The following volunteer opportunities are coming up!  let me know if you think any of these are perfect for us as a group project!   i can't be at the 11/21 meeting - does anyone else want to lead, or should we change the date?  is  11/25 ok?  with secret santa coming up, we probably should meet soon....

Judges are needed for the Wood County Elementary Science Fair, grades 4-6,  from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 17, at WVU-P. Please let Dawn Jackson (Dawn.D.Jackson@USA.dupont.com, or 863-2513) by November 25 if you would like to help!

Judges/Referees are also needed for a WV robotics tournament from noon    to about 5 p.m. on Saturday, December 14, at WVU-P.    This is Jackson Jr High School's first year participating in the "FIRST" League Robotics Challenge.  "FIRST" is "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology", and is a program for college, high school, (and now jr high students) aimed at encouraging and supporting development of the sciences.  Teams are given challenges to solve by creating robots (really cool).  Local, State, Regional, and National tournaments are held for competition.

There are three phases to the competition:  actual performance of the robot vs. the challenge; oral presentation by the team on programming logic or the robot; and oral presentation by the team on a way robots can/could be used in community service.  Each phase requires judges and/or referees, so we're looking for lots of help!  Judging sheets with rules and criteria will be provided, as will judges training.  We're looking for all technical disciplines as well as any one else who may be interested. The schedule will be as follows:
                  Dec 14th (Sat) at WVU-P
                  Judges  training starts at 9:00a or 9:30a
                  Teams register at 11:00a
                  Competition starts at 12:00n and lasts till ?   probably not later than 5:00p
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To participate in any of the following activities, register your service needs, or to offer donated goods, please call Sandy Tharp at the the Volunteer Action Center at 424-3457 Ext. 111, or email connectwvwd@juno.com

YOUR HELP WITH LEAF-RAKING IS NEEDED:  Several home-bound senior citizens would truly appreciate your help with raking the leaves in their yards. This is a good project for an individual or a family group!

HELP WITH HOLIDAY LIGHTS DISPLAYS:  This will surely put you in the holiday mood.  All ages, from 6 years up, are welcome to help design, construct, paint, assemble, or do general maintenance around the building.

TAKE A LITTLE TIME TO BRIGHTEN SOMEONE'S DAY:  Volunteers are needed to visit and/or read with residents of a local nursing home.  Just a half-hour can make a huge difference to someone who's lonely.

TUTORS NEEDED:  A wide variety of tutoring opportunities exist from basic reading, GED preparation, and English as a second language, to high school subjects such as trigonometry, chemistry, and history.

THIS IS A GREAT FUNDRAISER FOR YOUR GROUP:  Big Sandy is planning to be open on Sunday November 24 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. only for those people who've bought tickets from local nonprofit agencies.  Agencies may pick up as many tickets as they want for free from Glen Janey, the store manager. Agencies then sell the tickets for $5, with the agency keeping all of the money.  For their $5, ticketholders get $10 off on any purchase made that evening, and are eligible for a chance to win a DVD Player.  When you stop by to see Glen, please tell him that the Volunteer Action Center sent you. He'll also tell you about their terrific Charity Bucks program that runs all year.  Glen can also be reached by calling 865-8701.