Community Service Bulletin

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Spotlight

This summer, the Community Service Opportunities Bulletin will be posted on the first Wednesday of each month, June - August. The weekly bulletin will resume on Wednesday, September 3. Have a great summer!

One-Time Opportunities

Help victims of the cyclone! Attend the benefit concert for Burma's cyclone relief efforts. (6/3)
Share a BBQ lunch with lonely and frail elders. (6/21)
Support Cambridge Cares about AIDS and help out with the Cambridge Cares Car Wash this summer! (7/19 or 8/16)

Ongoing Opportunities

Help print-disabled students succeed in their education.
Volunteer 3 hours/week to drive an older woman with limited sight to buy groceries.

Fellowships and Funded Opportunities

Apply for the MIT greenhouse gas inventory internship this summer.
Be a summer camp counselor at The Greenhouse School!

One-Time Opportunities

Help victims of the cyclone! Attend the benefit concert for Burma's cyclone relief efforts. (6/3)
On June 3, 4-7PM, the Harvard Burma Action Movement will host an open air concert at the Harvard T-stop (Red Line) to raise money for the victims of Burma's cyclone. Come hear local musicians and spoken word artists perform for urgent humanitarian aid to Burma. Burmese food from Yoma Restaurant will be served to raise money for relief efforts. The concert also features speakers and a candlelight vigil for the thousands who have died.

Timing is critical as the aftermath of the Nargis cyclone could kill more than a million people in the next few weeks. The UN estimates that at least 100,000 have already died and 220,000 more are missing. Those who have survived lost their homes. Without shelter or a viable source of income, survivors are dying slowly from malnutrition, diarrhea, cholera, and other infectious diseases. Yet in the midst of this immense tragedy, there is hope.

All the money raised will benefit the Burma Relief Network, a local NGO providing healthcare, safe drinking water, and food to survivors of Burma's cyclone. Although the military junta has restricted international aid, teams of doctors and local volunteers from the Burma Relief Network are able to reach the hardest hit regions, inaccessible to foreign aid workers.

To learn more about Burma and the urgent aid needed, visit www.burmareliefnetwork.org, harvardbam.blogspot.com, or email brightprism@gmail.com.

Share a BBQ lunch with lonely and frail elders. (6/21)
With People Making a Difference (PMD), come barbeque chicken and hang out with 40 friendly, formerly homeless elders on Saturday, June 21, 9:30AM to 2:30PM at the Anna Bissonnette House in the South End. Cooking experience not required.

Founded in 1991 by a group of experienced professional women who shared a belief that older men and women living in shelters or on the streets was intolerable, Helping Elders At Risk Through Homes (HEARTH)-Home for Good's goals are to be advocates and activists on behalf of homeless elders. More information about this charity can be found at www.hearth-home.org.

All volunteers are asked to contribute $8 each to help offset the cost of the meal. As always, please contact PMD privately for a waiver if this is a financial hardship.

To participate, visit www.pmd.org.

Support Cambridge Cares about AIDS and help out with the Cambridge Cares Car Wash this summer! (7/19 or 8/16)
Wash cars for a good cause on either July 19 or August 16, depending on volunteer availability. If you are interested in helping out, contact Richa Kaul, 617-599-0227, rkaul@ccaa.org.

For more information about Cambridge Cares about AIDS, visit www.ccaa.org.

Ongoing Opportunities

Help print-disabled students succeed in their education.
Come to Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) studio to digitally record textbooks in a wide variety of subject areas.

Two-hour recording sessions take place daily, throughout the morning and evening. Ultimately flexible scheduling; you record when it is convenient for you. "Last-minute" and "walk-ons" welcomed. RFB&D records in all academic areas, but there is an acute need for readers in the sciences.

The RFB&D digital-audio recording studio is located at 58 Charles Street, Cambridge, near the Galleria Mall -- a ten-minute, safe walk from Kendall Square.

For a complete information kit, email volboston@rfbd.org.

Volunteer 3 hours/week to drive an older woman with limited sight to buy groceries.
Carol Kiley, an older woman with cerebral palsy, needs a responsible volunteer to take her grocery shopping once a week. One weeknight, or one Saturday afternoon a week will be sufficient, for as many weeks as you would like to volunteer. Must be responsible and provide own vehicle.

Residence is 59 Coolidge Hill Rd, Watertown, MA, near the Arsenal Mall.

Interested volunteers should contact Carol Kiley directly at 617-926-7350.

Fellowships and Funded Opportunities

Apply for the MIT greenhouse gas inventory internship this summer.
The intern will be responsible for updating the MIT Greenhouse Gas Inventory with a revised methodology and documenting the new methodology. The intern will:

-Create a revised methodology for calculations in the greenhouse gas inventory that conforms to current standards and determine how to gather updated factors and constants on a regular basis;

-Gather updated data and input the data into the revised inventory to create updated results;

-Create a guidebook for the updated methodology and data gathering methods;

-Go to occasional coordination meetings with Harvard, City of Cambridge, ICLEI, Clean Air Cool Planet to coordinate inventory methodologies.

Candidates should be at least a rising junior, senior, or a graduate student.

This position is part-time (approximately 10 hours/week, $10 per hour) and will be supervised by Peter Cooper in the Department of Facilities and will also work with Steve Lanou in the Environmental Programs Office. The position is funded by the MIT Campus Sustainability Fund.

If interested, please send a resume and a 1-2 sentence statement of interest to Beth Conlin, bconlin@mit.edu.

Be a summer camp counselor at The Greenhouse School!
The Greenhouse School is a year-round private alternative school in Salem, Massachusetts (on the Communuter Line), for kids from infancy through grade eight. The summer session is more than a school and more than a day camp. Kids go on a series of overnight camping trips every two weeks. They also plan, plant, tend and harvest the school garden, and last summer they organized their own Olympic style games.

The summer session lasts from the middle of June to the first week in September.

Potential interns should above all be enthusiastic and willing to work hard. Art and sports backgrounds are most helpful. Interest or experience in swimming, ceramics, gardening, video production, chess, Spanish, camping etc. are helpful but not absolutely necessary.

Interested volunteers should visit www.volunteersolutions.org/boston/org/opp/234802.html to learn more about the position and then send an email of interest, with subject "I'm interested," to Daniel Welch, wpdanny@netzero.net. Please include a cover letter and resume. There is a stipend, though not a big one. It's a demanding but rewarding experience for the right person, and a chance to work alongside experienced teachers in an enriching environment.

The MIT Public Service Center is not responsible for the quality or safety of outside service agencies, and does not screen volunteer placements or projects.

The Community Service Opportunities bulletin is published once a week by the staff of the MIT Public Service Center. To access information about previously published opportunities, please visit the archives on the right column. If you have questions, feel free to call us at 617-253-0742, or stop by 4-104.

To be removed from this list, please email psc@mit.edu.

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