really get beyond episodic volunteerism to make meaningful change for a more equitable community.
• To give tangible and easy ways to take action in every episode.

The podcast features many incredible guests, including Seena Hodges Akyea of The Woke Coach, Tomme Beevas of Pimento Relief Services, Jonathan Palmer from Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, and many MORE! Episodes are available on all the major streaming platforms via www.handsontwincities.org/podcast.

Each year, more than 100,000 students in the Twin Cities metro area start the school year without the supplies they need for academic success. Be a part of Action Day and help us distribute 50,000 backpacks with school supplies to children in need. There are several ways you can volunteer:

• Volunteer from home and assemble school supply kits for inclusion in backpacks
• Sponsor and host a satellite backpack event at your place of business during the month of July. Hurry! Deadline is June 10 to book a date.
• Volunteer in person on August 12 at Allianz Field in St. Paul (limited spots available). Registration opens in late June.

Questions? Contact Mary Smith or 612.340.7576.

Thank you to the 13 Corporate Members and 8 Associate Members who completed our recent survey. If you have ideas for survey questions for either corporate or associate members please submit them to [email protected].

Corporate Results

What type of volunteer opportunities is your company currently offering:

In this informative and motivating Zoom session, Chris Jarvis from Realized Worth and guest Jacob MacIsaac will discuss the concept of allyship in the workplace and why it is critical for both community investment and workplace dynamics.

• Program

• Leadership Development

Hey CVC Corporate Members! 2020 presented us with some pretty new and unique challenges for our volunteer programs. The year has forced us to rethink how we run our programs, who we partner with, what volunteerism looks like, and so much more. These challenges and dilemmas are top of mind for all, so let’s support and learn from one another as we head into 2021.

We have a unique opportunity for 3-4 corporate members to bring a current challenge or dilemma they are facing to CVC members. In turn, our featured corporate members will receive free expert advice from your peers in the volunteer and philanthropy field.

2020 has certainly been a different year than any of us expected, but Land O’Lakes employees still turned out to support the communities in which they live and work for our annual Land O’Lakes Giving Week. This year, Land O’Lakes revitalized our annual giving campaign to incorporate changes to both where employees could pledge donations and how the team raise funds in a fun and engaging (and safe) way.

Land O’Lakes has focused on responsive philanthropy in 2020 and included matches for employee donations to different causes. When COVID-19 first hit early in the year, Land O’Lakes employees responded with 169 donations to 103 nonprofits within 4 weeks. When George Floyd was murdered over the summer, Land O’Lakes employees responded with 223 donations to 9 nonprofits within 2 weeks.

Throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, Andersen’s Research, Development and Innovation team added a new focus: designing, developing and manufacturing critical PPE (personal protective equipment) to support frontline workers’ efforts to fight the virus in our communities. This is one of many ways Andersen and its employees have stepped up to help the communities and individuals impacted by the global pandemic.

Andersen has donated over 180,000 face shields to healthcare professionals and first responders working on the frontlines, as well as to the election workers who made the 2020 election possible.

In celebration of MLK Day, HandsOn Twin Cities hosted a virtual event in which we discussed ways volunteering can be an effective tool for creating an equitable community. The panel was be moderated by Seena Hodges, Founder and CEO of The Woke Coach. Panelists included Johnathan Palmer, Executive Director of the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, Laverne McCartney Knighton, Area Development Director for UNCF, and Nadege Souvenir, Senior Vice President of Operations & Learning for the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.  The topics included avoiding "voluntourism", the connection to education and action, how to be an anti-racist volunteer, and more. A video recording of the event is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Ua2F9Mx54. The tool Steps Towards Meaningful Engagement is also available as a supplement.

Click here for volunteer opportunities: Do you have a random volunteer photo that could go here?

As a health care organization, we recognize good health habits start early, which is why each year we partner with Free Bikes 4 Kidz MN, a non-profit organization geared toward helping all kids ride into a healthier, happier childhood by providing bikes to those in need.

Thanks to the help of more than 650 volunteers, Allina Health’s 10th year of partnership with Free Bikes 4 Kidz MN was a resounding success. On Saturday, October 3 employees volunteered at 42 Allina Health locations to collect more than 7,000 bikes in four hours that were donated by employees and community members during our bike collection event for Free Bikes 4 Kidz.

Resilience is the theme for CVC this year and we heard first-hand how we – as a corporate responsibility network – must lean into 2021 by recalibrating and reimagining our programs in order to make a sustainable impact in our communities moving forward and away from 2020.

Tomme Beevas shared his personal and professional journey in supporting the Twin Cities community with food and with healing during COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd.  

At the end of January, two of my colleagues and I had an opportunity to participate in a Peer Consulting Process through the Twin Cities Corporate Volunteer Council. Our company, RBC Wealth Management (RBC), was selected as the Feature Company.

I still remember when the e-mail from CVC arrived in my inbox announcing the opportunity to apply. RBC Wealth Management had just finished our fiscal year (RBC’s fiscal year-end is October 31) and we were beginning to lay out our goals and priorities for the year ahead. I felt like CVC had read my mind – we had a clear path of some of the key things we wanted to do to enhance our programs and usage, but needed insight and best practices to help us get there. Needless to say, I applied that day!