DANCE DAZE in the COMMUNITY BLOG

This spring, we have been working with two incredibly motivated students, who have worked tirelessly to create a free summer ballet and hip hop dance program in Marin County! The students, Onalli and Lauren, have taken on this venture to fulfill their school's service-learning requirement, and they are doing a fantastic job!

Beginning next Saturday, June 22nd, and going through Saturday, August 10th, Onalli and Lauren will be teaching dance classes at the Albert J. Boro Community Center at Pickleweed Park! Dance Daze in Schools is proud to sponsor these girls and their R.O.S.E. (Real Opportunities for Service in Education) Dance Program!

In comparison to last year, when I used to post about volunteer opportunities each month, I've been terrible about posting this year! Although I was busy earning my Master of Arts degree in Curriculum and Instruction and my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, I still made time to volunteer!

Back in January, we volunteered with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and helped clean up San Francisco's Ocean Beach.

In March, we volunteered with Sunday Streets and enjoyed keeping the streets cleared for pedestrians and bikers to enjoy a fantastic day on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

In May, we volunteered for Walk Now for Autism Speaks and cheered on walkers who were raising money for autism research.

I hope you are having a fantastic end of spring and beginning of summer! Keep volunteering!

A few weeks ago, you helped Dance Daze in Schools raise over $300 to bring a free dance program to a Title 1 school in the San Francisco Bay Area! Though we didn't meet our target goal of $500 for 8 weeks of dance classes, we are excited to bring a 5-week program to a school with the money that we raised!

We are reaching out to Bay Area schools that may qualify for this program. If you think you might know of a Title 1 school in the Bay Area that would love to have 5 weeks of free dance classes, please email [email protected] ASAP! We plan to have this program running during the fall of 2013!

The biggest THANK YOU to all who donated, shared, tweeted, re-tweeted, and liked our posts during our campaign week! You all are awesome, and we are so grateful for you! We can't wait to post photos and videos from the program once it gets going!

The Dance Daze in Schools fundraising campaign to bring a FREE dance program to a Title 1 school has launched! We have 3 days remaining (until April 24th, 2013) to raise nearly $400 (we have already had 11 donations pledged!)!

Here's how YOU can help out:

You can LIKE and RE-POST this blog!

You can donate to our campaign in increments of $10

Post the link to our campaign page on your Facebook page and encourage your friends to "like" it!

Go to the Dance Daze in Schools Facebook page and "like" statuses that link to our campaign page!

Find the Dance Daze Twitter page and re-tweet us!

Thanks for your support!

Dance Daze Love,

Hi Friends,

The Dance Daze in Schools Fundraising Campaign to bring a FREE dance program to Title 1 school in the Bay Area has gone LIVE! I hope you will support our cause and/or share the link with your friends and networks! 

http://www.groupon.com/deals/dance-daze-in-schools

Below is some information:

You can donate in increments of $10

Your card is only charged if we meet our goal of $500 by April 24th

100% of donations go directly to Dance Daze in Schools

Dance Daze in Schools is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

The Dance Daze in Schools Federal Tax ID Number is: 45-3066147

Let us know if you donate! Complete this form: http://dancedazeinschools.org/home/groupon_grassroots_donors

Thank you in advance for your support!

In a couple of weeks, Dance Daze in Schools will be fundraising to provide a session of FREE dance classes to a school or community center in the San Francisco Bay Area. We want your input! What school or community center should get the free classes and why? Let us know! Drop us a comment or email your thoughts to: [email protected]

I last mentioned our food drive for the Alameda County Community Food Bank over 3 months ago! Even though several months have passed, I wanted to let you know how we did with accomplishing the goal I set of doubling last year's collection of 70 pounds of food. Well, we didn't quite double the amount, but we were able to collect and donate 125 pounds of food this year!

I can't wait to try to raise twice this new amount in a couple of months!

I hope your 2013 is going well! I'll try to get back to posting more once my schedule settles down a bit! In the meantime, be sure to follow the Dance Daze Intern Blog, where I occasionally post "Founder Blogs": http://dancedazeinterns.wordpress.com/

All my best,

Our Fall Food Drive for the Alameda County Community Food Bank is going well! Last year, we were able to donate 70 pounds of food. I am grateful that more people from our office have gotten involved this year! Together, I hope we'll be able to double last year's weight and donate at least 140 pounds of food to families in our communities. The photo featured in this post shows some food I purchased for our barrel last night!

I have been searching for a way to bring a recycling program to an elementary school in my neighborhood that does not have recycling, and I think CalRecycle might be a great start! I received my free recycling bin from them today, and I am going to bring it to the school tomorrow to get the recycling fun started! CalRecycle, or California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, brings together the state's recycling and waste management programs and continues a tradition of environmental stewardship. Their vision is to inspire and challenge Californians to achieve the highest waste reduction, recycling and reuse goals in the nation.

In other volunteer news with Dance Daze in the Community, we are currently seeking volunteers to join us in serving with awesome nonprofits in the San Francisco Bay Area this fall. We are also planning a big fundraising event for our own nonprofit organization, Dance Daze in Schools, which provides high quality dance enrichment programs to students at schools across the United States.

If you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities with Dance Daze in the Community, please email us at [email protected], or click the links below for more information!