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Therapeutic Classroom Volunteers – Your presence can truly make a difference in the life of a child. This hands-on volunteer opportunity involves giving personal attention to our babies and children in our therapeutic classroom once a week. These special classrooms are often the only place where many of our babies and children feel safe and their environment is predictable.
Volunteers are asked to commit one day a week. We also need volunteers who are willing to come in when a regular classroom volunteer is not able to attend. All volunteers are given an orientation and ongoing training regarding the relief nursery model, relationship based therapeutic classroom, child development and classroom management. You can be part of a child's development during the most critical period of their life. |
| Food Bank – Every first and third Monday food needs to be picked up from the food bank to be distributed to MountainStar families. 1-2 volunteers for this part of the task. Once the food is at MountainStar, the food needs to be sorted into boxes for each family. Staff will assist in knowing what each family can use. 2-3 volunteers needed for this task to be done Monday or Tuesday afternoon following the food pick-up. |
| Clothes Closet – MountainStar receives clothes and baby equipment donations and stores them in the outside shed. One time per week we need a volunteer to sort new donations, keep the clothes closet well organized and assist in finding needed clothes or items. |
Child Care (Parent Meetings) – Each first Monday of the month, MountainStar has a  Family Night with a parent education meeting following the meal. During the meeting time, we need volunteers to provide child care for the children. There will be other times when we provide child care in the evenings in order to allow parents to attend other educational workshops or meetings. |
| Bread Distribution – DiLusso’s Bakery donates bread every day to be distributed to MountainStar families. We can use 1 volunteer each day to pick up the bread and to put it into plastic bags. This needs to be done in the early morning. |
| Fundraising – These would be volunteers that work on a particular fundraising project/event or with the ongoing work involved with our fundraising program. These volunteers would work with the Fundraising Action Team. |
| Office – MountainStar needs volunteers to assist with needed office work such as: getting the newsletter ready to mail; assisting with other mailings; calling potential volunteers; and assisting Kathy Skidmore with other office tasks. |
| Kitchen – MountainStar cook, Fran, can use help in the mornings with preparing and serving the breakfast and lunch. On Family night each first Monday, Fran needs help with preparing dinner. We also need help with recruiting restaurants to donate the Family Night meals. |
| Transportation – Some of our families are transported to MountainStar through the Volunteer Services Driver program through DHS. On the Mtn.Star bus, we can use a volunteer as a rider to assist the children on the bus. |
| Special Events – Periodically MountainStar has special events for the families such as the holiday party and end of the year party. At these times we can use volunteers to recruit the donation of the food, gifts and decorations. |
| Other Ideas – Create birthday boxes for each child’s birthday which would include, a cake mix, icing, a disposable cake pan, birthday candles, small gift, book and possibly a hand made blanket. This would be a good project for a children’s classroom project, girl scouts or boy scouts etc. as well as adult groups that want a community project. |
| Public Awareness – If you have special skills or experience in marketing, public relations or advertising, we could use your help to build awareness of MountainStar in our local community. |
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Nicholas Muldrow had been alive only 48 months when he was beaten to death. His stepfather has been indicted on murder and manslaughter charges and is being held without bond. The Bulletin’s front page report of this brutal crime truly sickened and saddened me. How could such a heinous act occur in a community like ours with so many resources available to prevent it? How, when there was in a safe place where his mother could have gone for help?
Namely, MountainStar Family Relief Nursery, which targets those at-risk children exactly like Nicholas, age 4 years old and under. These are the voiceless, invisible ones who slip beneath the radar of school, neither seen nor heard on a regular basis. |
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| Consequently, no one is able to report the suspicious slap marks, black eyes, moldy milk in a bottle or, in some cases, no milk at all. How then does a vulnerable child like Nicholas fall through holes of the well-woven safety net of our community? |
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| Currently, 30+ volunteers provide us with 2,500 hours of service annually. These volunteers support staff in the therapeutic classroom, provide child care during our Parent Skills Trainings and organize and staff our fundraising and other events. Our volunteers not only provide the organization with critical support but help our families—many of whom are quite isolated—connect with others in the community. |
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| Touching a child's life or helping a parent cope - nothing is more rewarding. Your opportunity to make an impact awaits you at MountainStar Family. To join our Family, please contact us at 541-322-6820. We look forward to hearing from you! |
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Julie has been a volunteer at MountainStar Family for 5 years. “I’m part of the MountainStar family, and  how lucky I am. For three hours on Wednesday after-noons I help give children a safe, happy and carefree place to learn and grow. I may be the one who connects with the shy, cautious little boy or girl." |
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Sally is a board member and volunteer for MountainStar Family. “I take great pride in this very unique program which helps so many children and families in our community. Every Friday morning is a blessing for me when I meet and play with these terrific kids! I am also a former legislative advocate. I welcome the opportunity to join our Executive Director, as well as representatives from other relief nurseries in Salem, to build and sustain support from our state leaders.” |
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MountainStar Family is mourning the loss of a wonderful volunteer, Anne Marie McSweeney.
 Anne Marie, 44, died on June 24 in an auto accident near Klamath Falls. Anne Marie was a class-room volunteer, working regularly on Thursday mornings with the 2 and 3 year-olds. If she saw other needs, she never hesitated to address them.
Anne Marie had such infectious energy and joy - she was such fun to work with and the children absolutely loved her. She truly understood what the children in a therapeutic classroom program needed from her – compassion, her full attention, and someone to play with on their level.
In her time here she became an integral part of our staff, and we will always be grateful for the opportunity to have her be a part of our lives and a part of MountainStar. |
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