Volunteer center
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Maui Action Team: Aloha from a New Action Team

Get tips for launching an Action Team from a school that’s been there, done that – and had a ball!

There’s big news about the Action Team – now every high school in the country can join! Whether your school is public or private, on the mainland or an island, you can enroll today and launch an Action Team in September 2009. Get an Action Team Application for your school. When you join the Action Team, you become part of a growing network of Major League baseball players and teens volunteering in their communities and inspiring others to volunteer.

Just ask the new Action Team at St. Anthony Junior Senior High School in Wailuku, Hawaii, on the island of Maui. Major Leaguer Shane Victorino is a 1999 graduate and helped his alma mater join the Action Team. Maui is one of three new Action Teams located in communities without Major League baseball teams – chances are, like yours.

How do you get started as an Action Team? Get tips from Maui for a great first year!

10 Action Team Captains to Lead

St. Anthony is a private Catholic school with 242 students in grades 7-12. Janice Pruett, student activities coordinator, invited 10 students to be Action Team Captains last fall. The students were trained in leadership skills using free online materials available to all Action Teams.

The Action Team can start a service program if none exists in a school or reinvigorate a program that’s lagged. But the Action Team doesn’t replace other service clubs. It fits in easily with them, and the free materials and training enhance all service activities. That’s been the case at St. Anthony, where service is required to graduate. St. Anthony has an active Key Club and Interact Club. Adding the Action Team has given the school designated service leaders. And that makes a difference, says Mrs. Pruett. “Before, we’d plan a project and ask who wants to be a leader. Now the Action Team Captains are part of the planning from the start. They’re actively recruiting other students to volunteer. It makes organizing projects easier.”

Two Projects to Start

SENIOR BALL

Greeting guests at the Senior Ball.

Each Action Team commits to a minimum of two service projects during the school year. The Maui Action Team organized a holiday dance for a local senior center in December. They recruited 90 students from St. Anthony for a community-wide American Cancer Society Relay for Life event in February. Their projects show how an Action Team can help address specific needs in a community and lead school participation in a national volunteer campaign.

PROJECT #1: SENIOR BALL Action Team Captains treated residents of the Hale Makua Senior Center in Wailuku to a “Senior Ball” at the center. Here’s how they did it.

Planning Steps

• Set the date. Action Team Captains contacted the center director to get the okay and agree on the date – December 5, 2008, from 5:00 to 9:00 P.M.

• Design and send invitations. The guest list included all Hale Makua residents, St. Anthony teachers and staff, and Wailuku’s mayor.

• Arrange for music. Action Team Captains coordinated with the school music department. The school band played and choir members entertained with holiday songs.

• Solicit donations for food and flowers. The local Kiwanis Club provided sandwiches, drinks, vegetables, and dip. Spaghetti, bread, salad, and cake were also served. Roses for female residents were donated.

• Recruit student volunteers. Action Team Captains enlisted student volunteers from other school clubs to help set up, serve food, interact with the guests, and clean up.

• Build excitement. Articles in the school newspaper got the word out and raised interest for recruiting volunteers. The school drama teacher heard about the ball and offered “fancy dresses” to students to wear.

On the Big Day

• Makeup and setup. Students arrived at Hale Makua by 3:30 P.M. to help female residents with hair and makeup. Other students set up the room for the dinner and dancing.

• Welcome with flowers and chocolates. Volunteers presented each female guest with a long-stem rose and all guests with chocolates. There was a guest book for residents to sign.

• Open with entertainment. The mayor welcomed the residents to open the ball. Then St. Anthony’s Music Ministry Group entertained with holiday songs and music.

• Dinner is served. Food came next, with students serving the guests.

• Everybody dance! Even those in wheelchairs got a turn on the dance floor with student partners.

RELAY FOR LIFE

Setting up a team site …walking the track all night

• Cake and cleanup. When the residents had their fill of dessert and dancing, all students helped with cleanup. Action Team Captains made sure the room was put back to its original condition.

• Post-event thanks. Action Team Captains reported on the evening’s success in the school newspaper and recognized everyone who helped – an important step to build goodwill for future projects.

PROJECT #2: RELAY FOR LIFE Maui Action Team Captains recruited 90 student volunteers who raised $7,500 for Relay for Life, a national fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. Action Team Captains also organized a “Survivors Dinner” for 50 cancer survivors and their caregivers. The Maui Relay for Life took place from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. on February 27 and 28.

Here’s how the Maui Action Team made this project a success.

• Advertise. Action Team Captains sent press releases to Maui newspapers and used the school paper to encourage volunteer walkers and donors.

• Create multiple teams. Each Action Team Captain recruited students for a Relay for Life team. St. Anthony had 10 teams participating.

• Plan as individual teams. Each Action Team Captain made sure team members registered online with the American Cancer Society and had signed permission slips from home. Captains coordinated with their team members to bring tents, sleeping bags, food, and drinks for the 12-hour event. Teams made signs to carry on the track to show school and team pride. Captains coordinated their members to ensure someone was walking from the team through the night.

• Organize special events. Action Team Captains asked St. Anthony’s National Honor Society to host the Survivors Dinner. Food was donated by St. Anthony parents and students. The dinner was set up and served in the Survivors Tent on the opening night.

• Cleanup and recycle. Each captain took charge of cleanup for his or her team. Action Team Captains also organized a recycling crew to gather empty bottles and cans from the Relay for Life site.

Maui Action Team Captains.

Meet the Maui Action Team

High-fives to the Maui Action Team Captains, pictured here, for their outstanding volunteerism this year! Learn more about the Action Team from St. Anthony junior Michela Moe.

What about you and your school? Get in on the action! Download an Action Team Application now. A community can have any number of Action Teams. Your school can be Action Team #2 in Maui, if that’s where you live!