For the love of the game…and community

What an exciting week here at The Salvation Army! We’ve hosted dozens of volunteers for SkyConcert training, we’re working with our partners for Apple Fest on October 2nd and Radiothon this December. And then, we got a lovely surprise – the Pacers announcement on Wednesday.

In case you haven’t heard, on October 8th, the Pacers are going to “kick it old school” and host New Orleans for their pre-season opener at the Pacers original home, the Pepsi Coliseum. Now this is a pretty big deal on a couple of fronts. The game marks the first time since 1974 that the team has played at the Fairgrounds. And it was quite a lucky charm for them – three ABA Championships in seven seasons. Season ticket holders will receive tickets to the game and the community can purchase tickets through the Fieldhouse Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at (317) 239-5151 or at Pacers.com.

Why am I encouraging you to buy tickets? Nostalgia.

But even better than the nostalgia, the proceeds from the game will benefit three local charities, including us! We’re so grateful for the commitment to community that the Pacers continue to show, and the generosity towards our organization in particular. Here’s to a sold-out Coliseum and a winning season!

Value of Volunteering

Volunteering is a win-win scenario for business. There’s no down side to getting out there in the community and showing that you care about the things that matter to the people you count on to buy your product or use your service.

While your contributions, your support are vital to the services we can provide, volunteering allows the community to SEE you doing what you say you support. Now, of course, I wouldn’t be telling you how great this is without giving you an opportunity to try it out, right?

Labor Day is just a calendar page away and one of the biggest events of the weekend is Skyconcert. Advantage Health and HANK 97.1 FM have included us as the official charity of the event. Because 30% of Indy’s homeless is families with children, it’s our Labor of Love to collect money at the event to support The Salvation Army’s homeless programs. But we need a lot of help to take this message to the thousands who come downtown to watch the fireworks.

We’re looking for about 200 volunteers to help out by serving as roaming bellringers (using the buddy system!), bellringers at kettle stations, or answering phones at the Emmis Communications phone bank. Basically, we’re asking you to come out to White River State Park, hang out in the crowd, watch the concert, and help us raise all the money we can to end homelessness in our city!

Could your group benefit from a team building exercise? Could your message/your product use a little visability in the Indy market? We’d love to help you out while you help out our neighbors in need! Check out HomelessnessBites.org to see how you can help.

240 feet

About 120 kids will start school on a better foot this year thanks to one kind donor and our friends at Shoe Carnival.

This year marked the third time Laura Lewis made certain that the kids who participate in our summer day camps set off to school in style. And our friends at the Lafayette & I-65 Shoe Carnival store gave her a place to put that generosity to work. The staff opened their doors early for us so our volunteers could spend a little time with each child as he/she picked out a new pair of shoes, socks, and a brand new backpack filled with school supplies.

We’re so grateful to Mrs. Lewis for her generosity towards these kids. And a special thanks to Shoe Carnival for their willingness to open early and partner with us on this unique program.

If you’d like to volunteer for a Salvation Army program that helps area children in need, email Elizabeth and get involved. Or, if you, like Mrs. Lewis, want to put your generosity in our hands to serve those who need it most, you can make an online donation right now.

Volunteers Needed

So it’s time to fill you in on some details about our partnership with partnering with Hank FM and Advantage Health for Skyconcert at the end of this month. And when I say “our” I mean, we need you!

Our challenge is to coordinate about 200 volunteers by Skyconcert on August 30th. Our volunteers will have one of three duties – walk through the crowds with a bucket collecting donations, ring a bell at one of the stationary kettle locations or take pledges at our phone bank at the Emmis Studios on Monument Circle. All of the donations collected will benefit our programs to end homelessness in Indianapolis.

Volunteers will be asked to attend one of three open house training sessions on either August 16th, 21st or 25th. You’ll recieve an orientation, your volunteer ID badge, and your free event t-shirt. This is also when you can complete your background check – since you’ll be handling money.

Interested in signing up? Give our volunteer coordinator, Elizabeth, a call at 224-1010.