February Service Project: Volunteer

Go to a nursing home and read to residents. Sign up and help serve a meal to guests at a local shelter or soup kitchen. Make handmade Valentine cards for guests at a residential treatment program. Reach out to your local museums and inquire about volunteer opportunities, there are plenty! Park and Rec departments also have multiple volunteer needs. The possibilities are endless! Pick an organization and/or group of people and dedicate your time to help others in need. Share pictures with us (13Days4Love@gmail.com) with a brief description of how you are helping others and we will post on our page.

January 2015 Service Project Update: Warmth 4 The Homeless

Thank you Pop (a.k.a. Tyler's grandfather a.k.a. my dad), Cedric Steele and Vanessa Haywood for your donations of hats, scarves and gloves for today's service project.  The men and women that chose items were very grateful for the much needed items to keep them warm! #CommunityOfGiving #Warmth4TheHomeless #13Days4Love #IntentionalParenting #HelpTheHomeless #Service

January Service Project: Winter Warmth 4 The Homeless

We are partnering with the Urban Ministry Center and will be participating in the 2015 Point in Time Count. This major event will help us to identify all individuals experiencing street homelessness and long-term homelessness. 13 Days 4 Love is collecting hats, scarfs, gloves and hand warmers to be donated to the homeless with whom we interact during the Point in Time Count. While we are interviewing people, we would like for them to be able to take a pair of gloves, hat, scarf or hand warmer.

We will be collecting these items until Friday, January 30. If you have items to donate, please email us, 13Days4Love@gmail.com, to schedule a place and time to meet.

Many thanks,
Eboni & Tyler

Volunteers Needed to Help the Homeless in Charlotte

This January, our community is mobilizing a major effort to identify all individuals experiencing street homelessness and long-term homelessness. We need 100+ volunteers in order to make the effort a success.  Volunteers will conduct a brief questionnaire with individuals on the street, in a camp, or at a service provider location.  Please consider volunteering your time for this important effort.  You can sign-up here.

A few details:

·         The effort will take place Thursday, January 29 – Saturday, January 31^st. While we recognize everyone’s lives are busy, we are hopeful volunteers can commit for all three days of the effort.  

·         There are a variety of times you can sign-up for, though the majority of volunteers are needed for early morning hours.

·         We want volunteers to be as well-equipped as possible, so we are asking all volunteers to participate in a 2-hour training offered on Sunday, January 25th from 2pm - 4pm or Tuesday, January 27th from 7pm - 9pm.   

·         All volunteers will be placed on a small team with a team leader, to guide you through this effort.  We recognize this might feel like a stretch outside your comfort zone, so we want to ensure you are well-supported. 

Thank you for considering giving our time to this effort.  If you have questions, you can contact Liz Clasen-Kelly at lclasen-kelly@urbanministrycenter.org.

Service Ambassadors Needed

 We're looking for 4 Service Ambassadors in cities outside of Charlotte to assist with 13 Days 4 Love service projects in their respective communities. There will be 4 national (possibly international) projects that we will do in 2015, we will create the project. In terms of logistics, we (13D4L) will create/set up the social media event pages, marketing materials, online registries if applicable. Your role would be to identify a local organization or group of people that would benefit from that month's project, coordinate any drop offs, use the marketing materials to generate support within your community and to take a few pictures/video to capture each project. If you are interested, send an email to 13Days4Love@gmail.com by Friday, January 9, 2015. #CommunityOfGiving #13Days4Love #IntentionalParenting #GlobalExpansion

December Service Project: Holiday Cheer 4 Children

For our December service project we have chosen to help the guests of The Relatives. This will be our third project this year that has benefitted The Relatives.  The Relatives hosts 9 children/young adults that are homeless or have been removed from their family homes.  We are doing handmade cards and gift cards for each of the 9 guests that will be with them on Christmas Day.  We are hoping that others will join us in providing items for each child.  Since some of these children are in transition, we are not wanting to give bulky items (such as stuffed animals) but things that are portable, fun, educational, motivating, etc.  Some examples of items that would be great are playing cards, activity books, Redbox gift cards, bus passes, gift cards to restaurants (the facility is on East Boulevard so restaurants in that area would be more convenient), inspirational books, etc. We don’t know the breakdown of boys vs. girls, so think of things that are gender neutral. We will be collecting items between now and Tuesday, December 23, 2014. If you would like to donate items, send us an email and we can coordinate meeting you.

Thanks in advance for thinking of those children that aren’t able to be home for the holidays.

Eboni & Tyler

November Service Project: Desserts 4 Thanksgiving Update and Thanks

Thank you Onica Fuller, Karitsa Kerns, Donyell Stroud Aycock, Meeka J. Clay, Sidney Logan Echevarria, Candace Taylor-Anderson, Lee Richardson, Sylvia Richardson, Imani Smith, Kim Flanders, Angela Lindsay, Sahnia D. H. Oates, Rachel Bellotti Adams, Brittney Bogues, Takierra Hopkins-Cole, Victoria Garriett Lampkin, Tamra Berry, Lisa Hollis, Christina Mateo Landry, Kameka Rowell-Hall, Kimberly Norton, Kristy Perry & Carlenia Ivory for your generous donations for Desserts 4 Thanksgiving. Based on the pictures that were shared, 52 desserts were donated to the Charlotte Rescue Mission. It took us several trips from the car to the kitchen to get all of the desserts we had to deliver in. We went around lunch time so the guests were lining up outside of the cafeteria. After our first trip we heard one of the guests ask the gentleman that worked there what we were doing and he explained the project to them. With each trip they said "thank you all" and "bless you all". I'm sure if you reflect back on your Thanksgiving meal, one of the highlights was one of the desserts that you had (many homes have multiple desserts). Thanks to the generosity of all that participated, the guests at the Charlotte Rescue Mission also had choices for dessert.

If we left off your name please forgive us and share with us your pictures or email us so we can include you in our thanks. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!