Reminder: New Opportunity! Staff Members Now Have 4 Paid Hours of Volunteer Time

We have heard from a number of staff members how they appreciate the new United Way event allowing staff to volunteer in their communities. In fact, the response was so positive we thought, “Why not make this into an agency-wide opportunity?!” Not only would allowing staff members time to volunteer during work hours help our communities, it would also help gain public recognition of who and what Heartland AEA is and stands for! 

In its October 9 meeting, the Agency Planning Council (APC) decided that all staff members will be allowed up to 4 hours of agency time per year to do volunteer/community service work. These 4 hours can be used any time between now and June 30, 2014. Staff members will follow these procedures for volunteering during agency hours: 

• There must be at least three Heartland AEA staff members (you and at least two other staff) working at the same volunteer opportunity together. 
• Staff members are encouraged to wear Heartland AEA-logo clothing or our “Heartland Cares” stickers that were created for this purpose. You can request stickers by contacting Claire Sowder at csowder@heartlandaea.org. 
• Of course, you must approve your leave with your supervisor before taking the time off. 
• Finally, to celebrate our work, please take a photo of your group during the volunteer activity, and send it to the Heartland AEA Communications Department at comms@heartlandaea.org with information on the activity and who was involved. 

Each region is coordinating a volunteer event as part of our United Way campaign. Feel free to participate in your regional volunteer opportunity or find volunteer opportunities on your own (just be sure to follow the above criteria). 

As this is a new idea, we’ll pilot the volunteer leave for the remainder of this year. If it is well-received by staff, we’ll consider adding “volunteering” as one of the employee leave options in our Leave Online system beginning next year. 

Thank you in advance for representing our agency in our communities and demonstrating that we’re proud to impact lives!