Upcoming Events
Thursday, June 12, 4 to 7 pm, Nicolette Park, in Lexington Park. Community Fun Day. Christmas in April * St. Mary's County will have a table and distribute our new 2009 Applications for Assistance, hand out our new 2008 Farm Life Festival brochures, and showcase this year's photos of volunteers working on 23 homes and 1 community project. Can you give 2 hours to volunteer?
Tuesday, June 17, 7 pm, at the CMI General Contractors offices in Charlotte Hall. It's our next Farm Life Festival Committee meeting, where our planning continues for this exciting 11th year's Festival. Come join the committee. Festival proceeds are donated to Christmas in April * St. Mary's.
Wednesday, June 18, 8:30 am, at the Burch Oil Company meeting room, located on Rt. 235 ( Three Notch Road ) in Hollywood. Meeting lasts less than 1 hour. We are still collecting photos and stories for this year's newsletter edition.
Saturday, June 21, 12:00 Noon, Juneteenth Activities, Freedom Park, in Lexington Park. 12 noon until 8 pm. We will have table space here to distribute our 2009 Applications for Assistance, hand out our new 2008 Farm Life Festival brochures, and show this year's photos of volunteers working on 23 homes and 1 community project. We need volunteers to help at our table. Can you give 2 hours (or more) to volunteer?
Saturday, July 5, Freedom Festival at the Leonardtown Fairgrounds. We will also have table space here to distribute all our new materials. Can you help us any time between 4 pm until 9 pm?
Thank you, everyone, for all your support over this past year. Together, we are making a big difference in improving the lives of the low-income, elderly, and disabled homeowners in our county.
Outline of Christmas in April * St. Mary’s
Calendar of Events
Every year from April through October, we travel throughout our community distributing our free Applications for Assistance, asking for help from all our supporters and volunteers, to look out for their neighbors, and if they know someone who needs our help to give that neighbor an application with our address and to let their neighbors know of the deadline to apply.
From mid-October, November, thru mid-December, our House Selection Committee members (usually in teams of two people) visit every person that has applied for help with home repairs. We visit the homeowners, inspect the homes, and then in mid to late December the committee members meet to narrow down the choices to the homes that we think our volunteers will be able to repair, also taking in mind that we have to raise all the money that is needed to purchase the building material and supplies to provide those repairs. The House Selection Committee then makes their recommendations to the Advisory Board and/or Board of Directors who vote on the recommendations.
Starting January 1st, all our committees spring into full action. We solicit volunteers, including area coordinators, house captains, co-captains, and worker bee's. We choose the homes in late December that we will be repairing in April, so in January we now set to work to organize the necessary teams of volunteers (skilled, semi-skilled, and support) to achieve our goals. Fundraising efforts “kick-in” to high gear. Food committees are formed. By the beginning of April, when our deadline to volunteer arrives, we usually have between 1,400 to 1,500 volunteers registered to work on that last Saturday in April. We aim to solicit and place the appropriate number of volunteers on each site, focusing on our goals ranging from repairs and safety concerns, but continue to need individuals willing to step into leadership roles such as following committees: Materials, Publicity, Fundraising, and Skilled Trades.
Numerous youth participants help behind the scene. Since our insurance company tells us that NO ONE under the age of 14 can work on any of our construction sites, those children under that age are encouraged to participate in our program, but in different aspects. We have hundreds of school children that collect cleaning supplies for us, hold fundraisers (especially penny drives), donate baked goods, provide extra services to homeowners which include canned foods, flowers for planting (many of which the children have grown themselves), and some youth groups have even been some of our most successful “lunch providers”.
During the year, Christmas in April * St. Mary's supporters gather once a month to determine what the needs are for that month, how we meet those needs, and move forward to meeting our goals for another successful year. Our meetings are always the third Wednesday of each month. We borrow the meeting room at the Burch Oil Company, located on Rt. 235 in Hollywood . Our meetings last up to one hour (8:30-9:30 am), and our meetings are always open to the public. However, in our effort to encourage new leaders and committee “chairs”, we are holding some of our meetings in the evening at 7 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend. Also during the year, we provide emergency repairs to homes, along with non-emergency repairs. There are many elderly and disabled people in our community that have simple needs, but no way of tackling those needs. These could be as simple as cleaning out gutters and installing overhead lights/light bulbs, to minor home repairs, to as important as our purchasing and installing a furnace where there had been no heat. Depending on our volunteers' time availability and any funds that we may have available, we try to fill those needs.
We always need volunteer support every October for the Southern Maryland Farm-Life Festival.
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Events & Happenings
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| January 1-April 1. Start Publicity and Mark eting to obtain: Skilled Trades, Volunteer Re-registration, Food and School Committees.
January (2nd week) Mail letters to last year's group participants soliciting their help for this year's Christmas in April program.
January (2nd week) Mail letters to last year's area coordinators, house captains, and skilled trades soliciting their participation for Year 2008.
January Materials Committee meets to begin preparations.
End of January. Logistics Committee Meeting, Prepare for 1st House Capt. Meeting held the 2nd Week in Feb.
2nd Week in Feb. 1st. House Captain/Area Coordinator Meeting for Year.
Last week in Feb. Evening meeting for Logistics Committee to prepare for second house captain meeting.
2nd Week in Mar. Second House Captain Meeting; House Captains turn in material and supply lists, requirements for skilled trades, volunteer requests, and special needs.
Mid March Homeowner/Family Orientation Night
April 1st Deadline for volunteer registration
Beginning of Apr. Final House Captain Meeting, receive volunteer lists, go over final preparations.
Last Friday in Apr. House Captains and/or Representatives pick up materials and supplies.
Last Sat. in Apr. Christmas in April National Rebuilding Day
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