The Binnacle Severn's Weekly E-Newsletter

Special Olympics – Polar Bear Plunge help needed on Sunday.
If you are interested people are needed to clean up the beach on Sunday. The Sunday Sweep is from 10 AM-2 PM on Sunday January 25. At the Sunday Sweep, staff and volunteers patrol Sandy State Park making sure any items left behind (banners, clothing, trash) are gathered, leaving the Park in good condition.

The next event for Special Olympics takes place on February 7 & 8 as athletes compete in the 2009 Bowling Tournament in Dundalk (Baltimore County). Volunteers at the bowling competition will serve as Lane Mangers making sure athletes bowl in roster order and calling for assistance if the electronic scoring system isn’t working. Students for this volunteer opportunity should be able to work in pairs in leadership positions. Please contact Janet Novak at jnovak@somd.org if interested in either of these opportunities.

Starbucks Joins Call for National Service and Asks, “Are You In?”
Starbucks and HandsOn Network Affiliates are partnering to raise one million hours of service across America.
Annapolis (January 21, 2009). Starbucks and HandsOn Network affiliate, the Volunteer Center For Anne Arundel County, are joining to launch the “I’m In!” campaign, an initiative to make it easy to participate in the President-elect’s call for national service. In participating Starbucks stores across the nation, the American public will have an opportunity to pledge five hours or more of community service toward a local volunteer opportunity of choice. Starbucks will honor each person who pledges with a free tall brewed coffee beginning Wednesday, Jan. 21 through Sunday, Jan. 25. The goal of the effort is to raise pledges in excess of one million hours of service from all over the country.

“Five hours is just 25 minutes a month for a year, two afternoons at a food bank creating care packages, a day reading to children at a hospital or in a park planting trees,” said Vivek Varma, senior vice president of Global Affairs, Starbucks Coffee Company. “We hope to help spark a new spirit of volunteerism by exceeding a million pledge hours and HandsOn Network is the perfect partner to allow our customers to join us in a renewed national commitment to community service.”

“HandsOn Network is excited to join forces with Starbucks. We have witnessed the partnerships between corporations and nonprofits grow more creative and this type of collaboration is a powerful way to reach scale and truly create a movement. Starbucks is the catalyst to reach millions of volunteers and HandsOn equips, activates and provides the much needed resources to help America fulfill the commitments made from this initiative,” said Michelle Nunn, chief executive officer. “HandsOn has over 270 HandsOn Action Centers located in the United States and works with over 31,000 nonprofit organizations. A quick online questionnaire can steer consumers toward a fulfilling volunteer opportunity.”

How to Participate at Your Local Starbucks

· Visit Starbucks:

You can join the “I’m In” campaign, part of the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitment to community involvement, when visiting a local participating Starbucks beginning Wednesday, Jan. 21 (and continuing through Sunday, Jan. 25). Stop by the “I’m In” display featuring community pledge cards, pick up the card, and fill it out with your five-hour commitment to volunteer.

· Pledge Five:

Place the “I’m In” sticker from the pledge card on your lapel, signifying your pledge, and take the card with you as a reminder to keep the effort going. As a thank you, each customer who pledges five hours of their own time will receive a complimentary tall cup of brewed coffee.

· Track Success:

Customers can log on to pledge5.starbucks.com to record pledge hours, find local volunteer opportunities via the HandsOn Network, track hours pledged-to-date, and receive updates on the campaign.

About HandsOn Network
HandsOn Network is a national nonprofit whose core mission is to equip, mobilize and inspire people to take action that changes the world. More information on the organization is at http://www.handsonnetwork.org/

About Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality arabica coffee in the world. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. For more information on Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ please visit www.starbucks.com/sharedplanet. To share in the experience, please visit us in our stores or online at www.starbucks.com