The Manchester Continuum of Care (MCoC) is looking for volunteers to help with this year’s annual unsheltered Point-in-Time count!  This is a unique opportunity to help to the local community.  In addition to providing much needed data on the local level, this count also helps the Department of Housing and Urban Development to keep track of national trends in the homeless population.   The details for the count are as follows:
 
When: Wednesday January 26th 2010 from 2AM-7AM (as required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development) yes, you read that time right :) 

Where: Families in Transition, 122 Market St, Manchester, NH

What: Counting the homeless population in Manchester.  Volunteers will be in groups of 5 with at least one experienced outreach worker guiding and instructing the group on who to count.  The outside locations the group visits are predetermined before the event.  The count is required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, who collects the data and uses it to for their annual homeless assessment report to Congress.  It also allows Manchester and NH to track trends in the homeless population.

Additional Info:  Breakfast is provided for the event (which of course includes coffee to keep us up on the winter morning!).  Training will be provided to volunteers on the day of the count, so no previous experience is necessary.      

Contact: Email Kyle Beaulieu, Manchester Continuum of Care Coordinator, at vista@mcocnh.org and please copy Lisa Mazur at peace@manchesterchristian.com.

New Horizons is currently looking for volunteers in the following areas:

Van Drivers for weekdays 8:00 a.m. - 11:00a.m.
Use New Horizons vehicles to pick up food donations at area grocery stores, restaurants and businesses.  Drivers must have valid drivers license, great driving record and be able to lift and move 50 pounds.

Soup Kitchen Meal Preparation
Help prepare dinner for Soup Kitchen guests.  Any hours between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. are appreciated.  Dinner is not just soup.  A full meal with salad and dessert is served daily.

Soup Kitchen Meal Serving
Teams or groups of people are needed to serve dinner each evening.  This is a great way for coworkers to get together and do something to help our community.  A senior meal is served at 3:00 p.m. Monday – Friday.  The main meal is 4:30 p.m. daily. The volunteer commitment is serving dinner followed by helping to clean the kitchen and yes, dishes.

Food Pantry Food Sorting
A great number of items are donated to New Horizons on a daily basis.  Volunteers are needed to sort, put away and put together bags of food for distribution to the families and individuals who rely upon the Food Pantry.  Various hours during the week are available.

Food Pantry Food Distribution
The Food Pantry distributes food on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. as well as on Thursday evenings from 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.  Volunteer responsibilities are to help distribute food items to clients, helping them get items to their cars, and helping to clean up when pantry distribution is over.

Special Projects
New Horizons and Angie’s Shelter are always in need of help with special projects like administrative tasks, painting, cleaning, organizing and other projects as they present themselves.  Many groups, schools, churches and businesses conduct food drives on our behalf as well.  We are happy to help to coordinate activities like these.

Call (603) 668-1877 ext. 122 or email Kitchen.Pantry.Manager@newhorizonsfornh.org for more information or to make arrangements to volunteer.

We ask that all volunteers call the volunteer coordinator at (603) 668-1877 ext. 122 to coordinate a time to come in to work. New Horizons is committed to making your volunteer experience enjoyable and rewarding.

You can also sign up to volunteer online at www.volunteermatters.com/nhnh.