February 2006

In this issue:

1. Intro – special events fever!
2. What’s new at MAP – new tools to help you keep track of your volunteering
3. Current volunteer opportunities – Oscar Night® on Ice, Tuesday Niters, Poster Blast
4. Upcoming volunteer opportunities – Poster Blast II, Core Training
5. Did you know? – MAP’s drug recycling program
6. MAP staff recommends – recommendations from me, Jessica Franken
   

Intro

Special Events Fever!

Special events season is in full swing here at MAP! The Academy Award nominations for Best Picture are: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Munich and Good Night, And Good Luck. Where will you be when the winners are announced? Why not watch it all on a movie-sized screen at our Oscar Night® on Ice event? Then, you can get in MN AIDS Walk mode by helping us distribute materials at our Poster Blast on Feb 25. There are tons of ways to be involved (and get your friends involved) in the next few months. I hope to see you all!

What’s new at MAP

We are trying out a couple new tools for volunteers that we’d like you to know about. Hours Tracker - For an easy way to keep track of your individual volunteer hours at MAP, try the volunteer tracker binder next time you’re in the office. You can start a sheet for yourself, file it under your last name, and fill in your hours each time you volunteer. For office volunteers, you can find this binder right next to my workspace. I will always bring it upstairs for Tuesday Niters.

Interactive calendar – On the MAP website, you can find a calendar that allows you to RSVP for the events listed. It will have community events like forums and AIDS Action Day, and also volunteer events like Poster Blast. It’s also a good reference if you forget when the next Tuesday Niters or volunteer training is.

Current volunteer opportunities

Photo: Gracey Stinson

Oscar Night® on Ice

A few spots remain for our annual Academy Awards® event at the State Theatre on March 5. Volunteers are very important to the event, and assist with things such as wristband checking and selling raffle tickets. Let me know if you are interested, and I can tell you what shifts are available. If you’d rather attend as a guest, you can buy tickets here.

Tuesday Niters

Please join us on February 7 and 21 for our Tuesday Niters drop-in volunteer night. We’ll be helping get supplies ready for Oscar Night®, assembling bags for Poster Blast, and other assorted projects. We meet 4:30 – 7 pm on those nights, come when you can and leave when you need to.

Poster Blast

We will officially kick off the 2006 MN AIDS Walk on February 25 with Poster Blast! At Poster Blast, volunteers meet here at MAP around 9:30 am to get bagels, coffee and materials. They select the neighborhood they’d like to cover, and we talk about the best ways to approach businesses about displaying our Walk posters. Then volunteers head out to their selected neighborhoods to distribute the materials. It’s really amazing to see the transformation so many neighborhoods undergo in one morning! I love seeing all the posters in store windows when I drive home that day. I hope you can all join us! RSVP to me. If you aren’t available that day, but would like to help Poster Blast the metro, you can set up a time to come get materials and distribute them on your own time.

Upcoming volunteer opportunities

Poster Blast II

On April 1, we will be meeting at MAP at 9:30 am again for the second round of Poster Blast. We’ll focus on the areas we weren’t able to get to the first time, and also on restocking the registration cards at the places we left point of purchase displays.

Core Training

March 23, 6:00 pm at MAP

Please join us for an HIV 101 training geared towards volunteers on Thursday, March 23. It will run from 6 – 9 pm, here at MAP. Lorraine Teel, MAP executive director, and Becca Denaway, MAP AIDSLine health educator, will cover the basics of HIV history, epidemiology, risks, transmission, and testing. They will also answer all those questions you’ve been wanting to ask about HIV. RSVP to me if interested.

Did you know?

MAP has a drug recycling program, in partnership with Aid for AIDS, an organization that collects antiretroviral and anti-microbial medicines from persons who have changed therapies or discontinued their use. HIV medications and medications used to treat opportunistic infections are processed by MAP, send to Aid for AIDS in New York, then sent to HIV-positive individuals (under the supervision of their treating physicians) in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean. If you have a medication that you would like to donate, check here to make sure it is an eligible drug, or call the MAP AIDSLine at 612-373-2437.

MAP Staff Recommends

This month’s recommendations come from Jessica Franken, Volunteer Coordinator (yep, that’s me).

Book

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

At first I was put off by all the hype that surrounded this book when it came out, but I’m so glad I finally read it. Smith writes vibrant, unique characters that develop beautifully throughout the many years of the plot. She covers so many topics (gender, race, war, generational differences, Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, immigration, science and ethics), but the book remains incredibly readable, and I was sad when it ended..

DVD

Freaks and Geeks: the complete series

Possibly my favorite TV show ever. Set in a suburban Michigan high school in 1980, this series was unjustly cancelled after 18 episodes. Whether you were (or are) a freak, a geek, a jock, or anything in between in high school, this show will probably ring achingly true. The DVDs have great commentaries, deleted scenes and auditions.

Last Updated: Tuesday, April 3, 2007
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