MiddAction
Like food? Join Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring (nom) in Cooking at the Teen Center tomorrow (Wednesday)
Date: Wednesday, 10/17 from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.
Location: Addison Central Teens (located close to campus – right by Twilight Hall!)
Nom is looking for volunteers to teach teens how to cook. The group will be making a collection of appetizers and volunteers eat with the teens, too! If you are passionate about food and food education and want to connect to members of the community, this opportunity is for you! Email Nes Martinez at middlebury.nom@gmail.com to sign up to participate.

Get trained to volunteer at the Charter House Homeless Shelter
Training Date and Time: Thursday, Oct. 18 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Location: Ross Basement B11
The Charter House winter housing facility that serves as an emergency home staffed 24/7 by trained volunteers who provide a warm, welcoming environment for families in stress. Attend this training to learn more about volunteering at the Charter House. Contact Adam Schiff, aschiff@middlebury.edu if you have any questions or would like to be notified of future training dates.

Can’t wait to try out your costume before Halloween? Have some time to spare?
Come be a chaperone for the Addison Central Teen Center Halloween Dance on Friday 10/19 at the Town Hall Theater. Come hang out for a shift between 8-11pm, have some treats, get into the spirit of Halloween! Best of all, check out the neat costumes! For more information, please contact Jutta Miska at jutta@addisonteens.com or call ACT at 802.388.3910

Tropical Storm Irene Long Term Recovery: Volunteer Worksite Opportunity
Date: Saturday, October 20th, 9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Location: Brandon, VT (only 16 miles from Middlebury!)
The Rutland County Long Term Recovery Committee is sponsoring a volunteer project to benefit the Brandon Town Players. The storage area for their props and supplies were flooded and now need to be removed so the building can be demolished. Volunteers will shovel out silt that covers the props and stage materials. Interested? Email Ashley Calkins, jcalkins@middlebury.edu. Ashley will set up a carpool of interested students and can provide supplies including shovels and gloves. Refreshments and water will be provided.

Participate in a workday with the Nature Conservancy of Vermont!
Upcoming worksite dates: Saturday 10/20, 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and Friday 10/26, 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
The Nature Conservancy of Vermont is looking for volunteers to join us in removing invasive plants (primarily buckthorn) from our Snake Mountain South Natural Area in Bridport this fall. These days are an excellent opportunity to get to know a great conservation organization here in Vermont, give back to your community, and to gain field experience. For these days we will be cutting and clipping non-native invasive shrubs which threaten the health of this beautiful forest. No experience required, just an interest in working hard in a very special place. Snake Mountain South, just south of the often hiked Snake Mountain, is home to rare amphibians and other wildlife, and many rare and uncommon plants and trees. This year, we will be working on top of the cliffs, so you can expect a good workout and stunning vistas. If you are interested in joining The Nature Conservancy on any of these dates please RSVP to Tim Duclos (tim.duclos@tnc.org) or call us at 802-229-4425 ext. 111.

Student Panel on Poverty Studies Internships
Thursday, Oct. 18th 7:00 p.m. Axinn Rm. 219
This summer seven Middlebury students helped tackle issues of poverty through paid internships in Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, and, locally, in Addison County (VT). Come hear about their experiences working with immigrant services, emergency housing, farm to table and gleaning initiatives, social services for women and children, and environmental education in coal country. For students interested in poverty studies at Middlebury, Tiffany Sargent (EIA) and Professor James Davis (Religion) will be on hand to share information about these annual internship opportunities, as well as about Middlebury’s exploration of a Privilege and Poverty program as part of the Shepherd High Education Consortium on Poverty. Sponsored by EIA Civic Engagement.

Local J-Term internship opportunity at the Charter House emergency winter shelter – application due 10/21
Spend your January Term interning at the Charter House Emergency Winter Shelter in Middlebury, which provides emergency housing to individuals and families through the winter months. Interns will support the management staff of the Charter House Emergency Winter Shelter in meeting client needs, maintaining a spirit of welcome and community within the building, and staffing the Shelter. Interns will gain an in-depth understanding of how The Middlebury Community Care Coalition and the broader community support the transition of homeless families to stable housing. Visit go/internships and click on “Winter Term” for information on receiving course credit for this internship. Visit MOJO and search for “Charter House” to find more information and apply for the internship.

Teach Spanish with the Monkton Central School World Language Program
The Monkton Central School World Language Program is looking for one additional volunteer who would like to team-teach Spanish to a 5th and 6th grade class on Tuesdays 1:15 – 2:15 p.m. In this program, volunteers come to the Monkton Central School 6 times in the fall to teach foreign language in an elementary school classroom. Each session is 50-60 minutes long and should be fun for you and the kids. They love playing games, singing songs, learning basic vocabulary, and exploring the culture. Transportation is available. If you are available Tuesdays 1:15-2:15pm starting 10/23 for 6 weeks, please email Jen Stanley, jstanley@wildblue.net. We will begin a new volunteer session in February. Email Jen Stanley if you would like to be notified when those volunteer openings are available.

You can still register to vote in Vermont!
Vermont voter registration deadline: Oct. 31, 2012
If you haven’t registered to vote in your home state or requested an absentee ballot there is still time to register to vote in Vermont for the November general election! Fill out a VT voter registration form here and mail it to: Ann F. Webster, Town Clerk, 94 Main Street, Middlebury, VT 05753. If you need an envelope + stamp to mail in your registration or have questions, visit Ashley Calkins, Community Engagement Coordinator in the Center for Education in Action (Rm. 210, Adirondack House).

Gym partner and friend needed
A community member is seeking a gym partner and college student friend. This individual is an enthusiastic young woman with a cognitive delay as a result of chronic heart problems. Interested? Email Ashley Calkins, Community Engagement Coordinator, jcalkins@middlebury.edu.

Community Friends
Have a scooter and want to ride it around? Want to teach a boy some new moves in his favorite sport? These are some of the things you could be doing right now with a child from Addison County! Community Friends, a campus-based mentoring program that matches Middlebury College students with children of Addison County ages six to twelve, is seeking a “supportive, caring adult” for this child. Take a walk, read books together, do some arts and crafts, play mini-golf at Whirlie’s World! The possibilities are endless. You could be an important part of this young boy’s life by simply meeting up and being yourself on a regular basis! Flexible meeting times, no car required, and alternate ways of transportation are available. For more information about the program, or to apply to be this or another child’s mentor, please visit our website (go/cf), get in contact with a student coordinator or contact Nestor Martinez ’10 (nmartinez@middlebury.edu).

Questions? If you have questions about any of these volunteer opportunities or want to learn more ways to get involved in the local community, contact Ashley Calkins, Community Engagement Coordinator, jcalkins@middlebury.edu, 802.443.3099