Tips for Volunteering with Kids

Source: www.pexels.com

By Sam Piha

According to Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, “There are many charitable organizations that rely on volunteers to accomplish their missions. Talk to children about what issues really matter to them and what causes they would like to support. Are they concerned about the environment and pollution? Do they want to help rescue abused or abandoned animals? Do they feel sad about elderly people who have no children or grandchildren nearby to visit them? Do they want to make children in the hospital smile and not feel so scared? Is homelessness and poverty a great concern for them? Do they want to find a cure for a particular disease that someone in your family may have?

After identifying one or two particular causes, children can do research together to identify organizations that need and welcome volunteer support from children. Here are a few ideas for finding volunteer opportunities:

• Start volunteering locally. Go to a local church, temple, other religious organization, community center, school, or library to ask about local groups that support the cause(s) you’ve identified. Talk to friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors about your area of interest. Perhaps you already know someone who is volunteering for a charity that would be a good fit for your family. Local United Ways often have volunteer listings.


• Try national volunteer organizations. Most national organizations have websites that will connect you to local chapters and outline their specific needs and activities that support their cause. There are also some volunteer websites where you can search for child-friendly volunteer opportunities. Here are just a few suggestions: Big Hearted Families, GenerationOn, Points of Light, Volunteer Match, and Idealist.

Source: www.pexels.com

• Go straight to the source. If your children want to cheer up children in the hospital, visit or call a local children’s hospital with your child and ask what you can do. You may want to suggest specific activities like hosting a holiday party, doing arts and craft projects for children in the hospital, painting the fingernails of all the girls, dressing like a clown and painting faces, or whatever your child thinks of. If your child loves animals, you could visit an animal shelter together and offer to walk the dogs once a week. Be creative! If you are sincere and are suggesting something that doesn’t make more work for the employees or other volunteers, chances are you will get a warm reception.” [i]

DIFFERENT WAYS TO HELP

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To ensure that helping activities are meaningful to youth, it is best that they can identify which causes are most important to them. They can do some research on what the best way is to help. For instance, one program leader thought that donating canned goods would be a good way to support a local homeless shelter. However, after their own research, the young people learned that what they really needed were more jackets and coats. In another program in Minnesota, instead of donating clothing to poor children, the youth learned what was highly requested were ice skates. In response, they sponsored a drive to collect ice skates to distribute to others.  

Below, the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children offers these additional ways to help. Please note that this website offers advice to parents, but their remarks are also relevant to youth programs. They suggest:

• “Donating Money: Even if children are too young for volunteer activities, they can help to raise money for their favorite cause. They can organize a yard sale or car wash with signs letting everyone know that the proceeds will go to your preferred charity. Many charities have walk-a-thons and other fundraising activities that welcome the participation of children. 
• Giving Toys: Many children have more toys than they can possibly play with. Before gift-giving holidays and birthdays, children can go through their toys. Parents can help them pick out ones to give away to children who don’t have any toys.
• Donating Clothes: Go through clothes together. You can talk about how even though they don’t fit them anymore, donating baby and kid clothes is still very useful to smaller children who may not have the money to go buy new clothes. 
• Food Drives and Donations: Many local food pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters welcome food donations. Children can organize a canned-food drive in their classroom (with your assistance and the teacher’s approval) and donate all the collected cans together. Some volunteer organizations even welcome holiday leftovers in large quantities. Take the youth to drop off the food so they can actually see where it’s going.” [ii]

For a full briefing paper on kids helping others, click here.

END NOTES:
[i] Bright Horizons, Teaching Children to Help Others
[ii] IBID. 

Kids Helping Others

Source: VIP Pet Services

By Sam Piha

When my son was six, he suddenly decided that he did not want to visit the city of San Francisco anymore. After a discussion, he explained that seeing the under-fed pets of the homeless made him feel sad. I asked, “What can we do to help them?” He suggested that we could fill ziplock bags with pet food and pass out to the homeless with pets, and we did! He later volunteered with a local animal shelter to help with their “adopt a pet” events. It was through these experiences that he learned the value of helping others. Today, as an adult DJ, he regularly sponsors canned food drives to benefit his local food bank. 

This blog focuses on the value of kids helping others.

HOW KIDS LEARN TO HELP OTHERS 

According to Google AI, a more detailed explanation of how young people learn to help others includes:

• “Modeling and Role-Playing: Children learn by watching the adults around them, so parents and caregivers should model caring behaviors, such as helping others, being kind, and showing empathy. 
• Empathy and Perspective-Taking: Teaching children to understand and share the feelings of others is crucial. This can be done through reading books with relatable characters, discussing situations where people may be feeling sad or frustrated, and encouraging them to imagine how others might fee.
• Encouraging Small Acts of Kindness: Start with simple acts of kindness, like sharing toys, helping with chores, or offering a compliment. As they become more comfortable, they can gradually take on more challenging tasks.
• Providing Opportunities to Give: Organize family volunteer activities, donate items to charity, or participate in community events where children can help others. 
• Discussing the Importance of Helping Others: Talk about the positive impact of helping others and how it makes people feel. Discuss the importance of kindness and compassion and encourage children to think about ways they can make a difference in their community. 
• Celebrating Acts of Kindness: Acknowledge and praise children's efforts to help others. This reinforces positive behaviors and encourages them to continue helping. 
• Encouraging Sharing and Cooperation: Teach children the value of sharing and cooperation. This can be done through games, activities, and everyday situations where they need to work together to achieve a common goal. 
• Focusing on the Joy of Giving: Help children understand that helping others can be a rewarding experience. Encourage them to focus on the positive feelings they get from helping others, rather than the potential for praise or reward. 
• Making Giving a Part of Everyday Life: Integrate acts of kindness and helping others into daily routines. This can be as simple as helping a neighbor carry grocery or offering to help a friend with their homework.” [i]

Source: www.pexels.com

BENEFITS ACCRUE WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE ACTIVELY LEND A HELPING HAND

There are many benefits that come when young people actively help others. They include: 

• “Generating Optimism: When children see that they can make a difference in the world around them, they renew their sense of hope and learn to face challenges with persistence and optimism.
• Building Empathy: Engaging in volunteer opportunities can make a powerful and lasting impression on children by helping them to understand and show concern for others’ feelings, circumstances and needs
• Discovering a Sense of Community: Local volunteer opportunities offer kids a unique chance to build a stronger connection to their neighbors and communities, instilling a sense of pride and belonging.
• Accepting Civic Responsibility: As children also build a stronger connection to community, they can also begin to understand their role within it, developing social awareness and taking on civic responsibility. 
• Expressing Gratitude: When children give to those who are in need, they learn the importance of being grateful for what they have and for their ability to help others.
• Gaining a Sense of Purpose: When kids are given the opportunity to choose how they’d like to contribute to a cause, like helping to clean up a park or collecting items for donation, they benefit from having some agency over their experience and find a strong sense of purpose in the work they do.
• Taking on New Experiences: Volunteering can help children build character by introducing them to unfamiliar experiences that challenge them to build new skills.
• Boosting Self-Esteem: Whether they contribute to a cause virtually or in person, as young volunteers help provide solutions to problems, they learn that they have the power to effect change, boosting their confidence and building their self-esteem.
• Learning to Collaborate: Many volunteer experiences offer the chance to engage in teamwork, learn from others’ varied perspectives and build friendships.” [ii]

For a full briefing paper on kids helping others, click here.

 

Demand 21st Century Community Learning Center Funds 

Be Released by the White House/OMB

GO TO: https://win.newmode.net/afterschoolalliance/releasethefunds

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END NOTES:
[i] Google AI, How Do Young People Learn to Help Others?
[ii] National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, 10 Lessons Children Can Learn by Volunteering

Make It A Summer of Service

By Sam Piha

Source: www.pexels.com

Afterschool summer programs are a great time to engage young people in activities that serve others. These could be community service projects (which are often unpaid) or service within the afterschool program, such as tutoring, mentoring, yard supervision, leading games, etc. (These can be unpaid or volunteer). Summer schedules are more flexible, we have longer days and there is usually good weather. These opportunities can be one time or 1 or more times a week. 

Below we cite some benefits of community service and volunteering, additional resources on community service ideas and other information to help get started engaging youth through volunteering. (If it is too late to include in your summer program, consider it for the fall program.)

“Teenagers are not only a valuable source of energy, goodwill and creativity, but they’re also the key to our future. Volunteering allows them to tap into all those values while also learning about the world around them.” – St. Louise Children’s Hospital, Teaching Teens the Importance of Community Service

Source: www.help4kidssc.org

Benefits 

There are many benefits that participants accrue when youth engage in community service and/or volunteering. Research has shown that teens who volunteer are:

• more responsible
• have higher self-esteem and greater self-confidence.
• gain skills such as leadership, good communication, time management and decision making.  
• more likely to build connections with others. 
• more likely to do well in school, graduate, vote and build a stronger resume for college and scholarship applications.
• 50% less likely to abuse alcohol, cigarettes, become pregnant, or engage in other destructive behavior.
• gain practical life skills while feeling valued and appreciated. 
• less depressed, experience increased positive emotions, and experience reduced stress.

Source: www.goodfreephotos.com

“The Dalai Lama said it best in a post that has been shared all over the world. ‘When you care for others, you manifest an inner strength despite any difficulties you face. Your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you. Reaching beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm.’” – Kidz That Care, Volunteering and Teen Mental Health

Teens Have Their Own Reasons. 
According to the University of Nevada, Reno, the “major reasons cited by teens for volunteering:

• Youth feel compassion for people in need
• They can do something for a cause in which they believe
• They believe that if they help others, others will help them.
• Seventy-three percent of young people think their efforts can have a positive impact on their communities.
• Teens rank volunteering, the environment and eating healthy, as top three activities they consider ‘cool’.
• Youth who volunteer gain important job skills and experience, while exploring career options.
• Young volunteers expand their social circle and enhance their social awareness.
• Teens say the benefits received from volunteering are: Learning to respect others; learning to be helpful and kind; learning to understand people who are different; developing leadership skills, becoming more patient, and better understanding of citizenship.”

Source: www.pexels.com

How to Choose
If your program is school-based, check if your school already has a community service partnership with a local non-profit. It is best when your young people select the cause and activity they are most interested in. They can do research and/or map the neighborhood for possible partner organizations. For instance, afterschool youth interviewed workers at a local homeless shelter and determined that collecting donations of warm gloves was what was needed. Another afterschool program in North Dakota decided after doing research, that they wanted to collect and distribute ice skates for kids in low-income families. 

Service activities can also focus on the needs of the other children in the afterschool program offering tutoring, mentoring, yard supervision, leading games, etc. 

It is important to consider the interests and abilities of your program participants, the time that is required, the attitude of the staff they may be working with, as well as how they will get to and from the location of the partner organization. 

Project Ideas
There are many possible service project ideas. Below are some links that can assist you and your program participants in considering ideas for service projects:

• Do Something- 73 Community Service Project Ideas
• Kid World Citizen- 35+ Service Projects for Kids

Service projects can also focus on educating the community on local issues like hunger, homelessness or environmental issues. 

Other Resources and Links

Source: Youth Service America

In addition to the links in the blog, additional information may be found using the links below: 

• National Youth Leadership Council- Service-Learning Afterschool
• Youth Service America 
• Youth Service America- Youth Service Briefing 5.25.23
• Youth Service America- Service Learning Experience Toolkit
• America’s Promise Alliance 
• PBS- Tips for Volunteering with Kids
• What Kidz Can Do- Service Learning: Powerful Learning with Public Purpose