Volunteer Opportunity
15th Annual
CUNA Lending Council Conference
Hilton Bayfront Hotel
San Diego, California | November 1-4, 2009
A young girl leaned into the gate and peered at us, backpack slung over her shoulder.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“We're credit union folks from around the country. We're painting the courtyard and cleaning the classrooms. Do you go to this school?” I inquired.
“Yes” she beamed, “That's my classroom right there,” and pointed to the classroom closest to where we were standing.
I walked the young student around to introduce her to some of the other volunteers. But then suddenly our little friend had to leave, yet given another 10 minutes, I'm sure she would have had other “projects” for us to do at this, her school.
The Monarch School is no ordinary school. This school is dedicated to providing homeless and at-risk children with an accredited education while caring for their basic needs. Fellow CUNA Lending Council (CLC) conference attendees were the volunteers.
The CLC offers a volunteer event for attendees of their conference each year to participate in. We hope that by having many credit union folks from across the country descend upon an organization in the city where our conference is being held, we can raise awareness of the value of credit unions in a unique way.
When CLC members and CUNA staff pull together, we can accomplish much. In addition to the work we performed at the Monarch School, we raised $575 at the annual golf outing, another $405 from conference attendees, and donated close to 60 toiletry-filled gift bags along with 4 boxes of laptop bags/portfolios to the school.
At 6:00 am on Sunday morning, in the foyer of the Hilton Hotel, I was working with the CUNA staff to welcome the volunteers. While proudly wearing my VOLUNTEER t-shirt, a middle-aged man approached me, smiling broadly (Remember, this is 6 am…!) asking, “You work for The Monarch School?”
I explained to him our volunteer event that was taking place in conjunction with the conference. He then told me that his 2 children had attended the school, and even after they graduated, wanted to go back.
How can we, as a movement, keep our potential and current members wanting to come back?
Below is a photo of The Monarch School volunteers and a Power Point of our members volunteering.
- Claire Ippoliti, CLC Executive Committee
> Click Here to Download/View the PowerPoint
Founded in 1988, Monarch School and its committed team of teachers, administrators and volunteers is dedicated to providing homeless and at-risk children with an accredited education while caring for their basic needs. Today, more than 100 kids between the ages of 7 and 18 are enrolled at Monarch School.
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