Anne Wall from HandsOn Suburban Chicago (HandsOn) was our speaker today.  HandsOn  recruits volunteers and matches them with projects in 44 communities throughout the Chicago area.  Anne's work focuses on helping corporations give back to their communities. 
 
We welcomed four guests to our meeting today.  Assistant District Governor Tamiye Meehan was on hand to talk about the upcoming District Annual Conference April 10-12.  Dawn Fletcher Collins, Executive Director of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce; Kiyota Takeuchi from Kiyota International, Inc. and Anne Wall, Director of Corporate Engangement for HandsOn Suburban Chicago were also present.
 
Anne Wall from HandsOn Suburban Chicago (HandsOn) was our speaker today.  HandsOn  recruits volunteers and matches them with projects in 44 communities throughout the Chicago area.  Anne's work focuses on helping corporations give back to their communities.  Last year, Anne coordinated 19 corporate events involving over 1,000 employees.  This is a mutually beneficial program.  The non-profit groups increase the number people they help while the corporations raise their community profile.  Studies show that employees stay longer at jobs that offer them volunteer opportunities and the extra marketing such projects provide do help. 
 
The projects follow two basic designs.  With the first, the group goes on site to do the work.  A prime example is the Paint-A-Thon held each fall where volunteers paint houses throughout the area with donated paint.  The other is where the non-profit comes to the group.  An example of this is helping prepare school supply kits for children or newborn baskets for babies. 
 
A particular program Anne highlighted is It's My Future at the Holmes Middle School in Wheeling.  Community leaders visit the school on Tuesdays or Thursdays through April 16th to talk to the students about their career and how to plan and work towards their dream job.