245th Week Update - Miles Neighborhood One Can A Week Project

Hi Folks,

Community Service, Like Aspirin,

is the Perfect Remedy for What Ails Us

Just a Small, Consistent Dose Will Heal Our Hearts.

The scientific evidence is somewhat overwhelming. Community service provides significant mental and physical health benefits for all those who volunteer on a regular basis.

Kids become more lucid and more aware of the world and their surroundings. Nearly every day there are stories online about six-year-old babies raising lots of money for their favorite charity.   

Teens learn to focus better, think more strategically and incorporate a healthier lifestyle while elevating their academic standing. Based on these positive responses to volunteer work, more and more schools are implementing Service Learning programs into their curriculum.

Young Adults broaden their spheres of influence, social contacts and quite often decide on a career path based on their volunteer experiences.

Seniors live longer and are mentally and physically healthier when they volunteer their time compared to those seniors who do not.

Business derives the most from community service participation by reducing costs and expanding profits.

     Employees are happier, healthier and more loyal to their company when they

     and their company helps others. This in turn reduces costs related to turnover,

     training and health insurance.

    

     Many consumers search out companies that are community service friendly and

     remain loyal customers. This increases profits.

     Many HR Departments in major companies are now considering volunteer

     experience to be on par with real world work experience. In addition to the

     empathy factor, managing projects or staff on a voluntary basis at a charity is

     considered a very valuable life experience.

A full shopping cart on Saturday hinted at a new record.

It has been exactly eight weeks since we set up One Can A Week at the Sprouts Farmers Market on Speedway and Swan and all of the above benefits are popping out every which way we look.

Richard Rodriguez, the store manager, told me Saturday that during the past week a number of customers have stopped to thank him for getting involved with One Can A Week. They love how easy it is to donate to the Community Food Bank.

Even the staff is paying more attention to One Can A Week because they can see the energy it is creating with the customers. Consequently when I needed some guidance setting up the small display tables at each entrance every person I asked readily jumped in to help.

All these subtle changes over the past few weeks have created an atmosphere of commitment. More and more customers are donating each week and others are clearing their cupboards at home and placing their donations in the food bin. This week another record was set. Sprouts donated 162 lbs. of food which is 22 lbs. better than the old record.

If Sprouts’ One Can A Week turns out to be anything like One Can A Week in the Miles Neighborhood, Richard can count on growing customer participation to 50%. And then he can count on that 50% figure year after year.  The reason is once folks get involved in an easy community service program they don’t want to stop because it personally feels very good to help feed hungry kids and their parents.

Community Service Resource Information

What Are the Benefits of Service Learning? University of Michigan

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.black/benefits_of_participation_in_service

Get Involved. The Impact and Benefits of Serving. Corporation for National and Community Service

http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/senior-corps/get-involved

The Health and Benefits of Volunteering. Corporation for National and Community Service

http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/07_0506_hbr.pdf

Volunteering May Help Your Career More Than You Think

http://blog.brazencareerist.com/2011/09/07/volunteering-helps-your-career/

Volunteer Work and Well Being. National Institutes of Health
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11467248?dopt=Abstract

The Benefits of Employee Volunteer Programs. Junior Achievement

http://www.jany.org/docs/benefitsofemployeevolunteerprograms.pdf

Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Series No. 2

Making Business Sense of Community Service

http://www.hbs.edu/socialenterprise/pdf/SE2MakingBusinessSense.pdf

Harvard Community Service study

Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Research

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/About/Community-Involvement/f0d3264f0b0fb110VgnVCM100000ba42f00aRCRD.htm

Tenth Truck Load – As I have said before, the fun part of One Can A Week is we never know how much food we will collect in any given week. This was one of those surprise weeks because we loaded up the truck again.

Sprouts donated 162 lbs., Miles, 166 lbs. and Shiva Vista, 76 lbs. for a total of 404 lbs.

Burger King Makes the Call – Three weeks ago I told you about a young lady who worked at Burger King and was tired of pitching out perfectly good food knowing there are so many hungry kids in Tucson. I gave her my card and told her to call me. She did. Today. And fortunately I was giving a computer lesson in the Tucson Country Club Estates, not far from her E. Grant Road location.

Now I know what 38 lbs. of Burger King sesame seed long rolls looks like. A lot.

We collected a total of 166 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $32.00, a $25.00 check and $7.00 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter