How do I keep track of my hours?

Last week I spoke about Change a Child's Story at a missionary lunch at Marengo United Methodist Church. We enjoyed a delicious meal, company from representatives of many local churches, and one visit from a bat. (Ok, so we didn't enjoy that part so much.) After hearing about the strong relationship between poverty and reading struggles, people tossed around some good ideas about what they might do to help support literacy in their own communities. A volunteer from Williamsburg told us about how much fun it was to go read with students in school. She also told us about an opportunity to help with a reading program this summer. Many churches decided they could start a collection of books at their local food pantries.

In between VBS stories, I want to share with you a few ideas for some common questions about the Change a Child's Story initiative.

How do I keep track of my hours? 
We're pretty excited this summer for the upcoming arrival of an app to help individuals record their reading volunteer hours and books to help us meet the million hour, million book goal. But if you have no wocket in your pocket and you have no app to tap, this does not have to be a high tech process!

The marvelous mission ladies at Marengo had these set on every table. Made from old library pockets that were just going to get thrown away, this is an adorable way for each individual to keep track of his or her goal of ten hours this year and ten hours next year. 

Who wouldn't love a present like this!

May didn't just write her name really big. There's a page for each month. 

This week, I've been staying with the fabulous folks of Farmington for Vacation Bible School. On my way into the sanctuary, I noticed a three-ring binder in a very prominent place. As I looked a little closer, I saw it was a place for individuals to write down the hours they had volunteered this week and books they had given away. How easy is that!

Some other ideas:
-You could create a weekly hours/books form that your congregation could turn in with their offering in the collection plate.

-Some churches are collecting books up front towards the altar and blessing them as they come in.

-If you are a bulletin board person, you could sure make some kind of pictograph with little books. If you are a low-maintenance bulletin board person like me, post-its work just as effectively. Check out this example from a teacher who did a read-a-thon with her class (click here to read about her fun idea, too!)






 
-You could turn your whole congregation into bookworms. This post is about motivation for summer reading, so you could sure use it with kids for a reading program- but I think it would also motivate your congregation to turn in hours and books!


-How about a fundraising thermometer on your church website? This site lets you create a free one. It does have a dollar sign, so maybe you could use it as you raise funds to purchase books. Or you could make a giant paper version to hang up in the church- one for books and one for hours towards your goal. 


Happy reading and book sharing! Don't forget: as you keep track of your books and hours, send them in to Marsha, our super stat-keeper: jmgerot@lakeodessa.net     
Check out the map to see how all the churches are doing!

jmgerot@lakeodessa.net

jmgerot@lakeodessa.net