Community Corner

LAST CHANCE: Enter Essay Contest NOW!

VolunteerSquare and Patch are inviting high schoolers in select communities, including Greenwich, to submit a 500-word essay answering just that question. Details on prizes, deadlines and rules below!

Teenagers in Greenwich rank among a core group of volunteers that give of their time to help needy families and individuals, whether that involves collecting non-perishables, raising money through car washes, mentoring underprivileged kids or helping to build homes.

And it's nonprofit VolunteerSquare's goal to match up volunteers with opportunities at agencies who need them. Today, VolunteerSquare and Patch are pleased to launch a contest built around community volunteering.

Here's the contest in a nutshell: Tell us, in 500 words or less, what community volunteering means to you.

We're taking submissions May 6 through 8, and instructions on how to upload are included in the rules, attached as a PDF. (You can always email your essay to Patch Senior Regional Editor Michael Dinan at michaeld@patch.com, and absolutely ask me any questions.) 

Prizes:

  • 1st Place: Kindle Fire & $700 cash
  • 2nd Place: Chrome Laptop & $450 cash
  • 3rd Place: $300 cash
Patch also is placing all participants front and center for you, the community, to decide who wins. Here's a quick how-to on all of this:

Entering

May 6-8: Right now, you can upload your essay directly to Patch. You see the box at the top of this page in the center under "Boards"? It says "Make an Announcement, Speak Your Mind or Sell Something." Well, if you put your cursor in there and tell us your name, school and year (freshman, sophomore, etc.). Then click where it says "Add Photos and Videos" and select the Announcements board. Then click "Post Now" and you've officially entered! What's more, your own essay is now front and center on your local Patch homepage. Cool, right? (If your'e unable to do so for any reason, simply email me your essay with your name, school and year at the top—michaeld@patch.com.) We will only take submissions on Monday through Wednesday—the entry period ends at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

Voting


May 9-13: Our friends at VolunteerSquare will narrow down the essays we get to 10 finalists. That list will be presented at 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. We're going to present them so that each of the finalists has an associated number with his or her essay, one through 10. Winners will be selected by readers in the communities where the essay contest is running. All they'll have to do is tell us, in the comments area, which number they like best. (See attached PDF for more specifics.) Voting ends at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 13, and we'll announce our three winners soon after!

Ask me any questions you have about the contest and by next Monday, May 6, be ready to post your essay on "What Does Community Volunteering Mean to You?" 

VolunteerSquare.com is a free service for Fairfield County residents and nonprofits. The site offers immediate, real-time matching as well as a social networking platform where registered users can share unique content like photos, videos and more—all related to volunteering. 

[Editor's Note: Any essays received before May 6 will not be entered in the contest.]


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