2016 National Day of Service and Remembrance

Service As A Strategy Richmond’s Newsletter on Volunteerism and Community Engagement

Fall 2016

On 9/9/16, the City of Richmond participated in the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. The event was held to honor lives that were lost fifteen years ago, celebrate first responders, and engage city residents and employees in service projects throughout Richmond. Victoria Cochran, Deputy Director of Pub-lic Safety and Homeland Security for the Commonwealth of Virginia, gave words of encouragement and shared the state’s commitment to work with municipal leaders such as the Mayor to keep Virginians safe. The U.S. Army’s Colonel Mark Simerly, Director of Capability Developments and Integration at Fort Lee shared from his personal experiences and gave hopeful words to all in attendance that America is strong and secure. Johnny McLean, Director of the City’s Human Resources Department, was the event’s keynote speak-er. Working for the federal government near the Pentagon, he shared the impact of that day in his life. He inspired many with his words of encouragement and leadership in crisis. In conjunction with September being National Preparedness Month, the City of Richmond’s Fire and Emergency Services staff provided event attendees with valuable information pertaining to safety and emer-gency preparedness and the Richmond Ambulance Authority provided free Hands-Only CPR training. The City’s Mobile Command Post (MCP) was open during the event for tours. Also on site for tours was the City’s Fire Safety House, another specialized City vehicle used as a tool to teach fire safety to the public. Evan McKeel, a recent top performer on The Voice, inspired all in attendance with moving renditions of America the Beautiful, My Country Tis of Thee, and Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up”. A mini-stair climb was conducted in City Hall at the end of the program, led by Denise Heer (Human Resources—Wellness Coordinator) Capping off the day were various service projects conducted throughout the city, including City De-partments, local nonprofit organizations, and universities. Over 100 volunteers served, including City of Rich-mond employees, AmeriCorps members, Ft. Lee soldiers, Richmond Chapter Guardian Angels, SunTrust em-ployees, and both middle and high school students who attend the Richmond Academy. Volunteers assisted with beautification projects in Highland Park that included painting, trash pick-up, a cutting grass, sorting household items at CARITAS, washing police vehicles at the 3rd and 4th precincts, spreading mulch at UMFS’ playground, and beautifying Bryan Park’s Nature Garden.

Ft. Lee Soldiers @ the remembrance event

Students washing police cars

SunTrust Volunteer @ Bryan Park

Volunteers painting in High-land Park

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2016 “Give Thanks, Give Food” Thanksgiving Food Drive

The City of Richmond’s annual “Give Thanks, Give Food” Thanksgiving Food Drive took place from October 31 through November 23. Once again, FeedMore is the City of Richmond’s benefitting partner in this endeavor. The 2,014 pounds of food donated was distributed to vulnerable residents across the city. N2N thanks City and non-City employees who donated food at the following locations:

* City Hall - Lobby

* Dept. of Public Utilities – 400 Jefferson Davis Highway

* Marshall Plaza - 3rd floor Break Room

* Richmond Ambulance Authority

* Richmond Behavioral Health Authority

* Richmond City Health District

* Richmond Fire Department

* Richmond Public Library

* Dept. of Public Utilities :

730 East Broad Street

1400 Brander St

3920 Douglasdale Road

* East District Center

* Economic and Community Development

* Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities

* Richmond Police Department

* Southside Plaza

Paul Manning @ City Hall

Kristen Stell (Economic and Community Devel-opment) at the downtown train station Tanya Arrington (DSS) and

Jennifer Swinson (AmeriCoprs ACES) @ Marshall Plaza

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City Hall Ambassadors—1 Year Anniversary

On September 1, 2016, the City Hall Ambassadors Program celebrated it’s first anniversary. On No-vember 10th, Mayor Jones hosted a “Thank You” luncheon to honor the volunteers who have served so won-derfully. The gathering was held at the Valentine Museum and was a beautiful occasion. Customer service is central to all of the services that the City of Richmond provides. The City Hall Ambassadors help to reinforce this value by delivering superb service to City Hall’s visitors. Special thanks goes to the DCAO for Human Ser-vices, Debra Gardner, and her Executive Assistant (Dreana Gardner) for helping to ensure that the event was a success.

Enjoying great food and conversation Picture with Mayor Jones Debra Gardner thanking the volunteers

Deloitte Each year, Deloitte employees across the globe all serve on a day they have designated as “Impact Day”. This year, that day was on June 10. N2N was contacted by Deloitte and asked if a service project could be developed for them in the City of Richmond. Partnering with the City’s Parks and Recreation De-partment’s Community Gardens Coordinator, Vicki Campbell, the Deloitte volunteers were assigned to the Bryan Park Nature Center Gardens. The twelve volunteers worked over 5,000 square feet of space, pulling weeds, mulched all flower beds, and planted 30 perennials. (Deloitte is one of the "Big Four" and the sec-ond largest professional services network in the world by revenue and largest by the number of profession-als. Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services with more than 225,400 professionals in over 150 countries. The company currently has a total of 46 global member firms and in 2015, earned a record $35.2 billion USD in revenues.)

AmeriCorps Regional Launch—2016/2017

A Regional AmeriCorps Launch, to kick-off the new program year, was held on Friday, October 7 at Pocahontas State Park. City of Richmond Chief Service Officer Paul Manning served as the Master of Cere-monies. Each AmeriCorps program represented had members give an elevator speech on their perspective programs. Dr. Erin Brown, a former AmeriCorps Program Director, was the keynote speaker and also admin-istered the AmeriCorps pledge to members. Afterwards members participated in beautification projects throughout the parks and closed out the day having lunch and networking with members from other pro-grams.

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AmeriCorps ACES (ACES = Action for Community Enhancement Services)

Operation HOME REFRESH

Operation HOME REFRESH is N2N’s transformative new initiative that engages qualified volunteers (licensed and insured for specific projects) to provide an array of services to vulnerable residents. Eligible candidates seeking volunteer service are first screened by qualified employees from the City and/or com-munity partners (i.e., non-profit organizations) for N2N’s for consideration. To learn more about this trans-formative initiative, please go to

A recent Operation HOME REFRESH project was conducted after N2N was contacted by the Para-lyzed Veterans of America (Mid-Atlantic Chapter) and asked to repair and paint a paralyzed vets’ wheel-chair ramp. A request was also made to power-wash the resident’s house. A private contractor has agreed to power-wash the house pro bono and N2N ensured that the ramp was repaired and painted. In the words of the organization’s Administrative Director, Jen Purser, “[Resident’s name] ramp looks amazing; thank you so much! He is so happy!”

BEFORE