Passport For Good recently announced affiliations with four Capital Region human service organizations: City Mission of Schenectady; Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless and Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region, both located in Albany; and Unity House, located in Troy. The four organizations will be able to strengthen their connectedness with local schools, students and families by providing easy access to opportunities to engage and make an impact on their community.
Passport For Good is a web and mobile solution that chronicles community service, career development and participation in clubs and organizations for individuals, students, schools and organizations. As an affiliate, each organization will have the ability to list volunteer opportunities within the Passport for Good platform to make community members aware of upcoming engagement activities, and provide their non-profit “stamps” when approving hours for students in the Passport for Good app.
“Passport For Good is proud to partner with schools and these non-profit organizations that make a significant impact in the community,” said Gayle Farman, Passport For Good founder and president. “By joining forces, volunteers will engage further in mission-driven work to help others, while our affiliates are able to make opportunities more accessible and schools have new data on the good work their student volunteers are doing.”
City Mission volunteers provide assistance in many of the organization’s programs. Volunteers can choose to participate in varying degrees at City Mission, from service volunteering such as serving meals and preparing lunches to mission-driven volunteering, which includes child care assistance, donation pickups, employment coaching, administrative assistance and thrift store assistance. Group volunteering is also available for companies and other groups looking to contribute their time.
“Student volunteers make a big impact at City Mission. It’s exciting to see them serve and learn at the same time,” said Mike Saccocio, executive director of City Mission. “Partnering with Passport For Good will streamline the process for the students and the Mission. More students will be able to help more people.”
Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless (IPH) volunteers donate their time and talent to help address the needs of the homeless and low-income community. Volunteers can participate in various ways, including meal donations, administrative assistance, clothing organization and sorting, donation drives, life skills classes and much more. Volunteers play a significant role in enforcing the mission of IPH by providing services that encourage self-sufficiency, empowerment and sustainability.
“Volunteers are the magic that helps IPH impact so many lives in the Capital Region. We are able to feed more guests, provide winter coats and essential clothing items, and transition more individuals to permanent housing because of the support we receive from volunteers,” said Kara Gargiulo, community outreach coordinator at IPH. “Passport for Good is helping us connect with new volunteers and ease their volunteer experience with fantastic digital tools. IPH is excited to open this new door for an affiliation that benefits our organization and our amazing volunteers.”
Trinity Alliance provides programs and services that work to renew the urban communities within the Capital Region. Its services include nutrition security, violence prevention, early childhood development, after school and summer camp opportunities, health and wellness, income security, adult education and career training. Trinity Alliance matches volunteers with available jobs and tasks depending on their skill sets and interests.
“Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region is proud to be an affiliate with Passport For Good so that we may acknowledge the vital role volunteers play in our organization,” said Trinity Alliance Director of Development and Marketing Addy Waldie. “We look forward to not only recognizing our volunteers but also correlating our volunteers’ work with the impact they have and showcasing the many opportunities to get involved and better our community.”
At Unity House, volunteers can participate in a variety of ways from bagging dog food for the pantry to stocking shelves and organizing gifts in the Holiday Store to serving lunch at the Community Meals Program and much more. Through this new affiliation with Passport For Good, Unity House will have the ability to identify which tasks volunteers are participating in and more easily connect again with students and families so that they can continue to make a meaningful impact.
“Volunteers and students contribute a tremendous amount of time to helping our organization by hosting drives for needed items, preparing and serving meals in our dining room and kitchen and so much more,” said Unity House CEO Chris Burke. “Passport for Good is a great tool for volunteers to be recognized for their hard work as the platform displays how they are making an impact in an easy-to-use format.”
Passport For Good has a wide variety of affiliates. Affiliates are able to display information about their organization in the Passport For Good platform to encourage student volunteers to participate in their opportunities. Students record data on each experience. The schools are able to use the student engagement data for program feedback, and the students begin to build a resume for college, and career readiness.