It is my very great pleasure to announce the roll-out of a new program to reward the many volunteers in Zombie Squad. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:

“The ZS Volunteer Awards Program”

Zombie Squad is always looking for ways to benefit the communities that our members live in. A large part of this work is done through chapter events, but not everyone lives close enough to a chapter to participate. We also recognize that many of our members donate their own time and effort to worthwhile charities, with, up to now, little recognition from Zombie Squad.

We are changing that.

Zombie Squad wants to recognize and reward the selfless behaviour that makes this organization so great. To do so, we've come up with the Zombie Squad Volunteer Awards Program (ZS-VAP). The ZS-VAP offers recognition to those who cannot participate in chapter events, or who volunteer aditional time on their own. It is available to any ZS member with a current membership.

Here's how it works:

1. Submit your charity:
Send us information about the charity or charities you wish to volunteer for. The ZS board must approve all charities that members volunteer for in the ZS-VAP in order to receive credit towards awards. An initial list of approved charities should be available and new charities will be approved as members suggest them and are approved by the ZS board of directors.
Mail, email, or fax information to:

Zombie Squad
P.O. BOX 63124
ST. LOUIS, MO. 63163

VAP@ZOMBIEHUNTERS.ORG

Fax: 1-888-495-4052

2. Log the hours you work:
Once the charity is approved, the ZS member volunteer must simply keep track of their hours and have their supervisor sign off on them. Much of this program is based on an honor system, but after the volunteer submits the form(s) the ZS coordinator of ZS-VAP may follow up with the supervisor to verify the hours are correct before the award is mailed out.

Links to forms:
http://zombiehunters.org/vap/zs-vap.rtf
http://zombiehunters.org/vap/zs-vap.pdf

And here is a link to a free pdf reader if you need it:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader ... reader.htm

The volunteer award form has an attached time sheet to show the break down of dates/hours to show where the total hours come from.
A separate form must be filled out for each different charity.

3. Get free stuff:
You have to work at least 20 hours per year to receive an award. The more hours you work, the more stuff you will get. Awards are cumulative, so working 80 hours will get you all three.
#1 - 20 hours - ZS volunteer Pin: This is a quality enamel lapel pin, which will add just the right touch of class to your post-apocalyptic outfit.
#2 - 40 hours - ZS volunteer Patch: Just the thing for marking your bags and clothing as the property of a caring individual who is prepared for the living dead.
#3 - 80 hours - ZS volunteer T-shirt: Be the envy of everyone in your limited edition Zombie Squad Volunteer T-shirt.

Start Date: January 1st 2008
Cumulative volunteer hours will be calculated over a year at a time. The calendar year to add up hours for award benefits will be between January 1st and December 31st each year the program is active. Volunteer hours over multiple years cannot be combined. Hour totals are reset each January 1st.

We hope to reward the dedication of our members with this program. We also hope that it will encourage some of you to give that little extra that might make the difference in your own community. Please contact us to join this exciting new program!

VAP@ZOMBIEHUNTERS.ORG

Further details will be posted on the main site and in this thread as they become available.

Jamoni, that is a great idea! I think this will hopefully get more people involved with their community. I've been talking about helping out with the local boys and girls club here on Fort Hood and will hopefully get a chance to before I leave the area. Again, I can't reiterate enough that this is a great idea.

Some of you may be thinking "Why would Zombie Squad give away all this cool stuff for nothing?"

Well, to be honest we do have a slight ulterior motive. This will give us a way to keep track of what sort of impact our members are having out there. We always stress on our Squad the importance of community service and this will be one way to measure if we're actually accomplishing that mission.

By the way, I know that many of you volunteer for charity organizations out there already. For those of you who do this you don't have to do anything extra besides be an active member and mail in the time sheet. Easy stuff.

As Jamoni said already, this will be a great way for members who aren't near a chapter to get involved but, for those who are in ZS chapters, you can apply for the same rewards for charity events your chapter puts on. Contact us for details about that.

Ok, so i was talking to a fellow at work today about a program he runs. He runs an after school program for young high school kids that allows them to hang out in groups together with an adult (he's the "cool" adult we all knew as kids) and do stuff they otherwise wouldn't be able to easily do.

They do stuff like walk around down town, go to movies or six flags, go swimming at the YMCA etc. The idea is that while they could do this stuff sometimes it is not that common for them and a bunch (5-7) of kids hanging out together tend to get into trouble plus they have a hard time getting around without older friends (who tend to be bad news...). His program (i forgot the name but ill ask him next time i see him) doesn't have much money but they do have enough to pay for the kids to do these things. 7 - 9 tickets to do something cool (or coolish) doesn't cost much most of the time so it's not a big deal. During the time hanging out this guy tries to teach the kids real world lessons they may otherwise not get to learn (ie: manners, social protocols, don't litter etc.).

The guy is pretty cool so while it sounds like a boring field trip the kids have fun and get to goof off a bunch so it's more like hanging out with a cool uncle.

In exchange for taking them out every other week to have fun they need to "work".

They go downtown and clean up trash on the street, they plant flowers in crappy neighborhoods, they help build playgrounds, etc etc. You get the idea. They still goof off and have a good time but they also learn how to do stuff and good stuff gets done.

Anyway, i told Phil (the guy who runs the program) about Zombie Squad, of course, and the ZSVAP and he thought it was awesome. If these kids were old enough to join ZS (like you lucky people are!) they could use the hours they put in every other week doing volunteer work to earn ZSVAP hours. Phil said he is going to join ZS and use his hours to get the cool stuff and support us. Since he is technically volunteering EVERY week he should do very well.

I thought that was pretty cool.

So now you are asking yourselves "Why the heck did i just read this stupid story from will and what is his point?"

Well i'll tell you. The point is this, we put a lot of time and effort into coming up with the ZSVAP program and we really want it to take off. It's cool, it's easy (for the volunteers) to do, and it gives ZS a whole lot of props with other volunteer groups. The more street cred we have the more groups we can work with and the bigger and better ZS gets and in turn the more we can help out the communities we all live in!

So here is the real deal:

ZSVAP, if it's cool enough for Phil, its cool enough for you!


JOIN THE ZSVAP TODAY. THE WORLD NEEDS YOU!


peace-
-will

I just sent in my two primary volunteer gigs for approval.

If ZS likes them, I'll be sporting some cool ZS Volunteer Gear!

This was a great idea guys!

-Brian

Sent in mine:
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 18:22:59 -0600

I want that pin!

Does the volunteering have to be for a charity? or can it be for an organization? For example does volunteering as a boy scout leader count?

Yup. Seems to fit the bill. But, I'd ask Mike (Jamoni) to be sure. Email him at vap@zombiehunters.org

I got the up-check for both Boy Scout leader and Venture Crew leader.

HTH.

Awesome, thanks.

What a great idea!

We are actually going to be volunteering with Habitat For Humanity this year. I will be helping out once a month (as that is what my schedule will allow for now).

I am also going to be volunteering down at the local animal shelter (building shelters, feeding and playing with the animals).

The local Parks and Rec programs always need volunteers for programs such as greenway clean up, recycyling center help and program volunteers.

I am really hoping to start volunteering more time this coming year.

Very cool! The point of this program is to encourage this.

Sending mine...now.

Happy New year!

Alright, let's get volunteering!!

We're getting the fancy ZS enamel pins made soon. I'll post pics when we get them in to get some motivation going.

Been wanting to get back to helping out at my local ASPCA, and this is a perfect 'swift kick'. Absolutley awesome idea guys.

I did my ARC orientation tonight, yay for sitting in a dark room watching boring movies.

haha! You know... you can do that online now. I think.

What are you looking into for volunteering?

Great idea, anyone living in northern Colorado and wanting to volunteer for the American Red Cross, PM me and I will help you get started.

bump.


Is anyone volunteering out there and taking advantage of this?

We should have the ZS enamel pins in soon. I'll get a picture of them up. They are sharp.

If you have any question about the program let us know!

Yeah...that whole moving thing is putting a damper on my plans. Once we get settled down in Columbus with jobs and finished unpacking everything I'll be trying to find some places to volunteer at.

I'm starting CERT March 27th. I'm hoping I don't move before I finish the class, but I'll update here regardless.

I haven't sent in any paper yet, but I will.

I've only got 4 or 5 hours for Jan, but I will have somewhere between 40 and 50 by the end of Feb (by my current estimate). Then I'll send in some paper.

-Bubba

We don't really need it until the end of the year. Just don't forget to keep track of your hours and be sure to have whoever you report to sign off to approve the hours.

If you have any questions drop an email to volunteer@zombiehunters.org

I'm about 24 hours in with the red cross so far, yay!