Here’s an idea that may help you to fit volunteering into your busy schedules and allow you to serve in a manner that is fulfilling and rewarding…Idea #3 Form or join a Circle of Service.

Local resident, City Councilman and early 5th Bridge Pledger, Jim Pokorney, developed the Circle of Service concept and the idea is spreading across the community. The idea is simple:

• Gather a group of people together who have a desire to volunteer. Jim’s original model called for a circle of 12 people, but the group could be smaller or larger. One meeting, no standing committees. Great way to develop new friendships.
• Decide how many volunteer projects you want do to each year. (Original model is 4 x per year, winter, spring, summer & fall but it could be twice a year, monthly, once per semester, etc…) Totally flexible, each group decides what works for them.
• Decide the scope of the project. How much time will you commit? Does your group want a special focus (ie environmental, beautification, poverty…)? (Original model limits the projects to those that can be completed in one day or less and each member of the circle gets to choose and plan one project.) Totally flexible, each group decides what works for them.
• Decide whether you will commit financial resources as well as time and how much. Jim’s group decided that each member of the group would commit $50 cash towards each project. That way they would have a budget of $600 for each project, which will enable them to have more flexibility and to leverage their impact.
• Share the leadership and project selection. All members of the circle will take one turn to select a project that they feel passionate about, and then provide the leadership to plan and organize that project. For all the other projects, the members just need to show up to volunteer and support the projects chosen and organized by the leader for that particular project. This gives each circle member the opportunity to share their passions with others and then be exposed to the philanthropic interests of the other circle members. 5th Bridge can help with project ideas.
• Create an assignment sheet and gather contact information. Determine who and when each person is responsible to choose and plan the project, then decide on an easy method of communication (email or phone tree).
• Encourage all members of your Circle of Service to take the 5th Bridge pledge online at www.5thbridge.org , so we can help you with project ideas and provide ongoing encouragement.
• Get started! (Don’t forget to take pictures)
• Share your project ideas and experiences with others by posting your photos and/or stories on the 5th Bridge website… www.5thbridge.org

The information above is a sample outline that you can use to form a Circle of Service and more information about Jim Pokorney’s original model is on the 5th Bridge website ( www.5thbridge.org ) under “stories”, but the beauty of the Circle of Service is that it is totally organic. You can mold it and form it into any shape you want to suit the interests and time constraints of the people who are participating. All it takes is one person to convene that one meeting. Here are just a few examples of the possibilities…

• A group of neighbors could form a Circle of Service as a way to get to know one another better. They could mobilize to help other neighbors in need, keep the neighborhood safe, welcome new neighbors, etc…
• Nancy Carlson formed a Circle with a group of women who are very active in the community. One of the things that her group decided was that they could call upon the Circle to help when a member was involved in a community project and needed extra help.
• Groups of employees could form Circles of Service as a way to get to know one another on a different level and to promote team building.
• Friends and/ or co-workers could form a Circle of Service to help and support a family or individual who is struggling with a serious illness, unemployment, or other challenge.
• A group of students who are passionate about the environment could form a Circle to work on environmental issues.
• A group of men (or women) who like to work with their hands could form a Circle of Service to do handyman jobs for non-profits or individuals who need help with their homes.
• A group of people who love to garden, could work on projects to maintain public landscapes and/or beautify the community.

The list of possibilities is endless. The benefits to all are numerous. 5th Bridge will help make it easier to get started and keep going by sharing project ideas and providing ongoing encouragement. We can also help you inspire others to get involved by sharing your stories, ideas, and photos on our website.

Men like to build stuff; fix things; repair broken down parts. And when you bring a group of men together who have a desire to improve our community, the possibilities for them to effect positive change in our community are endless. A newly-formed Circle of Service spent the morning of July 28th on the 700 block of Prairie Street installing a new deck for residents of a Laura Baker house. The carpenters extraodinaire (from left to right) included Rod Christensen, Judd Lohmann, Pete Schuster, Chris Huber, Dave Nitz , Tim Hanson, Rich Lorang and John Daniels.

What you see is only the midway point of service. Last weekend, Rich and his son Zach Lorang met with Noel Stratmoen (property manager of the house) to discuss the deck’s design and where to place footings and how to deal with existing landscape. Will Daniels (son of John) spent 3 hours on the project after this picture was taken. A railing is left to install and the volunteers will complete that shortly.

Circle of Service is the “brainchild” of our own Northfield resident Jim Pokorney. Jim’s belief is that you have 12 people get together about 3 or 4 times a year. One person in the circle is responsible to find a suitable project that the group can work on in a reasonable amount of time. The responsibility to find a volunteer opportunity rotates amongst group members. The idea is that if you have a circle of 12 people, you are only required to find a project once every 3 years or so. Besides volunteering their time, each member contributes a dollar amount to each project. The financial commitment can be as low as $5-10 per service project or perhaps as high as $50. The financial contribution helps to either acquire materials for the project or offset any costs related to the service project. In the case of the Laura Baker project, each member contributed $50 and Laura Baker picked up the difference.

In addition to the tangible results, Circle of Service has the added benefit of bringing people together to work on a common goal in a spirit of fellowship and community building. Circle of Service groups are forming all over Northfield and our community is becoming stronger and more closely knit because of the relationships that form when we spend time with our fellow community members.

A great big Thank You to this Circle of Service group for improving the lives of our Northfield Laura Baker residents. Thanks as well to those who worked behind the scenes to bring this project to fruition.

A Circle of Service is a group of 12 thoughtful citizens who agree to commit their time and money to participate in 12 self-selected projects over a three-year period. Each group member is responsible for selecting, organizing, and managing one “doable” project that requires one day (at most) of group effort and a dollar contribution from each group member. In our circle, each member brings $50 to each project. We do one project every three months.

Our first and only formal meeting was at my house after our first project. At this meeting, we assigned each member of the circle the responsibility for leadership of one project over the next three years. We discussed the types of projects we are interested in, but specific projects were not chosen at that time. In theory, on each project day, the next project will be announced by the responsible circle member, allowing us about three months to clear our calendars.

Do you want to form your own circle?
It is really simple to start.

Do you have 11 friends, or would you like 11 new friends?
Each member has equal responsibility to plan one project over the three-year commitment. There is no leader – just one instigator.

There can’t be an easier way for any group, any age, to self organize to do some good.

Twelve days, Twelve projects over Three Years.

Click here for more information

Call if you have questions.
Jim Pokorney 507 663 6170

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world;indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead