Karen Bantiveris Is The Heart of Social Good
Have you ever met someone and known instantly that they were your kind of people? When we...
Karen Bantiveris Is The Heart of Social Good
Have you ever met someone and known instantly that they were your kind of people? When we were in Las Vegas earlier this year for BlogWorld Expo, Stephanie Schwab invited me and Michele McGraw to a nice dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio in The Venetian. It was an amazing meal but most it was the quartet of women gathered around the table that made the meal. The conversation that evening covered the gamut of topics from our upbringings to our careers and we even touched on politics!
Stephanie introduced us to Karen Bantuveris that evening. I was “social media style” acquainted with Karen and had vaguely heard of the organization she is Founder & CEO of, VolunteerSpot, but this was the first time I’d had the opportunity to sit and get to know her. She’s one fabulously fun gal! Later that night, while visiting VolunteerSpot.com and reading one blog entry after another, I discovered what an amazingly brilliant thing Karen has done.
Volunteerism is essential to the economic and social workings of many communities. The organization and mobilization of volunteer efforts, whether in the wake of disaster or for a simple school fundraiser, can make or brake the experience for all involved. The “burnout” rate for volunteers is a hot topic in the news and it’s something we’ve been addressing in my own community this fall. The extraneous “noise” and hoops one must often jump through just to give of their time can be overwhelming. I have often found myself weighing the value of my time (and the time taken away from family, work, and household responsibilities) against the good I’m able to accomplish. The reply-all emails, clipboards, online groups, and late night reminder messages can be incredibly time consuming and frustrating; it was just this type of frustration that fueled the launch of VolunteerSpot in 2009.
VolunteerSpot is a free on-line organization tool that simplifies organizing and coordinating volunteers in your community, congregation and social networks. VolunteerSpot’s simple sign up application makes it easy for community members to participate without having to wait for approvals and passwords, there is no software to install, just easy, free scheduling and sign up tools.
Through my work with The Blogrollers, Fair Winds Trading, and Macy’s as an ambassador for the “Heart of Haiti” initiative, I’ve been asked to highlight someone that is doing great things to raise awareness, empower and/or inspire others, and is all out passionate about making positive changes in her life, her community (online and/or offline), or maybe even the world! Karen Bantuveris is someone who personifies many of the themes present in the Heart of Haiti project. I chose to highlight Karen as a person who represents the “Heart of Social Good”; Karen is passionate about increasing parent participation in schools, engaging parents to fund education technology, and using new media tools to inspire social action in the ‘real’ world.
Thank you, Karen, for sharing your talents and for your passion for empowering and inspiring others to make a difference in their communities!
Listen to Karen talk about avoiding volunteer burnout on CNN.
Karen Bantiveris Is The Heart of Social Good
Have you ever met someone and known instantly that they were your kind of people? When we were in Las Vegas earlier this year for BlogWorld Expo, Stephanie Schwab invited me and Michele McGraw to a nice dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio in The Venetian. It was an amazing meal but most it was the quartet of women gathered around the table that made the meal. The conversation that evening covered the gamut of topics from our upbringings to our careers and we even touched on politics!
Stephanie introduced us to Karen Bantuveris that evening. I was “social media style” acquainted with Karen and had vaguely heard of the organization she is Founder & CEO of, VolunteerSpot, but this was the first time I’d had the opportunity to sit and get to know her. She’s one fabulously fun gal! Later that night, while visiting VolunteerSpot.com and reading one blog entry after another, I discovered what an amazingly brilliant thing Karen has done.
Volunteerism is essential to the economic and social workings of many communities. The organization and mobilization of volunteer efforts, whether in the wake of disaster or for a simple school fundraiser, can make or brake the experience for all involved. The “burnout” rate for volunteers is a hot topic in the news and it’s something we’ve been addressing in my own community this fall. The extraneous “noise” and hoops one must often jump through just to give of their time can be overwhelming. I have often found myself weighing the value of my time (and the time taken away from family, work, and household responsibilities) against the good I’m able to accomplish. The reply-all emails, clipboards, online groups, and late night reminder messages can be incredibly time consuming and frustrating; it was just this type of frustration that fueled the launch of VolunteerSpot in 2009.
VolunteerSpot is a free on-line organization tool that simplifies organizing and coordinating volunteers in your community, congregation and social networks. VolunteerSpot’s simple sign up application makes it easy for community members to participate without having to wait for approvals and passwords, there is no software to install, just easy, free scheduling and sign up tools.
Through my work with The Blogrollers, Fair Winds Trading, and Macy’s as an ambassador for the “Heart of Haiti” initiative, I’ve been asked to highlight someone that is doing great things to raise awareness, empower and/or inspire others, and is all out passionate about making positive changes in her life, her community (online and/or offline), or maybe even the world! Karen Bantuveris is someone who personifies many of the themes present in the Heart of Haiti project. I chose to highlight Karen as a person who represents the “Heart of Social Good”; Karen is passionate about increasing parent participation in schools, engaging parents to fund education technology, and using new media tools to inspire social action in the ‘real’ world.
Thank you, Karen, for sharing your talents and for your passion for empowering and inspiring others to make a difference in their communities!
Listen to Karen talk about avoiding volunteer burnout on CNN.
What Happened to Starting School after Labor Day?
School starts too early nowadays. As kids we could rely on easing into the fall gradually. We’d be weaned from the carefree summer nights by earlier sunsets until Labor Day arrived, and by then it just seemed right. There was something convincing about the Labor Day benchmark in time, it just made sense.
My kids started school last Monday, August 23rd. They launched right into the year no problem, so why am I still reeling?
I miss making dinner at 7pm-ish and riding bikes ’til dark. I miss our adventures. I miss my babies 
Who Buys Jeans In August? Back to School Shopping Reality Check
article first published as Back to School Shopping Reality Check on Technorati
The news is all over the board on what is happening with shoppers during this Back to School sales season. Sales tax free weekends, price slashing, crazy deals…
The heat has people shopping/the heat makes people not want to buy school clothing/shoppers are waiting for deeper discounts/schools are starting earlier so sales are picking up earlier this year…
I’ll tell you what the deal is. It’s hot out. It’s August and I just spent several weeks at the beach where the mosquitoes tattooed every inch of my body and the heat index made sure to drip salty sweat into each and every bite. While I’m stocking up on After-Bite and searching for DDT, the aisles are stocked with reminders that my tow-headed, tanned beach-babies will soon be back to school. I’ll be driving carpool, making lunches, and juggling work deadlines with volunteering for a million different committees at two different schools. No time to enjoy a memory or two of an amazing summer with my kids, I have to make sure they have NEW stuff. Forget the OLD stuff, it’s time to buy, buy, buy!
It’s all a bit stressful. So, excuse me if the thought of wearing long sleeves or jeans makes me want to vomit.
Crayons, markers, pencils, backpacks… there is a reason all of these things are selling better than your 40% off Abercrombie & Fitch plumber’s crack jeans. It’s a million degrees out, people!
A little therapy and a reality check for retailers will fix all of the forecasting issues. Quit shoving Halloween down my throat in July. You can’t blame the economy that my kids won’t be wearing long pants until October.
The good news for me is that by the time October rolls around retailers will have slashed prices three times over to make room for the ugly Christmas sweaters.
Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/back-to-school-shopping-reality-check/#ixzz0xq0dGhH7
How to Choose the Right Preschool or Kindergarten ~ All Your Questions Answered
Join me for a special MomTV broadcast ~ Primrose Schools, Mommy & Me on Sunday June 27th from 2-4pm Mountain Time (4-6pm EST).
You know how passionate I am about early childhood education, so it won’t surprise you that I jumped at the opportunity to take my MomActive MomTV show on the road for a special broadcast from The Primrose School of Littleton. The most exciting part of this adventure? I’ll have a co-host for this event, your favorite baby blonde, Kat, will join me. She’ll join us on camera and give us the down and dirty details of exactly what The Primrose School is all about from a kid’s perspective!! How cool is that?
This opportunity comes to us via MomSelect and Primrose Schools as they host a special Mommy & Me Mixer at Primrose School of Littleton 7991 SouthPark Way Littleton, CO 80120 and YOU will have the opportunity to learn more about “the Primrose Difference”. I’ll be interviewing the director, teachers, and parents. The MomActive show format is interactive and you will have the opportunity to ask questions at any time during the program!
We’ll learn about the core of The Primrose Schools philosophy, the Balanced Learning curriculum, that places special emphasis on literacy instruction, hands-on learning activities, building a foundation for understanding mathematics, the integration of technology to support learning, and on, what we all desire for our children, the development of confident, happy children.
For those that attend in person, this will be a fun and interactive event, complete with refreshments, and activities for all of the children. Because Primrose is known for being a leader in early childhood education, the activities will be geared towards children ages two to six years old. Moms will have the opportunity to explore and engage with other Moms in the area, and casually learn a little bit about Primrose while the children enjoy fun activities.
I hope you’ll tune in to MomTV on Sunday from 2-4pm Mountain Time (4-6pm EST) – as always MomActive is an interactive program and we’ll be fielding questions from YOU, our audience, so come and have all of your questions answered on Sunday! (Can’t make it on Sunday? Access the recorded program here)
See you there!
If you are interested in receiving an invite to this or similar events, email amy@bsmmedia.com
Karen Bantiveris Is The Heart of Social Good
Have you ever met someone and known instantly that they were your kind of people? When we...
What Happened to Starting School after Labor Day?
School starts too early nowadays. As kids we could rely on easing into the fall...
Who Buys Jeans In August? Back to School Shopping Reality Check
article first published as Back to School Shopping Reality Check on Technorati The news...
How to Choose the Right Preschool or Kindergarten ~ All Your Questions Answered
Join me for a special MomTV broadcast ~ Primrose Schools, Mommy & Me on Sunday June...