Good Job Crypto!

You've just busted the asses of about 99.8% of the rest of the population of the CONUS.


Keep it up!

-Bubba

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Bubba Man Gnad
Zombie Squad Fleet Vehicle ZS0069

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper." -Benjamin Franklin

It's Not Zombies, but still good PAW! John Ringo's The Last Centurion

Thanks to stupid school I haven't donated any time to volunteering except for ZS. However, I scheduled a class to get my CPR training updated next month (we have to do it every year) so I can get back to Red Cross soon.

For those in St. Louis, there is discussion of getting a Habitat for Humanity build going this year. Several of the ZS chapter members are hitting the orientation class next Wednesday.
http://groups.google.com/group/ZSC-001/ ... 242d230f2e

I hope to hit that, depending on what's going on when they schedule it.

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Zombie Squad - "We can handle it from here. We've talked about this on the Internet."

I will be getting my own Girl Scout troop soon. I'm assuming that since Boy Scouts counts then GS does too!

Also the unofficial PacNW crew is busy with ideas for charity events.

Sweet. You guys should start a chapter!

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Zombie Squad - "We can handle it from here. We've talked about this on the Internet."

Um, they are. =)

And I'm getting back into volunteering with my DAT team at the Rd Cross. w00t!

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a deviant path is the only way
:sk

Michelle, which DAT are you on? I still need to do two more ridealongs before they'll turn me loose on my own, so if you wouldn't mind hanging out with me for 8 hours, let me know when you're on and I'll tell Becky to put me on the board.

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MF'N TEAM LEADER

"Some people think that the best way to stop the leopard is to cut the horns off the gazelle. This, my friends, is insane."

9Mar and 30Mar, 4p-midnight. It'll be fun!

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a deviant path is the only way
:sk

Yeah, what she said! I think Seanwins is the one handling that stuff for the moment.

I'll be out of town on the 30th, but I'll try to get on this sunday's shift. Thanks!

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MF'N TEAM LEADER

"Some people think that the best way to stop the leopard is to cut the horns off the gazelle. This, my friends, is insane."

How about our local animal shelter?

I sometimes go over for an hour or 2 to help feed and walk and clean the dogs waiting/hoping for new homes...it's not disaster related, but it is how I ended up with my Cheagle (Chow/Beagle mix)...

nfa

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"I don't want to survive. I want to live. " - Captain B. McCrea


My Blog and website, dealing largely with my writing projects...I've published two novels, "Here Be Monsters" and "Caretakers", along with a pair of eBooks, "Mickey Slips" and "Bound for Home"...check them out!

Definitely! Actually, a big proportion of our charities that ZS has officially supported are not disaster related, directly.

You might want to drop an email to Jamoni at volunteer@zombiehunters.org just to clear it with him though.

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Zombie Squad - "We can handle it from here. We've talked about this on the Internet."

I'm good with it. Animal shelters directly improve the health and welfare of the community. The charities don't have to be disaster related per se, but they do have to be something that makes your community as a whole better.

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BUMP!
Hey people, make sure you are logging your hours! Believe it or not, there are actual cool prizes to be had! So, uh, keep doing stuff! Use your powers for good, not evil!

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You know what bugs me? This is such a great program, but we won't find out till the end of the year what you guys are doing!
So here's the skinny: I'd like VAP participants to post in this thread their charity accomplishments. Give us a write-up of a particularly rewarding day, or maybe some pics of things you've done to help. The whole point of the VAP is to give some recognition to all of you, so let's start now!

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Ok, I'll take the bait and do a writeup.

For the past school year I have volunteered at a small elementary school in the 5th and 6th grade learning disabled class. They have everything from mild dyslexia to severe ADD and autism. I help their teacher by tutoring them one on one when they fall behind on something or need to do some drills before a quiz or test. It's mostly making copies or running times tables with the kids, but they're all different in their own way and it's been really cool to learn how each of them thinks and behaves. I've had to be a bit of a hardass, but I explain to them that they need to learn this stuff because it isn't going away. At first, I thought they all hated me for making them learn the stuff that frustrated them most, but we understood each other better as the year progressed. For christmas, they made me a card on which one of the girls wrote "9x12=108. Love, olivia." I almost cried out of the sheer cuteness.
When there isn't anything to do in my classroom, I go help out the librarian. It's mostly filing books away, but 3 times in the year I've been able to read a story to a class of 1st graders (if you have a tiny of your own, read them Police Cat by Enid Hinkes, it rocks). In 2008, I did 20 hours at this school. It was awesome.

I also filled sandbags the friday of the floods for about 5 hours, but I didn't get anything signed so it doesn't technicall exist. If you ever get a chance to fill sandbags, do it.

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Oh. You guys see that? Sweettea FTW!
I can't really touch that, because the only "volunteer" work I've been doing in 2008 is ZS stuff. So:
I've worked on the VAP, the ZSARC, a seminar we're doing for some Boy Scouts, and a little bit of stuff for Z-Con. I'm going to donate blood on Saturday at the blood drive, though I can't work it because I'll be getting there at the last minute.
So, if this were a volunteer throwdown, I'd say Sweet-Tea is in the lead.

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If this get some poeple out there and helping out, that is really cool

I get off on the thanks.... but there are a lot of good people that need to be asked

And this kind of thing gets people thinking...which is also cool!

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"One is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully." (LtCOL. Jeff Cooper U.S.M.C.)

I don't know if it counts, but I donated some money to Doctors Without Borders, Komen for the Cure, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation a couple of weeks ago. Not as much as I'd have liked, but what I could spare at the time.

I"m also waiting to hear back about volunteering with the Red Cross. I sent in a request for info last week, but I haven't heard anything from the local chapter.

Thanks ZS for promoting these sorts of things. I've gotten permission from work to take leave for some training and volunteering with the Red Cross (here in Anchorage we have a different organization that is known as the ARC)

Unfortunately, we can't count monetary donations. The program is focused towards hours spent volunteering. But, your monetary support is appreciated. I'm a big fan of Doctors Without Borders.

Have you heard back from your local Red Cross chapter, yet? If not I might be able to help you out. I'd hate to see a motivated potential volunteer go to waste. Drop me an email and I'll help you out.

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Zombie Squad - "We can handle it from here. We've talked about this on the Internet."

The volunteering I've done this year hasn't been too eventful.

I joined Red Cross Disaster Services right after New Years, and they put me through about 20 hours of classroom training before they let me do anything useful. Since then, I've been working on a Disaster Action Team about once a month.

For those who don't know, the Disaster Action Teams are the guys from the Red Cross who show up after your house burns down. We have blankets and hot drinks if you're standing around in the snow in your pajamas in the dark.

More importantly though, we have the means to put you up in a hotel overnight, and can even give you some emergency money for food and some clothing.

All this stuff is designed to be a stopgap measure until you get a hold of your insurance carrier to cut you a check, or your landlord to put you up in another apartment, but when someone has just had everything they own burn to the ground, just having someone looking out for them can mean a world of difference.

We have phone numbers for pretty much everyone in the trucks. Numbers to call for people to come board up your windows and doors so what's left doesn't get looted, numbers for fire restoration people to come and clean out the smoke and soot, and hotline numbers for almost all the insurance carriers so you can get a claims agent out first thing in the morning. Also, we'll assign a case worker to you to make sure you're taken care of in the long term after we go home.

So, basically we sit around waiting for people's houses to burn down. It's kind of a paradoxical situation you're in. Sitting around in the ready room for 8 hours is boring, but the only way you'll get any excitement means someone else has to have the worst day of their life. Sometimes for fun we'll go out and give drinks and snacks to the fire fighters working a commercial fire.

All in all it's pretty rewarding though, and I enjoy it.

Disaster Services aside, I helped put together the St. Louis Chapter's Red Cross blood drive this month, which was totally awesome.

Aside from the Red Cross work, here's what I've been doing for ZS:

I've been helping jamoni get ready for a ZS seminar/presentation to the Boy Scouts.

I've started working with the other St. Louis Chapter people and the National Board to get local events running, like the ongoing Movie Nights, the St. Louis Disaster Fair, and some other new stuff.

I guess I have about 30 hours of real actual volunteer time logged in, counting just the Red Cross work.

That reminds me, I need to get in touch with Becky and get her to sign off on my time sheets for the VAP.

Anyway, keep up the good work people, it's really awesome to see ZS people making a positive difference locally, and it's REALLY great to see ZS getting the word out. Carry on!

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MF'N TEAM LEADER

"Some people think that the best way to stop the leopard is to cut the horns off the gazelle. This, my friends, is insane."

Well.. Figured I would post..

Since 4/8 I am at like 85 hours.

I actually had my LT sign the form He kinda gave me a weird look. I'm known for being a little whacky in the office and since I am the youngest and only a volunteer .. I just explained that if your prepared for Zombies your prepared for anything!

In my 85 hours.. I've taught a cert class, trained 30 people in how to do search and rescue, volunteered for a walk, spent a lot of time planning for a large run / walk in our city coming up and spent a bunch of ours in training courses learning how to save the world .. and spent the night at a baseball game talking to citizens about getting prepared.

The most rewarding 30 minutes I spent was when I met these 3 people taking the CERT training that looked at me and said give us all the info you can! They were average joe's that were preparing themselves for when the shtf. I talked about them in another post. I think they will probbally end up here at some point. I see them again on Tuesday for the final so I'll make sure to write the web site down instead of just telling them.

I'll be sending my hours in soon I'm just itchin for a shirt

The boy helped move red cross to a new location with the explorers this morning.

I wasn't counting hours I spent in training, only hours actually helping people.

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MF'N TEAM LEADER

"Some people think that the best way to stop the leopard is to cut the horns off the gazelle. This, my friends, is insane."