Altrusa International Service Projects
A database of Service projects from throughout our Altrusa organization
Hundreds of books are donated by Altrusans, friends, and neighbors, and Friends of the Library, then displayed in the Palisade Town Plaza. The books are free and people are encouraged to take as many as they can carry away, often in bags and boxes. Remaining books are donated to nursing homes, alternative schools, and the Salvation Army, with children’s books taken to the County Health Dept. Some are added to Palisade Altrusa’s Little Free Libary.
Altrusans partner with the club’s Foundation and Salvation Army to provide food boxes and gifts for approximately 40 needy families. Local schools (elementary, middle, and high) collect non-perishable food, the grocery store supplies potatoes and carrots, the elementary Natl Elem Honor Society students sort and box food, Altrusa shopping teams buy gifts and grocery gift cards. Restored bikes are added. Distribution is by anonymous pickup, staffed by 2-3 people.
Altrusans partner with School Dist 51 and Western Colorado Community Foundation to provide nutritious summer lunches for anyone 18 years or younger on the Palisade route that includes three stops. Tuesdays are Altrusa days with Altrusans handing out books and key-chain collectibles along with the lunches. Approximately 550 meals were served by Palisade Altrusans in the Summer 2018 program.
We donate funds through Kiva.org and select micro-loans — typically $25 at a time — from that website to help groups and individuals, mainly in 3rd world countries, to fund their small businesses, education, health needs, etc. As each recipient pays back the loan, we use those funds to lend to additional people.
Our club provides hundreds of new, stuffed teddy bears to our local hospital to be given to children admitted to the Emergency Room or in for day surgery. Not only do the toys comfort the children, health care providers can also “demonstrate” and explain procedures to the child using the teddy bear as a “patient.”
We add tags to the toys explaining that they are donated by Altrusa.
We partner with numerous other organizations in our community to organize a drive for school supplies before the new school year begins. The school district provides a school bus to be stuffed with donations, and a local business offers a parking location where people can come drop off items. Altrusans help receive and load supplies onto the bus, and later assist with sorting the donated items for distribution by the schools.
We participate in sponsoring field trips for all 3rd graders to learn about recycling. They visit the local dump, the main recycling collection facility for our town, and a local business that recycles metal.
In a joint project with our local Library, we visit every 1st Grade class in our school district and provide a free book to each child to keep. Library personnel talk to the children about library services and provide each student with a library card.
We assist with a fundraising walk/run for the Bosom Buddies organization, which provides support and services to people with breast cancer and their families. We help stuff registration bags the day before the event, and at the start of the event we hand out bags to registrants, register walk-ins, and prepare light snacks for the registrees.