The non-profit Mill Valley [California] Philharmonic is an all volunteer orchestra that puts on free concerts in Marin County [Northern California].

Meghan Peddicord is a viola player who first started playing with them in 2004. The orchestra includes a diverse group of professionals such as lawyers, doctors, teachers, and retired orchestra players.

Meghan started playing viola since she was 9 nine years old and as a youth, performed in Europe and throughout the United States, including the Lincoln Center in New York.

For additional information on next events for this holiday season, check their website: http://millvalleyphilharmonic.org/concerts/ [By Charlotte Kobayashi]

Tahoe Family Solutions, in Incline Village, provides mental health support, summer camps and homework tutoring for local families. Nicci Hammerel, baby and all, bowled in this fundraiser on Saturday October 25th, 2014. A number of her co-workers helped to sponsor her and raised a chunk of money for this fundraiser. See Nicci in action below:

Sports in Schools is a non-profit organization in Seattle founded in 2009. Their mission is to enrich the lives of middle-school and high-school children by increasing athletic opportunities in schools. The goal of this organization is to ensure kids have the chance to stay connected to their respective schools during out-of-school time, through positive athletic experiences.

As volunteers, we helped kids to fill their out-of-school hours with healthy activities, by assisting staff at the school districts, athletic directors, coaches and by increasing opportunities/activities, as well as, helping to remove financial barriers for underprivileged families.

This past summer, Kris Axell and Christine Horvath from the Seattle office helped raise money for disadvantaged middle and high school students. They volunteered their time with other supporters at the Seattle Seafair Beer Tents operated by the non-profit organization Sports in Schools. Seafair is centered around an unlimited hydroplane race on Lake Washington and is the biggest event on the Seattle summer calendar and the second biggest fundraiser of the year for Sports in Schools.

This year, Kris, a Sports in Schools Board Member, volunteered from Noon – 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday, August 2nd and 3rd. Christine Horvath and her husband Winter volunteered for the 2-6 pm shift on Sunday, August 3rd.

Christine Horvath and her husband Winter, spent the day volunteering with Kris and sister, Karla.

[By Kris Axell]

Elise Moores, Client Services Associate from the Doylestown office, participated in the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event on October 25, 2014. She walked in support of her Sister-in-Law, Jen, who is a proud breast cancer survivor and her cousin, Sheri, who sadly succumbed to the disease in February 2013. With the help of Corporate Visions, Elise’s team ranked 8th overall in funds raised. [By Elise Moores]

Kevin Guthrie joined Helen Atkinson, Steve Sorah and John Osborne for a UK team volunteer day in London on October 13th, 2014.

The team helped The Conservation Volunteers, a UK environmental charity, to help kick-start their autumn and winter woodland management programme in the Leaf Yard Wood in Regents Park, in the heart of London.

This involved keeping access to the woodland open, clearing bramble and ivy from pathways, as well as coppicing hazel and ash trees, and creating habitats for wildlife such as deadwood hedges.

[Helen Atkinson]

The Wood is generally only opened to the public during guided nature walks and is one of the richest areas for the number of species of fauna and flora and also holds one of three pairs of Tawny Owls that breed in Central London.

We all got stuck in, in pretty wet conditions, and made particular progress creating a fantastic dead hedge for wildlife to hibernate in. You’ll have to take our word for it though as we forgot to take before and after pictures. [by John Osborne]

Sabina Frison, in Connecticut, volunteered at her children’s school for the Mathewson Fall Book Fair. [Sabina in photo above with two children from Mathewson Elementary School.] It was a great event, where students were able to purchase a variety of books at discounted prices.

It was a two day event, Oct 6th and 8th, from 11am – 3pm, where she helped with the set-up, cash register, and guided students to the right book sections, etc. Events like this are great for children as they create excitement for the kids, help them become proficient readers, and enrich their knowledge!
[by Sabina Frison]

On September 21st, Sabina Frison volunteered as a Course Marshall for the CT Cycling Festival. This annual event is organized by CCAP (Connecticut Cycling Advancement Program) and draws large crowds year after year as some of the best professional and amateur cyclists race through downtown Hartford, Connecticut.

Sabina loves this organization because every event encourages and assists non-cyclists and juniors in the pursuit of the sport of cycling. As a Course Marshall, she made sure racers stay on track and pedestrians stay out of track. The spot she was in charge of was specifically challenging, so she was able to experience number of crashes!

Thankfully no one was seriously injured and she is happy to report it was another great cycling event that the whole community truly enjoyed! [By Sabina Frison]

Nina Litvinchuk and Jaime Farrar, from Corporate Visions’ Pleasanton Office, had a good time helping clean up the coast in Alameda for the September 20th Coastal Cleanup day. They showed up at 8:30 a.m. along with about 50 other people with buckets, garbage bags, and gloves, to sweep the coast for trash – looking for anything that did not naturally belong i.e. cigarette butts, bottles, and glass were among the popular things found.

On their way out, they were interviewed by a local reporter for a write up on the event. Nina, originally from Alameda, was quoted in the link below to the Contra Costa Times (and also in the San Jose Mercury Times) as saying:

“Dublin resident Nina Litvinchuk, 29, came to Alameda early Saturday morning with her co-worker Jaime Farrar, who came from Lafayette.”
“I’m originally from Alameda, so it’s great to see all these people out here,” said Litvinchuk, “It’s awesome.”

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_26574202/plastic-grocery-bags-harder-find-coastal-cleanup-day

On Wednesday, September 17th Diane Frate, Lisa Slen and Sabina Walters were invited by Person2Person to attend a barbecue to honor all of their volunteers.

The community room was festively decorated – the food was delicious. We enjoyed our time with P2P staff and volunteers.

This was a wonderful event for P2P to show appreciation to their volunteers. [by Diane Frate]

On July 16, 2014, Roxanna Yuen from the Hong Kong Office, joined an activity organized by Fu Hong Society. This is a non-profit organization serving people with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and those with autism.

Nine intellectual disabilities (students) with two instructors and three volunteers went to The Peak, the most popular attraction of Hong Kong which offers a spectacular view of the city and its harbors. The students experienced the famous funicular railways to go up to The Peak. They were excited when passing the buildings which made them look like they were leaning at a slant.

Roxanna took care of two students who enjoyed taking photos. They were good in following instructions and enjoyed the sites of Hong Kong. Although they did not understand much, Roxanna did her best let them what those buildings are.

The highlight of the trip was the lunch at McDonalds. They ate very quickly and loved the food very much. One of the students liked ketchup. The instructor told me not to give too much sauce, however, the students kept on asking for more.

The activity was meaningful because these students need to be exposed to the larger community. I received great value from the experience and enjoyed with talk them. [by Roxanna Yuen]