Volunteer Leadership Lab

10/13/2026

Looking for a way to give back that fits your schedule? StepUp Wilmington has a role for you. 💙

Since 2003, StepUp Wilmington has helped neighbors facing barriers to employment become job ready, get hired, and keep growing. With nine full-time staff and about 40 active volunteers, volunteers are part of just about everything they do.

Ways to get involved:

🍽️ One-time: Cook and serve a CareerUp dinner. A great fit for company teams and groups. Staff plan the menu, provide the ingredients, and show you around the kitchen.

🖥️ Ongoing: Greet visitors and take calls at the front desk on a consistent weekly schedule.

📋 Trained roles: Session facilitators, mock interviewers, resume writers, one-on-one Candidate conversations, CareerUp session leaders, and childcare.

✍️ Resume writers are especially needed, and you can now help fully remote!

With Jobs Week running twice a month, CareerUp every Wednesday, and teen classes growing, program support is StepUp’s biggest need this year.

Read our full feature and find StepUp’s volunteer opportunities on the ILM Volunteer Hub 👉 https://www.ilmvolunteerhub.org/blog/display/inside-stepup-wilmington/?blog_id=31627

10/12/2026

Calling everyone who leads volunteers in the Cape Fear region

Our Leaders Circle meets tomorrow morning, and theres a seat at the table for you. At Octobers meeting, well be brainstorming ideas for volunteer recruitment, retention, and stewardship. Come for the camaraderie and leave with fresh strategies for engaging your volunteers.

Who it's for:

Leaders Circle is for everyone who leads volunteers:
• Volunteer coordinators at nonprofits
• Civic group leaders rallying their teams
• Staff organizing helpers at local schools
• Companies engaging employees in giving back

When and Where:
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 | 9AM Azalea Station, in the Cargo District on 15th Street just off Castle Street. It's a great spot with lots of space, great coffee, and plenty of parking.

Register here: https://www.volunteerleadershiplab.com/event-details/leaders-circle-2026-10-13-09-00

See you tomorrow!

Join local volunteer leaders each month for connection, collaboration, and community.

10/06/2026

This month's nonprofit spotlight: StepUp Wilmington.

Since 2003, StepUp has helped neighbors facing barriers to employment become job ready, get hired, and keep growing. The core program is Jobs Week, a 3.5-day workplace simulation held in partnership with Cape Fear Community College. Every graduate gets a professional resume and a one-on-one coach called a Talent Manager.

About 67% of the adults StepUp serves have justice involvement in their background. Others are domestic violence survivors, neighbors experiencing homelessness, people in recovery, or someone who hasn't worked in 15 years.

Read the full interview with Jordan Reuck-Harter and Emily Mitchell, conducted by VLL volunteer Suzy Struhs:
https://www.ilmvolunteerhub.org/blog/display/?blog_id=31627

Every month, the ILM Volunteer Hub features a local organization doing the work of holding this community together. This month, we visit StepUp Wilmington, which has helped people facing barriers to employment become job ready since 2003. The words in our headline are painted on the wall of their me...

10/02/2026

Rose Tatum and Agnes Nyagami spent the evening at the Andy Frasco & The U.N. show chatting with concertgoers about the ILM Volunteer Hub and all the ways to get involved in our sweet city. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello, grab a card, and share why volunteering matters to you. 💚

✅ Volunteers: find a cause that fits your interests and schedule
✅ Organizations: recruit and manage volunteers on our free platform

Ready to find your cause? Sign up at www.ilmvolunteerhub.org (link in bio).

Rooted in community. Connected by service. Together we rise.

09/18/2026

Want to volunteer with Communities In Schools of Cape Fear? Here's what's available.

🌱 Spring: PASS Reading Tutoring. Background-checked, trained volunteers paired with a third grader for 12 weeks of weekly reading sessions

🍂 August: Stuff the Bus, the region's largest school supply drive

📅 Year-round: Office support, summer camp volunteers, guest readers, Baby Steps program support, and Teen Court, a diversion program run entirely by volunteers

You don't have to work directly with students. There are plenty of behind-the-scenes roles.

Check out CIS up on the ILM Volunteer Hub: https://www.ilmvolunteerhub.org/agency/detail/?agency_id=186121

Full CIS interview here: https://www.ilmvolunteerhub.org/blog/display/?blog_id=31364

09/08/2026

Twenty-five years ago, strangers ran toward the danger for one another. Out of that day came the National Day of Service and Remembrance, and every September 11 since, people across the country have honored it by giving their time.

One day matters. A year matters more.

This September 11, we are asking our neighbors across the Cape Fear region to make a longer commitment. Pick a cause. Find an organization. Sign up for something that outlasts today.

Volunteer opportunities are waiting at www.ilmvolunteerhub.org, where nearly 50 (and growing) local organizations post ways to serve.

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09/04/2026

More than 20 years ago, Annie Adams launched Communities In Schools at New Hanover High School and started a program for students who were expecting babies while still in high school.

She stayed in their lives, and their children's lives, for 18 years.

Last year, that first group of "baby steps babies" graduated high school.

"They've had close relationships with supportive adults forever, and to see them all celebrate the major milestone of graduation, and go off to college to chase their dream jobs, was just a really humbling thing to witness." (Kendall Englehart, CIS of Cape Fear)

That's what a two-decade commitment to a community looks like.

Read the full interview: https://www.ilmvolunteerhub.org/blog/display/?blog_id=31364

09/03/2026

Who supports the people who support the volunteers?

That is what the Leaders Circle is for. Once a month, volunteer coordinators, executive directors, and employee engagement leaders from around Wilmington gather to swap ideas, work through shared challenges, and learn strategies that make a real difference in their programs.

No presentation to sit through. Just good conversation with people who understand the work.

Leaders Circle | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 | 9AM | Azalea Station

Seats are limited, so RSVP here: https://www.volunteerleadershiplab.com/leaders-circle

08/28/2026

Every month, we're featuring a local organization that shows up for this community. First up: Communities In Schools of Cape Fear.

CIS places fully trained, full-time staff inside 35 public schools across Pender and New Hanover counties — staff who work bell to bell alongside students, handling attendance, tutoring, behavior coaching, and basic needs.

As Communications Manager Kendall Englehart put it: Students who are struggling academically, dealing with conflict, or just not feeling like themselves know they can go to their CIS staff member for a listening ear. That relationship is why we're so effective at addressing chronic absenteeism. Students show up when someone is expecting them.

Read the full interview with Kendall, conducted by VLL volunteer Suzy Struhs: https://www.ilmvolunteerhub.org/blog/display/?blog_id=31364

08/27/2026

Leading volunteers is a lot to carry on your own.

The Leaders Circle is a monthly gathering for the people who recruit, train, schedule, and support volunteers across our area. We talk through real challenges, trade solutions that actually work, and leave with something useful for the week ahead.

Come for the comradery, stay for the ideas. Your voice also helps shape where volunteerism goes next in the Wilmington area.

Leaders Circle | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 | 9AM | Azalea Station

RSVP: https://www.volunteerleadershiplab.com/leaders-circle