BailOut
04-03-2008, 11:30 PM
This evening I received an award as the "Volunteer of the Year" for IVGID's (Incline Village General Improvement District - the equivalent of a city government) "Waste Not" department.
The IVGID Waste Not department covers everything from the local recycling and e-cycling programs to haz-mat disposal, water testing (of the Northeast Lake Tahoe feeders), the "Kids for Conservation Festival", efficiency classes for low income families at the local College, etc. While I don't live in Incline Village I work there and most of these events happen either during or close to the end of working hours so I do a lot of volunteer work there.
When the Manager of that unit told me that she put me in for this award a few weeks ago I was floored. I never expected it (I didn't even know there was such a thing) and I was honored.
The Parasol Foundation (http://www.parasol.org/) and its Americorps (http://www.americorps.org) staff hosted the awards ceremony and it was nice. It was held in two conjoined banquet rooms at "The Chateau" on the Incline Championship Golf Course. Food and drinks were served, and the Governor's wife and head of the Nevada Volunteer Organization, Dawn Gibbons, was the keynote speaker (I think it was totally neat that she showed up as Incline Village is a highly active but also tiny pocket of the State).
About 30 people were recognized for their services in every area of volunteering imaginable, from the Red Cross to children's education programs to people that helped with the Angora Fire last year, the Shakespeare Festival, etc. I liked learning about all the areas that people perform volunteer work in around here as it gives me a better idea of the breadth and depth of the local culture.
Here I am giving my friend Alice, an Americorp volunteer that works with the Waste Not department, a hug after she handed me my award bag (It's a long shot... we're smack in the middle):
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/04-03-08_1831.jpg
Here I am mugging it up after the ceremony:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/04-03-08_1848.jpg
The award, aside from the recognition itself, was a reusable gift bag containing a certificate, some chocolate candies and a rather nice reusable water bottle with Parasol's logo on it. Here is the certificate:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/04-03-08_1957_2.jpg
My work with Waste Not is continuing. Alice and I are putting together a dual display for this year's Kids for Conservation Festival that will show the real-time electricity usage of an incandescent light bulb vs. a CFL, and a children's bicycle that has a tire-based generator that they can pedal to try to light up both a CFL and incandescent bulb, feeling how much more energy is required to light the incandescent. The display will last for many years and can be used over and over again.
I've been made a team lead for the water testing (this is great since I have been working towards a long-term goal of being able to show the very golf course where the awards ceremony was held exactly what is running off from their course and into Lake Tahoe via Third Creek, completely unfiltered and unfettered) and while I've already promised to participate in this year's Truckee Meadows-wide "Snapshot Day" with the Reno crew I signed up tonight to be a team leader with the Incline crew next year.
I am still on schedule to provide some fuel economy classes either at the local College or the Community Recreation Center this Spring as well, although no definite dates have been set yet.
Between all of this and my new status as a Big Brother (I met my assigned "Little Brother" last weekend and we have our first outing this Saturday) via the Big Brothers Big Sisters (http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.diJKKYPLJvH/b.1539751/k.BDB6/Home.htm) program it's going to be a busy but very fulfilling year. :)
The IVGID Waste Not department covers everything from the local recycling and e-cycling programs to haz-mat disposal, water testing (of the Northeast Lake Tahoe feeders), the "Kids for Conservation Festival", efficiency classes for low income families at the local College, etc. While I don't live in Incline Village I work there and most of these events happen either during or close to the end of working hours so I do a lot of volunteer work there.
When the Manager of that unit told me that she put me in for this award a few weeks ago I was floored. I never expected it (I didn't even know there was such a thing) and I was honored.
The Parasol Foundation (http://www.parasol.org/) and its Americorps (http://www.americorps.org) staff hosted the awards ceremony and it was nice. It was held in two conjoined banquet rooms at "The Chateau" on the Incline Championship Golf Course. Food and drinks were served, and the Governor's wife and head of the Nevada Volunteer Organization, Dawn Gibbons, was the keynote speaker (I think it was totally neat that she showed up as Incline Village is a highly active but also tiny pocket of the State).
About 30 people were recognized for their services in every area of volunteering imaginable, from the Red Cross to children's education programs to people that helped with the Angora Fire last year, the Shakespeare Festival, etc. I liked learning about all the areas that people perform volunteer work in around here as it gives me a better idea of the breadth and depth of the local culture.
Here I am giving my friend Alice, an Americorp volunteer that works with the Waste Not department, a hug after she handed me my award bag (It's a long shot... we're smack in the middle):
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/04-03-08_1831.jpg
Here I am mugging it up after the ceremony:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/04-03-08_1848.jpg
The award, aside from the recognition itself, was a reusable gift bag containing a certificate, some chocolate candies and a rather nice reusable water bottle with Parasol's logo on it. Here is the certificate:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/04-03-08_1957_2.jpg
My work with Waste Not is continuing. Alice and I are putting together a dual display for this year's Kids for Conservation Festival that will show the real-time electricity usage of an incandescent light bulb vs. a CFL, and a children's bicycle that has a tire-based generator that they can pedal to try to light up both a CFL and incandescent bulb, feeling how much more energy is required to light the incandescent. The display will last for many years and can be used over and over again.
I've been made a team lead for the water testing (this is great since I have been working towards a long-term goal of being able to show the very golf course where the awards ceremony was held exactly what is running off from their course and into Lake Tahoe via Third Creek, completely unfiltered and unfettered) and while I've already promised to participate in this year's Truckee Meadows-wide "Snapshot Day" with the Reno crew I signed up tonight to be a team leader with the Incline crew next year.
I am still on schedule to provide some fuel economy classes either at the local College or the Community Recreation Center this Spring as well, although no definite dates have been set yet.
Between all of this and my new status as a Big Brother (I met my assigned "Little Brother" last weekend and we have our first outing this Saturday) via the Big Brothers Big Sisters (http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.diJKKYPLJvH/b.1539751/k.BDB6/Home.htm) program it's going to be a busy but very fulfilling year. :)