WFHB

Trolling for Candidates

The Indiana Recovery Alliance is a volunteer organization that works to address opoid addiction and abuse in the community by addressing these issues with education, advocacy, needle exchange programs, and outreach services. This week, founder and director, Chris Abert, talks about the services of the organization and ways to assist the Indiana Recovery Alliance with their mission of advocacy. That’s this week on Activate, our weekly segment spotlighting people working for positive change in our community.

In this week’s Activate! trombone player Gary Wiggins discusses the award-winning Bloomington Community Band. The band not only gives musicians an opportunity to play their instruments and to share their love of music with a variety of audiences, including community events like the 4th of July parade, and senior citizen residences.

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The Wylie House Museum offers visitors an opportunity to enjoy to a house as it might have looked in the 1840’s. The house was originally the home of Dr. Andrew Wylie, Indiana University’s first President. Wylie House was inhabited by Wylies for nearly 80 years; Andrew Wylie built the house in 1835 and lived there with his wife Margaret and ten of their twelve children. In this week’s Activate! volunteer docent Cindy Smith describes her pleasure in getting to enjoy the house’s ambience and in the wide array of visitors that come through Wylie House.

Opportunity House is a non-profit resale shop operated by the Monroe County United Ministries (MCUM). Profits from Ops House funds full-time, year round affordable childcare services for kids between the ages of two and six and thus serves a critical need for high quality childcare for low income people in our community. While many volunteers are part of the MCUM community, Josephine McCormick came to Opportunity House first as a shopper. Listen as Josephine describes the transformative nature of her volunteer experience, on this week’s Activate!

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Global Gifts Volunteers

Habitat ReStore Volunteers

In this week’s segment of Activate! CASA volunteer and board member, Jim Shelton, explains the crucial void filled by CASA volunteers in an overtaxed foster care system.  The Department of Child Services is struggling to keep up as  more families are impacted by the opioid crisis. CASA volunteers fill an important void in case management of children in foster care. Volunteers monitor and advocate for abused and neglected children ensuring they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal system or languish in an inappropriate group or foster home.

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The Ground Floor in the Monroe County Public Library provides a space for teens to gather, create community, have fun, and learn new skills. Volunteer mentors play a vital role by sharing their life-experiences and skill sets with teens, often providing a valuable “nudge” inspiring them to try something new. The Ground Space is open for teens aged 12-19. In this week’s edition of Activate, Kevin MacDowell, Avery Smith, and Sophia Bender share their passion for inspiring creativity in teens.

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In this episode of Activate!, we interview a few of the organizers of the Black Lives Matter Rally that took place in Bloomington earlier in 2016. Zoe and Peyton talk about how they were influenced by BLM rallies in other cities, and how that led them to work together with other members of the community to organize the Bloomington Black Lives Matter rally that took place earlier this year. That’s this week on Activate! – your weekly segment spotlighting people working for positive change in our community.

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In this week’s Activate! – Mark Voland discusses the benefits of mentoring with Big Brothers and Big Sisters (BBBS). As Executive Director, Mark knows first-hand the positive impact being a big brother or big sister has on the lives of children, and on the mentors themselves. There are currently 80 kids on the waiting list to be paired with a mentor and of those 50 are boys. A 60 day recruitment campaign begins in September to encourage more men in South Central Indiana to give their time and energy to a young person in our community.

That’s this week on Activate! – our weekly segment spotlighting people working for positive change in our community.

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Spencer Pride supports the rural LGBTQI community in South Central Indiana and beyond. Listen as Executive Director, Volunteer Coordinator, and Treasurer Judi Epp discusses why our rural communities are in particular need of resources and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people.

Spencer Pride cultivates compassion and community, and offers a range of services that are often out of reach to people in small towns and farming communities. There are many ways to support Spencer Pride – contact Judi at [email protected] or [email protected], or call at 812-652-5000 for more information.

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