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The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in California

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Hobbies in Quarantine

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By Hope C.

The majority of us have been stuck in our houses for what feels like ages, which can cause feelings of stress or boredom. If you’re in search of something fun and productive to do while taking your mind off of things, try out some of these awesome hobbies!

1. Take Out Your Camera

Need something new to post on your social media? Whether you’re using your cell phone or a professional camera, practicing photography and videography is a great hobby to pick up during COVID-19. It’s also the perfect opportunity to get better at editing your photos and videos to enhance their beauty!

2. Get Fit

It’s not always easy to motivate ourselves to get fit. With so much extra time on our hands, now is better than ever! Not all forms of exercise are for everyone, so this is a great time to figure out what works best for you. Don’t like running? Try biking or power walking. Do you enjoy spending time in nature? Go on a hike or try out kayaking. You can stay extra safe and exercise without even leaving your home! Try hula hooping, jump roping, or dancing. If you’re not sure where to start, there are thousands of free videos online for everything from Zumba to yoga. Try something new and stay in shape while having fun!

3. Get in the Kitchen

Try cooking new foods and taste test them! Look for an old family recipe or surf the internet to find new ones. Take the time to experiment and make unique creations. If you’re baking, get artistic, and practice your cake decorating skills. If you make extras you can share with your friends or family – you could even donate to essential workers to make their days a little brighter!

4. Read and Write

Many libraries and bookstores have reopened, but if yours hasn’t there is no need to worry. Reading is not off of the table! Get online and check out the thousands of free books in the public domain. There are many other free audio and eBooks that are easily found, not to mention what you may already have at home. Don’t want to read someone else’s book? Become an author and start writing your own! Whether you’re creating a novel, poem, or blog, the options are endless when it comes to writing. You could also start journaling to document what it was like for you during such a big moment in history.

5. Get Musical

Want something new to show your friends on FaceTime or when you see them again? Start to learn a new instrument or compose some music. If you’re not into the classics, you could even learn how to DJ! Whether you have an instrument at home that you played when you were younger or you’re creating music for the first time, you’re sure to have a blast!

6. Work With a Needle

Learn how to sew, cross-stitch, or embroider! If someone in your household already has this skill, they’d probably love to teach you and share this fun hobby. If not, thousands of articles and videos are available to teach you for free or a very low price! This is the same for crocheting, knitting, and quilt making.

7. Make Something to Wear

Quarantine is the perfect time to clean out your closet and pull out old clothes. These can be donated or you can put your new sewing skills to use while you re-purpose them. This will add to your wardrobe without the expense of new clothes! You can also make masks to go with your new outfits or to donate to people that don’t have these important resources. Friendship bracelets are another simple and fun craft that you can share! All it takes is embroidery floss and a bit of time, so get online and pick a pattern. You can also create other accessories and jewelry or tie-dye!

8. Make Something to Use

If you don’t need new clothing or accessories, but still enjoy being innovative this is a fun hobby to take up. Soap and candles are fairly easy to make and only take a few supplies. These are perfect to use in your household or to give as gifts! Don’t want to stop there? Take it up a step and make perfume or design a phone case!

9. Do a Puzzle

Lots of us probably have unopened boxes of puzzles sitting in our house, just waiting to be done. When’s a better time than now? Get the satisfaction of finishing a puzzle and take a picture of it or mount it to your wall for decoration! Not into classic jigsaw puzzles? Try a crossword, sudoku, or a word search!

10. Pick Up Beauty Skills

Watch tutorials and take your hair techniques to another level! Whether you’re learning to braid, put in curlers, or nail a messy bun, your hair will look amazing by the time school is back in session. Perfect your nail art or learn to correctly apply acrylics! You can master makeup techniques that you otherwise may have not had the time to learn.

11. Become an Influencer

Rather than spending your time scrolling through social media or watching YouTube videos, create new content! Start a podcast, vlog/blog, YouTube channel, or social media account. Now you can inspire others with your amazing ideas!

12. Get Artistic

You can go with the popular skills of drawing and painting or try something a little different! You can learn the arts of origami, calligraphy, or flower pressing. Why not try scrapbooking and include some of these other skills inside as well as photos to capture your memories in one place? You can also participate in your new hobbies while making cards as an act of service to brighten people’s days.

13. Stargaze

Now that it’s summer, you’re likely staying up a little later than you otherwise would. Lay in your yard and watch the stars! You can look for constellations and take this time to learn about astrology.

14. Start a Garden

Growing your own food is not only super fun, but it is also better for the environment and healthier than purchasing from a grocery store! If your green thumb isn’t interested in growing food, you can also plant flowers to add color to your yard!

15. Meditate

Self-care is always extremely important. In a global pandemic, many people are feeling stressed and anxious making it even more important to stay healthy not only physically, but mentally. According to the Mayo Clinic, having a hobby is, “a healthy coping strategy,” and “a positive distraction”. Whether your kind of meditation is sitting with your eyes closed while focusing on breathing, or listening to your favorite song, it is an important hobby. Take care of yourself!

COVID-19 is an unusual time and likely very different than what any of us are used to. By finding a new hobby that you love or rediscovering an old one, you may find that your quarantine is a little less stressful and a little more fun. There are plenty of hobbies that are not already listed such as mastering a magic trick, pogo-sticking, or even learning to juggle. Whatever it is that you decide to do, make sure it is something that you enjoy and allows this to be a time of positivity and growth!

CA IORG Gives Back By Making Masks

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We are so proud to announce that together the California International Order of the Rainbow for Girls (IORG) has made 12,422 masks, 410 “ear savers”, 31 hospital gowns, and 24 eye masks! Some of these masks were donated to women and children’s centers, child welfare workers, homeless populations, medical personnel, senior facilities, and social workers. We loved seeing the participation in this event and know this will be helpful to local communities. We would like to thank everyone who has helped so far and challenge you to find a way to serve your community this week. 

If you would also like to make a mask, our members created how-to videos that can be found here.

The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls is a community service based organization for girls ages 11-20. Our order was founded in 1922 on the pillars of hope, love, and service. Today, we build leaders by teaching our members about public speaking, community service, how to run business meetings, and more. Members meet biweekly, hold various events throughout the year, and then join together for our statewide convention in the spring. To stay true to CA Rainbow’s mission to get girls ready for life during this time, we have adapted to meeting virtually, teaching video conference etiquette, and hosting interactive statewide challenges. Our most recent activity was our statewide mask challenge where members and alumni were asked to make masks for their local communities.

Top Five Tips How A Youth Group Can Stay Connected During COVID-19

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By Elise S.

Being shut in doesn’t mean we have to shut out opportunities to support one another and promote your non-profit youth group. In fact, new ideas for ways to stay connected seem to be popping up every day! Here are a few to inspire you to reach out and stay connected during the COVID-19 Pandemic!

1. Host a Facebook or Instagram Live Q&A About Your Organization

Since people are more active on social media, this is the perfect opportunity to spread the word about your youth group! You can create a Facebook and/or Instagram Live event to tell everyone why you love your organization so much. Write out an agenda for your presentation, and try to involve everyone in the group. Be sure to include a few pictures and descriptions of group activities in your presentation. To be prepared ahead of time, have everyone write out what they plan to say, as well as some fun facts about your non-profit, and some ice-breaker questions to get the conversation started. You also write out some typical questions and answers, and even invite alumni to join you and talk about how your youth group has helped them in college and careers!

2. Drive-By Parades.

Have you seen what teachers and friends have been doing for each other? They have been holding drive-by parades or “carades” for their students or friends! So, why not do the same thing with the youth members and adults! Not only is this encouraging to the members, and an excuse to get out of the house, but it is also a great publicity tool! You might even want to make posters and decorate your car to cheer up your friends (and for even more publicity)!

3. Wear your Organization Shirts and Merch on your Video Calls.

Have you ever noticed athletes and public figures wearing hats and shirts with company logos? They’re doing this to promote a company or organization they support! We can do the same thing when video calling friends (and let’s admit it, we’re spending lots of time on video calls)! A t-shirt can be a conversation starter! Who knows, you may even get to talk about it with your friends and gain a prospective member!

4. Write Letters or Make Calls to Members.

Something that makes everyone happy is getting letters! One way we can encourage each other is by sending letters to active and inactive members. Another way you can keep in touch with members and adults is by giving them a call! This is a good way to cheer up, stay connected and reconnect with alumni, inactive members, active members, and adults!

5. Have a Virtual Game Night.

Another way you can have fun and stay inside is with online games! Have a Zoom call while you play on-line games, bingo or multi-player card games so you can talk during the game! You can plan this with your youth group and invite prospective members!

And don’t forget – encourage your members to share on social media using hashtags. Choose popular hashtags for a higher chance of the general public landing on your accounts, such as #fun #kids #stayinghome. Use a hashtag generator site such as https://ritetag.com/ or https://hashtagify.me/. It’s also good to include hashtags that are member only used hashtags in your organization and/or for an event. The International Order of The Rainbow Girls California https://gocarainbow.org/ uses #caiorg and #whyitainbow. It will help keep members posts organized in one hashtag location.

By doing these 5 simple things you can boost spirits, have fun, stay connected and share about your organization! This is just a start to the activities you could host!