2nd Annual NWS Week of Service (Sep. 30-Oct. 6, 2012)

• 2011 (September 25 - October 1)
• 2013 (September 29 - October 5)
• 2014 (September 28 - October 4)
• 2015 (September 27 - October 3)
• 2016 (September 25 - October 1)
• 2017 (September 24 - September 30)
• 2018 (September 30 - October 6)
• 2019 (September 29 - October 5)
• 2020 (September 1 - November 30)
• 2021 (September 1 - November 30)
• 2022 (September 1 - November 30)
• 2023 (September 1 - November 30)
• 2024 (September 1 - November 30)

NWS Week of Service Main Page

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1. Alaska Electronics Maintenance Unit
2. Aviation Weather Center
3. Hydrologic Prediction Center (HPC)
4. National Hurricane Center (NHC)
5. National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC)
6. National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)
7. NWS Training Center (NWSTC)
8. Operations Proving Ground
9. Radar Operations Center (ROC)
10. Storm Prediction Center (SPC)

1. Central
2. Pacific
3. Western

1. Aberdeen, SD
2. Amarillo, TX
3. Anchorage, AL
4. Austin/San Antonio, TX
5. Billings, MT
6. Bismarck, ND
7. Boise, ID
8. Boston/Taunton, MA
9. Boulder/Denver, CO
10. Charleston, WV
11. Cheyenne, WY
12. Chicago, IL
13. Cleveland, OH
14. Des Moines, IA
15. Detroit/Pontiac, MI
16. Fort Worth, TX
17. Gaylord, MI
18. Grand Junction, CO
19. Grand Rapids, MI
20. Great Falls, MT
21. Hastings, NE
22. Houston/Galveston, TX
23. Indianapolis, IN
24. Jackson, KY
25. Kansas City/Pleasant Hill, MO 
    (1, 2)
26. La Crosse, WI
27. Las Vegas, NV
28. Los Angeles/Oxnard, CA
29. Medford, OR
30. Memphis, TN

31. Miami, FL
32. Minneapolis, MN
33. Missoula, MT
34. Morristown, TN
35. Newport/Morehead City, NC
36. Norman, OK
37. North Platte, NE
38. Omaha/Valley, NE
39. Paducah, KY
40. Phoenix, AZ
41. Pittsburgh, PA
42. Portland, OR
43. Reno, NV
44. Riverton, WY
45. Sacramento, CA
46. San Angelo, TX
47. San Francisco Bay Area/
    Monterey, CA
48. San Joaquin Valley/
    Hanford, CA
49. San Diego, CA
50. Shreveport, LA
51. Sioux Falls, SD
52. Springfield, MO
53. Tampa Bay, FL
54. Tiyan, Guam
55. Topeka, KS (1, 2)
56. Tucson, AZ
57. Wichita, KS
58. Wilmington, NC
59. Wilmington, OH

1. Alaska Aviation Weather Unit (AAWU)
2. Kansas City, MO
3. Salt Lake City, UT

1. Alaska-Pacific
2. California Nevada
3. Missouri Basin
4. Northeast
5. North Central
6. Ohio
7. West Gulf

1. University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology

The Amarillo staff attended and contributed to the 2013 CFC kickoff rally at the Amarillo VA on October 5, 2012. The kickoff included a Chili contest in which ET, David Wilburn won the Traveling Trophy for the hottest chili. WFO Amarillo staffers have contributed more than $14,000 to the 2013 CFC campaign.

They held their week of service from November 26th to November 30th.  During this week, they did the following:

1. Donated blood at the Blood Bank of Alaska
2. Donated food to the local food bank
3. Collected hats, mittens, scarves, jeans, and coats for the Anchorage Downtown Soup Kitchen
4. Helped the Downtown Soup Kitchen move to their new location (packed up food, loaded trucks, and unloaded at the new location)
5. Military Care Package packing party - We collected items for the care packages all week and then on Friday we gathered in the conference room to pack up the care packages.

Their Observing Program Leader (OPL) Steve Smart helped/participated in the Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ) program at Oak Meadow Elementary school and forecaster Orlando Bermudez helped buyers with their purchases during the Community Garage Sale event celebrated on his block and volunteered to sort books and DVD's at the New Braunfels Public Library.

Their staff volunteered at the Billings Public School's "Saturday Live" on Saturday, September 29th.  The event is the largest yearly fundraiser for School District 2, and it attended by thousands of people in our community.  A link to more information on the event is at:

https://www.billings.k12.mt.us/bpef/saturdaylive.html 

Their office participated in 3 volunteer events during the NWS Week of Service campaign. On Monday October 1st three staff members helped serve lunch at the Ruth Meiers Stone Soup Kitchen. The Kitchen provides a free noon meal to homeless and low-income individuals from the community, with a mission to provide nourishment to the body and soul. NWS staff helped prepare and serve Philly steak sandwiches, salad and dessert to approximately 30 individuals.

On Thursday October 4th, five staff members from NWS Bismarck volunteered at the Burleigh County Extension Office. The Cooperative Extension System was established in 1914 and the work of the
Extension Service continues to be extremely important to producers, families, community leaders and young people. The staff spent the day refurbishing and assembling chairs to be used by 4-H members. Around 250 youth are involved in 4-H in the Bismarck area. Extension Agent Cathy Palczewski exclaimed "the additional chairs were greatly needed, but we didn't have the time to put them together ourselves."

Throughout the Week of Service, a bin was provided at NWS Bismarck for staff to donate non-perishable food items. At the end of the week the bin was taken to the Community Action Food Pantry in Bismarck.
The Community Action Food Pantry provides food baskets to families in need throughout south central North Dakota. Food baskets are generally filled with enough food to last 4 to 7 days. Nutrition Coordinator Karen Jans estimated NWS Bismarck donated 70 pounds of food items.

Their office adopted a 2 mile stretch of highway as part of the Idaho Adopt-a-Highway program several years ago.  Boise Forecaster, Coleen Decker, worked with the Transportation Department to pick out the section of Highway 21 which travels through a very scenic area in the Boise mountains.  For the 4th year in a row, the forecast office served the community by picking up trash along the road and helped keep Idaho beautiful.  This year on October 6th, 2012, NWS employees and their families enjoyed perfect weather while walking along the highway and were able to collect 4 large bags of trash.  After cleaning up, everyone met for a great dinner at Trudy’s restaurant in Idaho City, which is located on Highway 21 and is a favorite stop for many people traveling through the area.

Their staffs worked together to collect non-perishable food items for a local food bank in Southeast Massachusetts.  This idea came about when we noticed that September is National Stamp Out Hunger Month.  They set up several boxes out in the foyer an asked for any donations that could be helpful for the food bank.  A lot of the staff members participated in this excellent cause and they were able to collect approximately 125 pounds for the Coyle and Cassidy High School Food Pantry.  When they arrived, they were very appreciative as they have not been receiving a lot of donations over the past several months. This event went so well at the office we decided to continue our efforts and collect more non-perishable foods for the US Postal Service Food Drive held in May.

They held a food and supply drive for their local food bank.  The following items were donated:  soups, canned vegetables, rice, cereal, baby blankets, diapers, cleaning towels, soaps and other toiletry items.  They also participated in The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk.  This was in honor of a co-worker's wife who lost battle over 5 years ago and for a 12-year old (Brooke) who is now cancer free.

Several members of their drove out to Little Victories Animal Rescue Shelter in Ona, WV on Sunday, September 30th to walk and socialize dogs and clean, feed and play with cats.  Their staff really enjoyed their time with the animals and the staff of the rescue shelter was very appreciative.

In addition to this, their staff members collected non-perishable food items throughout the week for Mountain Mission which helps serve families and individuals in the Kanawha Valley with unexpected needs.  They were able to collect several hundred items to help stock their food pantry and help out a lot of families within the community.  While this was their first time participating in the NWS Week of Service, it certainly won't be their last!

Their staff held a Wish List Drive for a local homeless shelter.

They held a food drive.

Their staff held a food and fund drive to benefit the Cleveland Food Bank.  Their office collected 95 pounds of food and donated $62.  Cleveland Food Bank said that the money alone will be able to provide nearly 250 meals to local residents. 

They also had a group volunteer with Coats for Kids Monday on October 22nd.  Their group helped sort donated coats by age and gender so that they may be distributed to children in need. 

They provided and prepared a meal for their local Ronald McDonald house on Thursday, October 4th.

Their staff held a food drive for Gleaners of Southeast Michigan.  During this drive, they collected 156 pounds of food/supplies and $65 in monetary donations.

They decided to do a "collection of blankets" to be delivered to the Presbyterian Night Shelter.  The staff was asked to donate a new blanket or clean used blankets.  The goal was to collect 25+ blankets.

They sorted 2 pallets of potatoes (each pallet weighed approximately 1,000 pounds.) into 8 to 10 pound bags for redistribution at a food bank. While there, they also filled large bags with various other kinds of food items.  More than 100 families were served on that day.

Their staff participated in "Color Sunday Adventure Challenge" by volunteering to set up the course and participating in the challenge itself.  More details are located here along with who it benefited: https://www.colorsundaychallenge.com/

They worked with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to remove invasive species from state parks in West Michigan.

Their staff volunteered at FISH which is a local organization that feeds the hungry.  FISH is located in the local food bank building along with Meals on Wheels.  Volunteers worked from 9 am to 11 am from October 1st through October 4th handing out food, stocking shelves, and filling bags with groceries, commodities, toiletries, and stamping bags.  Those involved were Don Britton, Scott Coulston, Nick Langlieb, Megan VanDenHeuvel, Brian Waranauskas, Les Therio, and John Blank.

They packaged 5,400 meals for Kids Against Hunger.  These meals will be shipped across the United States as well as the rest of the world.

They participated in Clean the Beach activities on Galveston Island. They had 5 people that represented the office in this 1/2 day event on Galveston Island. They were assigned to go to Stewart Beach which is on the east end of the island. It was a fun day and the weather was outstanding and despite the beach being fairly clean they were able to pick up a lot of trash with plastic bottle caps being the biggest catch.

Two members of their staff participated in the D.C. Green Festival.  The event showcases new techniques and tools for reducing the environmental impact of our personal and business activities.  The small crew from the HPC manned a 4-hour shift at one of the festival's waste stations.  We helped reach the festival's sustainability goals by instructing attendees which of their waste items could go to the compost and recycle bins rather than the landfill.

They collected 228 pounds of food for Gleaners Food Bank.

Their staff brought in 112 pounds of food for Interfaith of Jackson, KY.  They entertained seniors by playing games and spent time with them.  Two staff members volunteered 45 hours at their church during this week.  A staff member and his spouse volunteered at Tommy's Place (a youth center) on October 5th, and assisted the Catholic Church in putting together a clothing drive and helped sort the clothes during this week.  The staff held a book drive (15 donated) to send to soldiers overseas for Operation Paperback.  Finally, they gathered used cell phones.  These were mailed to a battered women's shelter.

Their office held 2 activities during the 2012 NWS Week of Service.  On Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, they distributed school supplies to four schools (Lyle Elementary - Lyle, MN; Prairie View Elementary - De Soto, WI; Logan Middle - La Crosse, WI; and La Farge High/Middle - La Farge, WI). These supplies were brought into the office by their staff from mid-August through mid-September.  Shawn Donovan (La Farge Superintendent) said the following in a thank you note to the office:  "We would like to thank you for the generous donation of school supplies.  We have many families who struggle just to put food on the table let alone buy school supplies.  So...this is very much appreciated.  Thank you for all you do." 

On Thursday evening, 4 staff members volunteered at WAFER (our local food bank).  They served clients, stocked shelves, bagged rice, and placed labels on cans. 

They held a food drive in which they collected 354 pounds of food and $500 in gift cards to a local grocery store.  They also volunteered at the Three Square food bank in Las Vegas.  During the morning of October 3rd, the WFO staff spent the morning packing boxes in the volunteer room for the "Senior Share" Program, which provides food-insecure seniors with healthy supplemental groceries across the Las Vegas Valley.

Loading up the food

Eight members of their staff package 1,300 pounds of food in a couple hours at the Oxnard Food Share.  They sorted food and then packaged it for shipment the next day.  Food Share does so much for the community including supplying food for several food pantries, soup kitchens as well as churches and anyone who comes in who needs food.  It was a pleasure working with this organization.  They are planning on going back there next spring and fall.

Their office participated in three community service projects during the week.  As an office, they collected four large boxes of food to donate to their local food bank.  This food bank helps those in need, ranging from those who just need to supplement their food supply to those who have nothing.

Another event was held at Don Jones Memorial Park; home to the Oregon Fallen War Heroes Memorial.  The park honors citizens of Oregon lost in the Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I & II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, and the Iraq War.  The service project was the construction of 36 raised beds for a community garden at the park.  The beds were built on site, filled with soil, and finally, the walkways between beds were covered with gravel.  The garden will be cared for by volunteers and the food will be shared with people in need throughout the community. 

They supported the Mid-South Food Bank for the second year. The Food Bank provided boxes for donations. The office filled all six donation boxes, and raised a total of $125.00 in cash money. As a result, WFO Memphis was able to provide 278 meals.

Bob Ebaugh, OPL at WFO Miami and Jannette Perez from NHC delivered 133 pounds of supplies and food to Curley's Place Shelter as part of the Fed's Feeding Families campaign.

Their staffs hand packed 7,128 meals at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) in Chanhassen, MN on Thursday, October 4th.  These meals will provide 20 children with one meal per day for an entire year.  FMSC sends meals to nearly 70 countries to help those suffering from severe malnutrition, and also provided meals to victims in the aftermath of the Joplin tornado and Hurricane Katrina.  These meals will be shipped to Columbia.

They had eight representatives and their family members participate in an event commemorating National Public Lands Day on September 29th.  They spent 3 hours building, sanding, and staining picnic tables to be used at the new Fort Missoula Regional Park. The picnic tables were built of lumber milled from logs recovered at the base of two area dams which had recently been removed.  They followed the same picnic table schematics as those built between 1933 and 1942 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) which was a public work relief program developed as a part of the New Deal for unemployed, unmarried men between the ages of 17 and 23.

The Montana Conservation Corps, a modern local non-profit program which trains, mentors and utilizes young adults much in the same way as the original CCC, was our host and provided each volunteer team with a guide to help us through the project.

They had a small team volunteer at Central Services to give them a helping hand on setting up large metal shelving for their food stock. Central Services, Inc. is a non-profit agency that encompasses many different programs that provide financial assistance and crisis intervention counseling. The agency serves as a clearing house and distribution center for other local non-profit agencies.

They participated in Operation Christmas Child which is a Samaritan's Purse charity.  Shoe boxes were filled with various supplies and toys for children in need.  Each volunteer had the opportunity to choose a gender and age group for their shoe box.  They filled the shoe box with items they thought the girl or boy would enjoy given their age.  They also had the option to write a letter to this child and leave it in the box.  These boxes were then collected at the office and processed with bar codes for tracking. 

They collected items such as art supplies, snacks, children's books, gift cards/money, office supplies, etc. for Bethesda.  Bethesda is an organization that heals and rehabilitates child victims of sexual abuse.  We collected enough items to fill two large storage totes and two large boxes.

Their staff volunteered at the Red Cross.  While there, they organized supplies and prepared outreach materials.

They held a community blood drive for the Red Cross and gave tours of the office.  Donors included members of the staff and residents from the local community.  Around 20 pints of blood were donated.

Rick Jackson has been a Crime Stoppers Honolulu volunteer for more than 10 years.  When Rick was young, his father requested that he help law enforcement whenever possible.  Rick’s support of CrimeStoppers Honolulu is something that Rick is passionate about, and helps fulfill his father’s wishes.

Their office held a food drive.  They collected enough food to fill 2 grocery carts.  They also volunteered at Martha's Vineyard which prepared and delivers food to the less fortunate in Paducah and the surrounding area.  While there, the staff members peeled, seeded, and cut up boxes of apples to make apple sauce.

General Forecaster Marvin Percha and his daughter participated in a fund raising walk in support of an autism research project being conducted at Arizona State University.  Marvin's two young sons are involved in the project, so it has special significance.  On October 11th and 18th, General Forecaster Austin Jamison attended Docent training for the Desert Foothills Land Trust (DFLT).  The Trust has a number of land parcels that they manage for conservation purposes.  The training so far has focused on botany in the field.  Additional sessions will cover fauna and geology.  In addition, SOO Doug Green and ASA Kate Stockton participated in a fund raising walk for Autism Speaks.

They volunteered for an organization called Pittsburgh Cares.  They participated in the Homeless Veterans Day Program on October 1st from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM.  This involved serving homeless veterans of war breakfast and lunch, and also helping clean up at the homeless shelter.  It was an experience that really puts life in perspective as to how fortunate we all are.

They volunteered at Northwest Children's Outreach. While there, they sepnt a few hours packing shoes, clothes, toys and school supplies for kids within families in need.  They thought it was a great time knowing they were helping these kids get excited to have warm clothes for school.

They volunteered at the food pantry on October 2nd and 3rd. Food bags were organized to give to families in need in the Reno area.

Their office collected food donations for a local food bank.

Sacramento, CA WFO and California Nevada River Forecast Center - Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento

WFO Sacramento and The California Nevada RFC collected donations for the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento.  This organization serves a critical need by providing temporary housing to children who are displaced or abandoned prior to being placed in foster care.

Their office collected over 150 stuffed animals for Stuffed Animals for Emergencies (SAFE) and Loving Hugs.  They also filled 2 large flat rate priority mail boxes with candy, tooth brushes, and tooth paste.  These boxes were sent to the troops stationed in war zones as part of a Halloween Candy Drive for Operation Gratitude.

Their staff worked at a local soup kitchen.

Staff members volunteered at the San Diego Food Bank on September 27th.  A group consisting of MIC Roger Pierce, forecaster Brandt Maxwell, and meteorologist intern Tina Stall spent a two-hour shift packing boxes of food, assembly-line style, for the Senior Food Program.  This particular program provides one box of supplemental food each month to eligible low-income senior citizens aged 60 and over. 

Tina, Brandt and Roger spent the evening opening boxes of the various foods and keeping the assembly line stocked with those items. The shift of approximately 30 people managed to pack 907 boxes of food, which weighed in at a total of approximately 27,210 pounds!

Their staff volunteered at the Monterey County Food Bank in Salinas, California.  They had eleven members of our staff volunteer at the Food Bank. Over 1,000 packages of food were packed over a two day period (October 1st and 2nd) by the WFO Monterey volunteers!

Their staff and family members helped prepare and serve Sunday dinner at the Hanford Salvation Army on September 30th.

Their staff volunteered at the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank on Wednesday. October 3rd. The group spent about an hour and a half packing 96 boxes of food to be distributed to senior citizens across Northwest Louisiana. One of their forecasters even brought his 9 year old son to help out as well! The group really enjoyed working for a great cause, and they plan to make volunteer service a more frequent activity for their office in the future.

A few staff members participated in the Susan G Komen Race for a Cure on Sunday (September 30). In addition to this, the staff members donated their time and talents to Habitat for Humanity by hanging drywall at a house being built to benefit the community on Wednesday October 3rd.

Their office conducted a food drive for the Feeding America Tampa Bay organization. They collected over 80 pounds of non-perishables during the drive. A few of the staff also participated in area 5Ks benefiting various charities.

Their staff participated in the International Coastal Community Clean-up.

A few staff members participated in the Head For The Cure 5k run, an event to raise funds for brain cancer research. Their staff also gathered more than 200 pounds of food for their local food bank (Harvesters).

These 4 offices held a friendly fitness competition via the "President's Challenge". This competition runs from September 10th through October 6th (the last day of the National Week of Service).  Participants in the challenge donated to a charity of choice based on fitness goals, or simply a flat rate.  WFO Pleasant Hill came from behind to win the 2012 Great NWS President's Challenge Champion. The 4 offices combined to raise nearly $3000 for more than 20 different charitable causes

Their staff volunteered at the Community Food Bank of Tucson on October 3rd.  The Food Bank was in a bind as they had recently conducted inventory that resulted in a tremendous amount of donated non-perishable food being “backed up” in their holding area.  The food needed to be sorted quickly not only so it could be best utilized, but also to make room in the warehouse staging area so that normal operations could more easily continue. 

As the WFO Tucson crew tackled this task, the Food Bank coordinator commented to WFO Tucson NWOC S organizer WCM Ken Drozd, "Some of our workers were getting nervous about all this food backing up, but I told them that I had a great group coming in today that would take care of the job quickly";

Staff members volunteered an evening of their time to work at Salt Lake City's Crossroads on Thursday evening, October 4.  This was the second year in a row, a group of employees from WRH volunteered an evening of their time to work at the Salt Lake City's Crossroads Urban Center Crossroads Urban Center helps low-income people in Salt Lake City and throughout Utah. 

Four members of their staff (Carl Morgan, Steve Pfaff, Rachel Gross-Zouzias and Michael Perdue) and their families kayak to one of the dredge spoil islands in the Masonboro Island Estuarine Reserve to clean up litter and marine debris. Masonboro and the dredge spoil islands are only accessible by boat, but the trash problem has increased in recent years as more people have found out about them and utilized the islands for recreation.  Approximately 150 pounds of trash was collected.  Everyone had a great time and we are already planning a similar trip for the spring.

Their offices collected monetary and item donations for the two humane societies in town.  They raised over 60 pounds of food as well as many toys for the animals to play with.  The staff also raised over $165 for both of the humane societies.  Lastly, they are going to Adopt-A-Highway segment.