2018 NWS Week of Service

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Other Weeks & Seasons

2011 (September 25 - October 1)
2012 (September 30 - October 6)
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)
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)

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Aberdeen SD held a food drive for the Salvation Army in Aberdeen.  They brought in 62 pounds of food.  This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition. 

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Albany NY held a food drive for the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York BackPack Program.  They brought in approximately 180 pounds of food.  This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York’s BackPack Program. This program partners with 220 schools across 20 counties serving over 6,500 children a week. The BackPack Program helps alleviate child hunger by discreetly providing children with backpacks full of nutritious & easy-to-prepare food on Friday afternoons so they have food to eat throughout the weekend.

Throughout the year, the staff has been collecting aluminum pull tabs for the Ronald McDonald House of Albany NY. They have been doing this for the past 2 years.

WFO and CWSU Albuquerque kicked it up a notch this year by over doubling their collection of food for the Road Runner Food Bank of New Mexico and Animal Humane of New Mexico (local Albuquerque chapter)! A whopping 333.5 lbs of food was collected through 3 events. By the way, if you're looking for a furry friend, all the pets pictured are needing fur-ever homes...they await you at Animal Humane of NM!

ABRFC volunteered 48.5 hours during this competition with the Lower Mississippi and West Gulf RFCs.  

The staff collected 192 pounds of food for the Northeast Oklahoma Food Bank.

The Arkansas-Red Basin, Lower Mississippi, and West Gulf RFCs brought in over 800 pounds of food. 

Austin/San Antonio, TX staff members helped out at the San Antonio Food Bank office located in New Braunfels. They sorted 200 to 400 pounds of food. They also bought pizza to other volunteers that were there giving a hand as well.

A meteorologist and his wife took about 20 clothing items each and donated to the Goodwill.

From September 2 through September 7, a staff member from WFO Binghamton and his wife helped to restore Maine seabirds by joining pioneering researcher, Dr. Stephen Kress, and other Project Puffin biologists with National Audubon Society's internationally renowned Seabird Restoration Program.  Worked alongside Audubon biologists to improve nesting habitat for Leach's Storm-Petrels and Roseate Terns at Eastern Egg Rock. Also help to remove marine debris (such as lobster traps) that entangles seabirds.

This staff member and his wife "had the unique opportunity to land on Eastern Egg Rock, an island off-limits during the seabird breeding season. With the puffins departed for their wintering areas, I had the unique opportunity to work with Audubon biologists to perform critical habitat improvements to ensure the long-term survival of colonies of both terns and puffins."

During October, the NWS Binghampton NY staff held a food drive for the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse.  A total of 65 pounds of food was donated from this drive.

On the evening of October 3, seven members of the WFO Boise ID office cleaned up a 2 mile stretch of State Highway 21. They ended up with 7 bags of trash, a tire, and two road signs that had been knocked over. From left to right... Korri Anderson, Jay Breidenbach, Tim Barker, Jason Baker (kneeling), Travis Mayer

On Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday (Oct 1,3,4,6), a member of NWS Buffalo and 2 staff members volunteered at the Therapeutic Riding Center. This program focuses on riders with various disabilities riding for therapy. While there, they groomed, tacked, and led horses for therapeutic riding.

In addition to this on October 2, two members of the NWS Buffalo staff and two family members participated in scavenger hunt across Buffalo, NY metro area within a time limit. All proceeds from hunt went to the new Explore and More children's museum (a new Buffalo Children's Museum).

From September 24 through October 5, NWS Burlington VT collected 68 pounds of food for the Chittenden County Food Shelf in Burlington, VT.  This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

The Caribou, ME WFO staff donated Christmas gifts through United Way of Aroostook.

NWS Central Illinois held a food drive (collected 275 pounds) at work and volunteered their time at Lincoln IL Food Bank. A few members also did a Red Cross - Donation of Blood Platelets through Apheresis.

NWS Charleston, SC brought in donations to make Hygiene Kits for One80 Place. At the end of the donation period, several staff members worked together to assemble the kits. We were able to make 114 kits! Each kit contained travel size toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, soap and a toothbrush. One80 Place provides a variety of services for homeless people in the community. Not only does the shelter offer meals and a place to sleep, they also provide comprehensive programs for guests to help stop the cycle of homelessness and promote self-sufficiency.

The NWS in Cleveland, Ohio collected food items (68 pounds) to benefit the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. The food bank serves six counties within the NWS Cleveland forecast area. Across Northeast Ohio, 1 in 6 people is considered food insecure so donations are greatly in need in the local community. Many of the items collected were high protein items on the most needed list.

In mid-October, a staff member from NWS Columbia South Carolina partnered with a local pastor in a rural town in Dominican Republic to build a home for a family that was in need and didn't have a place to live. This met a physical need and allowed the pastor to minister to the family and the community that came and observed.

Eastern Region Headquarters held a Thanksgiving food drive in October and a winter clothes drive in November.

On Saturday October 20th, 2018, six staff members from NWS Elko, NV did a road-side cleanup event. Each donated one to three hours of their valuable time to help out! We filled 10 large bags along both sides of a 1-mile stretch of Ruby Vista Drive.

Just a little background. Several years ago, we applied to the City of Elko to be allowed to clean up the section of Ruby Vista. We proposed our idea to the Elko City Council and upon approval, the City placed a couple of signs designating the stretch of roadway to be de-littered by NOAA. We throw in our very own half-mile stretch of Paradise Drive as a bonus to the City. We have found that two cleanups per year seems to work well. On days when our schedules are favorable for more volunteers, we also scour NOAA property to make sure our area stays tidy as well.

From September 30 through October 6, NWS El Paso, TX conducted a food drive for the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger.  They collected 56 items collected totaling in 60 pounds. This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

On October 2, three staff members donated blood for Vitalant which is a local blood bank.

On September 22, several members of the NWS Grand Junction staff did a lake cleanup on the Grand Mesa for the Adopt-A-Lake program sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service.

The WFO Gray ME staff collected 30 pounds of food for Gray Community Food Pantry.

From August 2nd through September 5th, NWS Great Falls collected 286 pounds of food for the Great Falls Food Bank. This activity was designed to compliment another local drive for Fed Feeds Families food drive.

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Green Bay, WI conducted a food drive for the Paul's Pantry.  This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

On October 22, eight members of the NWS Hastings, NE staff volunteered at Hearts and Hands Against Hunger. They packed 7,344 meal bags for starving children throughout the world.

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Honolulu, HI conducted a food drive for the Institute for Human Services.  

During October, NWS Jackson MS collected 65 pounds of food for the Salvation Army of Mississippi.

They did some painting and interior work at Hope House, a domestic violence shelter in Lee's Summit MO

From late July into early September, NWS La Crosse WI brought in school supplies for their 9th Annual School Supply Drive. These school supplies were delivered to 3 schools in Vernon County (Coon Valley Elementary, Westby Elementary, and Westby High School). This area was affected by heavy rain (6-13") and record flooding from August 27-28. The cooperative observer near Westby reported 11.75" of rain. Hardest hit was the Coon Valley and the communities along the Kickapoo River. The Coon Valley Elementary secretary said that some of their students lost their homes from this flash flooding.

During the NWS Week of Service (September 30-October 6), NWS La Crosse held their 5th annual food drive for WAFER Food Pantry. A total of 88 lbs of non-perishable food was collected. This food was delivered to WAFER on October 8

One of the NWS La Crosse WI meteorologists knitted 126 preemie and baby hats for the neonatal units at Gundersen Lutheran and Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan healthcare facilities. These were delivered on October 8th.

A group of WFO Las Vegas staff volunteered to support the Walk to End Alzheimer's event in Las Vegas, NV. They participated in setting up the large event arch and course barriers as well as tallying participants throughout the walk. The event had almost 2,000 participants raising over $200,000 towards Alzheimer's research, care, support, awareness, and advocacy.

During October, WFO Little Rock, AR held a hugely successful pet food, toy and supply drive for North Little Rock Animal Shelter. This shelter, during an average year, adopts out 900 pets...some of those pets finding fur-ever homes all across the country! The supplies collected by WFO Little Rock will help to make this mission of caring for more animals a success. (The cats and dogs on the post are part of the success story of the shelter...they found their fur-ever homes through NLR Animal Shelter!)

On October 20, their local "Goodwill Team" spent a few hours walking, feeding, and playing with the animals. It was something we could bring the kids to do so we had a little more involvement. It was a rewarding experience for all.

LMRFC volunteered 366 of our personal hours to helping make our communities stronger and better.  During the official NWS Service week, we volunteered 49.5 hours.  We volunteered 162 hours before the official Service week began and 154.5 for the remainder of October.  We helped local churches, schools, athletics for local youth, scouting organizations, hurricane relief efforts, and aid programs helping at risk farming families.  One of our forecasters volunteered 248 hours during September and October working with animal rescues, including fostering animals.  Some other activities included...

From September 30 through October 15, they collected dry food goods (211 pounds) and personal toiletries for families in need for the Good Samaritan Ministry.

From September 30 through October 3, there was planning and implementing of a hayride through neighborhood to help revitalize social interactions in the Magnolia Forest community and provide a safe activity for the large influx of young children in recent years. 

The Arkansas-Red Basin, Lower Mississippi, and West Gulf RFCs brought in over 800 pounds of food. 

On September 16th, NWS Marquette, MI completed their school supply drive for Lake Linden Elementary school in the Copper Country.  This area was impacted heavily by the Father's Day flooding in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

From September 30 through October 6, team members at WFO Marquette conducted a record setting food drive for the St. Vincent de Paul's food pantry in Ishpeming. The pantry was very excited to hear that we were gathering food ahead of the annual U.P. wide regional effort prior to the Thanksgiving Holiday.  The food pantry personnel were overwhelmed by the generosity of WFO Marquette staff during the NWS Week of Service.  WFO team members also donated dog and cat food to the Upper Peninsula Animal Welfare Shelter.  One attached photo shows the collected donations for St. Vincent de Paul's pantry, and other photo shows WFO Marquette staff members Jaclyn Ritzman and Tim Akom donating the dog and cat food to UPAWS.

This was the third year in a row that NWS Marquette has won the NWS Food Drive Competition.

The NWS Melbourne FL staff collected 60 pounds of food for their local Salvation Army. The donation was greatly appreciated, as the Salvation Army was in critical need and only had 2 days worth of food left.

From September 30 through October 6, Milwaukee, WI WFO held a food drive for the Food Pantry of Waukesha County.  This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

The Missoula Forecast Office volunteered at the local Food Bank on October 1st and packaged bags of fruit (46 pounds) for their after school, weekend kids power packs.

Seven members of the WFO Morristown, TN (MRX) staff and two family members worked to prepare and serve a free dinner to 52 needy citizens on Thursday, October 4. The "Daily Bread" provides lunch and/or dinner to any needy people, with no requirements, just whoever shows up. Executive Director, Larry Shropshire told us the history of "Daily Bread" that was started back in the 1960s by his father and it has been running ever since providing these meals. Volunteers Don and "Mitch" Estes as well as Tom Bridges led us through all the phases of the effort. It was humbling to see these poor or disabled people who would wander in themselves or might even bring their families for a warm meal. MRX staff members included Matt Anderson, Derek Eisentrout, Rick Garuckas, Tim Doyle, George Mathews, and Allen Adkins, as well as Allen's wife Natalie, and his daughter Madison. We all felt the experience was very rewarding and that we would like to do this service again.

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Mount Holly/Philadelphia conducted a food drive for the Institute for Human Services.  This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

NWS Newport/Morehead City NC staff collected food related items to donate to local food pantry. We also collected donations for the local animal shelter and humane society, which was badly damaged during Hurricane Florence.

WFO North Platte NE and partners provided 132 items of food for the Salvation Army Community Food Pantry and the North Platte Pet Food Pantry weighing in at 214.9 pounds. There were also several pet items donated such as cat litter and pet toys. It was a very successful drive and excellent to see our office come together to help support both our human and animal communities.

OAX hosted a clothing drive for Open Door Mission through the month of September. With winter quickly approaching, we focused on collecting hats, gloves, and scarves. In addition to collecting in the office, a few members of the staff and their families spent last Sunday afternoon going door to door in the neighborhood around the office. We introduced ourselves as their neighbors and gave them a flyer with information about what we do at the office. In addition, we told them that we are hosting a clothing drive and allowed them to donate. It was a wonderful experience for everyone. Many of the neighbors did not know about our forecasts so it was great to share this with them. One kind neighbor even invited us in to talk about the weather and also told us about several other volunteer opportunities that are going on in the area.

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Paducah, KY conducted a food drive. This is part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

The community of Pendleton, Oregon grows from a quiet 16K residents to upwards of 70K during the second full week of September each year. Pendleton is well known for volunteerism during this week each year as there are several main events; the Historic Pendleton Round-Up, Happy Canyon show, the Main Street Cowboy’s Greatest Free Show in the West, VFW Cowboy Breakfast, and Side Saddlers Twilight Breakfast. This year from the 6th of September through the 16th various WFO Pendleton staff volunteered time and efforts to help with these events. During this period, four WFO staff members dedicated a total of over 230 hours of personal time to help make a difference in our community and make the VFW, Main Street Cowboys and Side Saddlers events a success!

The NWS in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania collected food items to benefit the West Hills Food Pantry. West Hills Food Pantry provides supplemental groceries on a weekly basis to individuals and families in five different communities in the area. The West Hills Food Pantry serves between 150-200 families each and every week. On October 2, 2018, there were four individuals who volunteered on a food distribution day that served 150 families. (Alicia Miller (SH), Evan Bookbinder (ITO), Tony Hall (MIC), and Michelle Murrell (ASA). On that day volunteers stocked shelves, packed groceries, pushed groceries up the hill to vehicles, and assisted with packing groceries into vehicles.

In the wake of Hurricane Florence and Michael, the need for food, hygiene items and cleaning supplies is greater than ever. The Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC works in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross to collect and deliver needed food and non-food essentials to victims in affected areas. NWS Raleigh collected approximately 150 lbs. of these most needed items, with the donation delivered to the Raleigh Branch office.

On October 1, six members of Rapid City, SD WFO staff helped set up a food assembly line, and then we helped pack bags for Feeding South Dakota's BackPack Program. These bags are given to underprivileged kids to have food over the weekends.

The Rapid City BackPack Program currently provides more than 1,800 weekend packages of food to at-risk, chronically hungry school children.  In addition, Feeding South Dakota distributes more than 3,200 packages of food each week to children in the Sioux Falls school district and 10 surrounding communities. Through this program, more than 5,000 children statewide are given a greater opportunity to learn and grow.

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Riverton, WY conducted a food drive for the Good Samaritan Home, Riverton, WY. This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

On October 4, Kevin Lynott (MIC) served dinner to the homeless and less fortunate of Visalia, California. This took place at the Visalia Rescue Mission. Kevin served a nice meal for about one hour and helped to clean up afterwards. It was very rewarding for everyone involved. Kevin was joined by his wife, Elaine. This was not their fist time doing this.

NWS Sioux Falls, SD volunteered at Feeding South Dakota, and helping with their BackPack program (weekend food packages).

During the month of October, NWS Southern Region Headquarters collected items for women that come to The Women's Center in Fort Worth. They help women with Rape Crisis and Victim Services, Employment Solutions and General Counseling Services.

On October 1, WFO Spokane helped pack 1,376 Bite2Go bags at their local food bank. Bite2Go bags are created to provide healthy weekend food supplies for children in need during the school year.

In addition to our time volunteering at the food bank, we held in an office-wide food drive. During the NWS Week of Service, we collected 138 items (165 pounds) and a cash donation for Second Harvest.

As a way of giving back to our wonderful community, staff members from NWS Springfield volunteered to pick up trash on a hot September afternoon (September 15) along a 1-mile stretch of Airport Boulevard as part of the local Adopt-a-Highway program. The clean-up was a success, with 6 garbage bags full of trash being collected in the hour it took to clean the ditches on both sides of the road!

On October 6, three meteorologists from NWS State College PA volunteered with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Centre County. They installed floor joists, laid plywood for the first floor, and transported lumber to prepare for framing the house. It was a wonderful opportunity to give back to the community!

During September and most of October, NWS Tallahassee collected 40 pounds of non-perishable food for 2nd Harvest of the Big Bend Food Pantry. We tried to plan a volunteer day at the pantry, but oddly they were too busy with Hurricane Michael relief efforts to accommodate us.

Five members from the NWS Tuscon AZ staff volunteered at the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona for the 7th consecutive year!

The NWS Wakefield VA staff collected supplies for the local animal shelter for the NWS Week of Service. The office had high participation with many items collected for the shelter. A list of suggested items was sent out to all the staff at the beginning of the week for guidance. The shelter was grateful for our contributions and look forward to future involvement with our office.

On October 3rd, U.S. National Weather Service Western Region HQ participated again this year with donating and preparing another delicious dinner for families with patients at the Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital Ronald McDonald House Charities Intermountain Area Family Room.

The West Gulf RFC staff along with the Arkansas-Red Basin and West Gulf RFCs brought in over 800 pounds of food.  The West Gulf RFC collected an impressive 411 lbs of food for the Tarrant Area Food Bank.

From September 30 through October 6, NWS Wichita, KS conducted a food drive for the Kansas Food Bank. This was part of the 5th Annual NWS Food Drive Competition.

NWS Wilmington, OH and OHRFC held a drive to collect items for Wilmington Area Humane Society and Clinton County Humane Society.