The Holiday Spirit


	The Holiday Spirit
	*Winter 2010 Newsletter*
Purpose of The Holiday Spirit In an effort to bring all Holiday Project Localities closer together, The Holiday Spirit will be published during the year with articles on what’s new with Localities and information on what’s available to support you in your adventure towards another successful Holiday Project Season We encourage comments, support, pictures, articles and information on what is going on in your Locality. With your support, we can all benefit from each other’s knowledge and spirit, at any holiday. What's New THP Annual Fundraiser We have successfully completed THP 2009 Fundraiser, and do to the generosity of our patrons, we raised close to $1600 in donations. THP Board and I wish to thank you for your participation and contribution. I am always enthused and rejuvenated by your continued support and love for the project, we can't do it without you! Local News Licensed Localities doing visits. We now have 23 licensed localities across the country. If there are any areas that do visits and have not gotten in touch with me, please email me at holidayproject@comcast.net Our newest Localities are: The Holiday Project of Austin, TX The Holiday Project of Orange County, CA The Holiday Project of East County, San Diego, CA I asked for visit reports from all localities doing visits during the holidays in 2008. The localities no longer are required to give these reports, and here are the reports from those who so graciously sent them in: The Holiday Project of Colorado The Colorado Chapter had: 1 Chanukah visit; 7 volunteers and 40 residents. 13 Christmas visits; 196 volunteers and 1250 residents. 3 hospitals, I youth detention facility and 9 nursing/rehabilitation facilities. We had a Christian TV Station film one of our visits to a nursing home and they said they would provide a copy that we can use. If they don't follow through with this, I guess we'll just have to feed them to the lions . We have a family that provides 120 gift bags to the kids in the youth detention facility, they spend about $300.00 of their own funds. They have been doing this since 2000 and they wish to remain anonymous. The kids appreciate the thoughtful gifts. We had an excellent response from VolunteerMatch.org, it was the number one location volunteers came from. Next came Craig's List, which we used for the first time this year with good success. The local newspaper PSA ads did well for us as well. This year the number of calendar sale samples donated was down 66% compared to last year, we donate the calendars to nursing homes and a girls home facility. It appears our economy did make a difference in the amount of free stuff available. Thanks to everyone at National that helped make our visits possible, listings on Facebook, VolunteerMatch.org, and You Tube. Also, thanks a lot to you Joanne for your patience in updating our website with the numerous changes I submitted. Wishing Everyone At The Holiday Project peace, happiness and good luck in 2010. Max Acosta Chairperson THP of Colorado The Holiday Project of Delaware Beaches *The Holiday Project* visit to the Harbor Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in Lewes, Delaware on Christmas Day 2009 was a success beyond our expectations. Our JORTC made a substantive contribution to it, and it made a substantive contribution to them. A group of five adults and eleven teenagers, from the greater Lewes area, under the leadership of Bob and Lis Haggett, of Pilottown Village in Lewes, Delaware, visited the Harbor Health Care and Rehabilitation Center on Christmas Day. The majority of visitors came from Cape Henlopen High School's, JROTC. They visited 105 residents between one and three o’clock in the afternoon. The students conducted themselves most appropriately, well beyond high expectations we set for them. After the visit, Isalyn, the Activities staff person at the facility, expressed that she was very pleased, and for over five minutes, acknowledge the group for the positive difference they made in the lives of residents. Following her acknowledgments, she brought everyone cookies and cokes, and more acknowledgments. Many of the residents at the Health Care Center had been sadden by recent deaths of fellow residents. Within two short hours, their spirits were transformed. The students, and adults sang Christmas carols up and down the Center's many hall ways, led by Isalyn and Minnie, Activities Staff people, while the cadets, in small groups, visited in the rooms of the elderly and infirm, listening to (and sometimes telling) their life's stories, and distributing Christmas cards and gifts (colorful, small stuffed sea-animals), donated by the Holiday Project of The National Capitol Area, in Washington DC. At 2:15 the whole group came together, and assembled in the Activities Room where many of residents (almost all in wheelchairs) were enjoying Christmas Cheer (hot coffee and snacks), and seated around a long beautifully decorated table with green boughs and brightly colored napkins, to continue singing, as a choral group (sometimes on key) the standard Christmas carols, and giving out the rest of their gifts. The resident's sadness had disappeared as they joined in the singing, and telling their story to the attentive listening of the young cadets, other students, and adults. About 2:40 the whole group excused themselves from the table to attend a short clearing meeting in the back of the room. They rearranged chairs in a circle to share their experience. No one held back. Some spoke through their tears. All their shares were positive, and some were profound. A 15 year old, female student (not in uniform) shared that this, by far, was her happiest Christmas ever. Most of the other cadets nodded their heads in agreement. They, also, talked about returning soon, on another holiday, other Christmases, and perhaps, at other facilities. The spirit of their Christmas generosity had no bounds. The cadets finished their cookies and cokes, cleaned up their space and waived good bye to the residents and staff members, to return home to their family and friends, and continue celebrating Christmas by sharing their Christmas experience at Harbor Health Care Center. The residents joyously waived back, and both groups vigorously shouted "Merry Christmas!" to each other, like they were old friends. A few of the residents remarked to each other, "this Christmas will be remembered for a long, long time". One lady whispered that she will never forget this Christmas, and the kind gift from a cadet named Connor of a little stuffed dog he gave her that was donated by the Salvation Army. Lis and I are in tears as we write this report. The Holiday Project is the gift! Love and a Happy New Year to all, Bob and Lis Haggett, The Delaware Beaches Holiday Project The Holiday Project of New Jersey We had a great Christmas morning visit at the gardens at Monroe nursing facility. We sang and visited with 160 residents. This was the largest turnout of volunteers we have had in my 25 years team leading this facility totaling 30 volunteers. We had a large showing of volunteers from a local synagogue who even sent their choir, so the music was exceptional. Happy new year to all! Nancy Mitrocsak The Garden's at Monroe Team Leader On this, our 26th year of visits, we again spent the morning with 85 clients at the Greenbrook Regional Center for developmentally delayed adults. Along with Santa, Ms. Klaus, and bags of lightly used stuffed animals (big ones) that we collected throughout the year, we sang and visited on Christmas morning. We had a record number of volunteers, 21, with the youngest being 5. Though our voices lack a bit of talent they more than make up for it in spirit. Along with Xmas songs we add tradional childhood songs like: Row row row your boar, This little light of mine, Zip e dee doo dah, I've been working on the RR, etc. It's amazing how they tap into the memories. One woman, maybe in her 40's has lived at home most of her life but her parents have been unable to care for her in the last 3-4 years. They do, however, come and take her home on Christmas Day. They told us that they rush to the hospital on Xmas morning to be sure and be there when we visit. According to them, watching us sing with their daughter and the others and singing along with us is the highlight of their Christmas day. Another totally rewarding and spirit filled visit. Judy Weiss and Ken Frank Greenbrook REgional Center Team Leaders The Holiday Project of Houston, TX My words will be few because I do believe that these pictures tell the story of The Holiday Project's Christmas Day Visit. (Click on the link below) http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=422488102407%3A1891223698 We were blessed at my location to have a photographer and he really captured the happiness of both the volunteers and the residents/patients, through his digital pictures! I received the Flip Video as a Christmas present and I really had fun with it on Christmas Day at THP visit. These photos are from the North Houston visit. Houston's Holiday Project, between Walter Black's Volunteer Center and the North Houston location, had 380 volunteers on Christmas Day and they visited 26 nursing homes. We were thrilled to have such a wonderful turn out for Christmas Day. Happy New Year to each of you! Donna Martin THP Board Member The Holiday Project of the National Capital Area, Inc DC Rocks!! Thirty Visits were scheduled to be held in December in the National Capital Area (DC, VA, MD and part of DE) and even though a few had to be cancelled because of our major snowstorm, most are happening with success and an abundance of volunteers. One Team Leader has reported upwards of 70 people have already signed up for Christmas Day! Our best sources: local volunteer bureaus, VolunteerMatch and former participants. We have quite a few new Team Leaders and we are training them online. Please feel free to use our resources at www.holidayproject.org We wish all of you a wonderful holiday. Robin Wiley Executive Director The Holiday Project of Austin Metro Area, TX Speaking of successes- This is the first I've been ever been introduced to Volunteer Match and it is a life-saver! Yesterday we had 5 volunteers confirmed and by 9 pm this evening we had at least 25. The emails and phone calls are still coming, so thank you very much for the connectivity! I'll keep you posted, Deborah Schagen Chairperson The Holiday Project of Northern CA Just wanted to let you know that the visits this year from all accounts were one of the best. As you may know we had no donations this year so we decided to try something different. We had a card making event. We handed out what plush we had plus we made approximately 3,000 cards. The patients LOVED, LOVED the cards. They were handmade and had a personal message inside. I think we really hit on something. Its less expensive, minimize storage space and anyone can make cards. We had pre-schoolers with seniors, cutting, taping, and coloring. Hope to have some pics of these visits. Wishing you and your family have a very blessed Christmas. Stacey Young Chairperson The Holiday Project of NYC 8 visits this year, with 100+ volunteers visiting 1000+ residents. Each statistic is greater than any of my previous years. Enrolled all team leaders from scratch, except one. One called me "very persuasive". Truth is I was living out of my intention/keeping my word. Starting to train Team Leaders in leadership, who are already taking the ball and running with it. Several will be on Core Team for the years to come. I now have muscle/confidence to build teams for all my visions. 350+ Chinatown Senior Center clients took delight in entertaining us with specially prepared song and dance - they were hosting us, rather than the other way around. Every visit was a party, with "team" being present. I will follow up with people who, really out of the sense of the contribution the residents are to them, want to start their own initiatives at Kateri Senior Residence, Covenant House for homeless youth, and the Chinatown Senior Center. Warm regards David Sauberman Chairperson The Holiday Project of Dade County, FL Had a great visit for the first day of Chanukah and beginning Christmas with The Holiday Project beginning visits and the teens danced/sang the Jewish songs to the Max and Megan, 2.5 sang Feliz Navidad It was a wonderful morning full of Christmas cheer. I kept the caroling going with song sheets, and everyone had full voice off and on key, which we love. Patricia Connelly Chairperson The Holiday Project of North County San Diego, CA We went to 1 faculty, visited 100 with 12 visitors. Also there were 10 high school kids who went to 2 faculties with 280 residents. We couldn't go to the VA as they wouldn't allow anyone under 25. Happy, Happy, Bev Conner Chairperson
THP Board
To keep you up to date on what is happening with the Board, I have added the minutes to our last meeting call. The Holiday Project - Board of Directors Meeting November 22, 2009 Jim Durgin, Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 8:05 PM EST. Directors present were: Lori Hirshfield, Bev Kaye, Donna Martin, Sally Cooney and Joanne Sorresse, Executive Director Finances Cooney summarized the financial status. THP ended its fiscal year June 30th 2009 and raised $1,757.00, spent $11,491.00 with a deficit of $9734.00 and a remaining balance in the bank of $15,581.00. Since then minimum deposits were made, funds were spent on the Board conference and there is a present balance of $11,341.94. Cooney also volunteered to stay on as treasurer since the bookkeeping was minimal and if anyone came forth to be the new Treasurer, she would have no problem turning the job over. Kaye made a motion to keep Cooney as Treasurer of the Board, Hirshfield seconded the motion and all agreed. Other Board Positions Durgin brought up the position of Corporate Secretary for legal status, signing of legal documents and taking minutes. It was agreed upon that Kaye would stay on as Secretary, Sorresse would continue taking minutes with review by Kaye. Fundraisers Sorresse proposed that the Board continue with the annual appeal in December. All fundraising was put on hold last year since the Board did not know if THP would continue as an organization and did not want to solicit until its status was known. All agreed on doing the appeal and a letter would be sent out with a reply form. Hirshfield suggested that The Friends monthly donation fundraiser would not be brought back until the board could articulate how Friends would be used to further THP's new vision. Al agreed to reintroduce Friends in January 2010. Durgin invited Sorresse to make a direct appeal to the Board members to donate to the appeal. Durgin, Kaye, Martin and Sorresse agreed to donate $100 with Cooney joining Friends in December and would let the Board know the amount of the donation. Status on prospective Board Members Durgin asked for the status of the prospective Board members brought up at the August Conference: · Walter Black, said yes and would join the Board in January · Marianne York, Micki Goldberg, David Hillier Davidson, Lucy Bonaquest, Dr. Greer Gieger, & Christina Gray all declined the offer · No other new prospects were brought up. Hirshfield mentioned the list of board qualifications created at the conference. Durgin would do a review of the status of the prospective Board members verses the qualifications and where the board was lacking and would report back to the board with his suggestions at the next board meeting. Qualifications of a Board Member · Commitment to the New Holiday Project · Fundraising skills · Technical skills o Experience with websites o On line marketing skills · Financial experience · Public Relations experience · Experience in visioning non-profits o Creating o Managing o Looking into the future o Create structure for fulfillment of a non-profit · People skills o Communication skills o Ability to listen · Have other board experience other than THP · Geographically located New Holiday Project Vision Durgin felt the Board should answer several key questions before moving ahead � What will the proposed new direction look like in the localities? Ø Will “bridging the gap between generations” be a primary program within visits around the December Holidays? Ø Or will “bridging the gap between generations” be the primary thrust on any day, without the limitations of a holiday? Ø Or will it be something else? � Should the new Holiday Project focus on serving the volunteers (as was the case in the original THP)? Or should it focus on serving the people in the institutions? Or serving someone else? � What is needed to have a sustainable organization Other questions for future discussions are: Does THP have the resources and capability to pursue the proposed new direction? � Will the current localities support the proposed new direction? § Hirshfield felt visits should be on any given day. THP has been in a decline mode with enthusiasm waning and to look at what is next and what restructuring would increase participation and enthusiasm..The Board needed to get back to the basics and have volunteers experience the gift of doing visits and about the spirit of giving. § Kaye envisioned visits to be around the holiday each month. She saw the necessity to support Localities on how to get team leaders and how to organize a visit. § Martin agreed on all holiday visits. What was important was not what was in it for the volunteers but what one could do for someone else. § Sorresse saw the primary theme as Christmas & Chanukah and supporting Localities with these visits and then supporting the localities doing visits on other holidays. As National, the primary goal should be Christmas & Chanukah support and then making visits on other holidays available to volunteers. § Cooney liked a holiday every month. What was the reason why it did not work to do monthly visits for all Localities- was something missing for a certain locality: was there lack of institutions or visitors or lack of interest? Cooney suggested the Localities could go on the DC web site to get information on being a Team Leader. § Durgin spoke to all localities and past board members and felt the Boards' responsibility was to support Localities. What do local committees want? They were confused about the 'New Holiday Project' 75% of Localities visited only during Christmas & Chanukah. They loved the VolunteerMatch program and the support of Sorresse. Money was not an issue and the scarcity they had were Team Leaders. Durgin saw two structures or purposes that existed: o visiting during the holiday season (which was its original purpose) emphasizing volunteers o doing visits all year round, emphasizing residents § Durgin felt the Board needed to look at what it was going to support and what it was not going to support with doing visits. He wanted to set up teams with leaders to create different directions the Board could go. He would set up templates for each Board to work on. o Focus only on Christmas & Chanukah as The Holiday Project & bridge the gap with other visits during the year by a strategic alliance with other organizations doing similar projects o Merge with another Organization with resources and finances that THP did not have and merge with them on doing visits with institutions throughout the year. o Focus on Visits throughout the year and focus on Volunteers Respectfully Submitted, Joanne Sorresse Executive Director
Volunteer Match VolunteerMatch's Nonprofit Site www.volunteermatch.org VolunteerMatch is a leader in the nonprofit world dedicated to helping everyone find a great place to volunteer. This holiday season National decided to up the ante and expand the areas for localities to get new volunteers for visits. We added more zip codes to each locality visit location and it certainly brought in new volunteers! This year I will be looking at other web sites for volunteer opportunities and add the Locality visits to them. If you know of any, please email their web site. Their site is VolunteerMatch's Nonprofit Site www.volunteermatch.org
Receiving Newsletter We encourage comments, support, pictures, articles and information on what’s is going on in your Locality. With your support, we can all benefit from each other’s knowledge and spirit, as we get closer to the holidays. If you know of anyone who would like to be added to this newsletter list, please forward the newsletter to them. (Especially if you know of any 'old-timers' of THP.) Ask them to send me their e-mail address to be put on THP list. If you received this newsletter and are not interested in future copies please e-mail me or contact me at 415-888-8243
Joanne Sorresse Executive Director The Holiday Project
*Contact us:* Phone: (415) 888-8243 E-Mail The Holiday Project

To keep you up to date on what is happening with the Board, I have added the minutes to our last meeting call.

The Holiday Project - Board of Directors Meeting