America was founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic of helping people. Ever since its founding, Americans have always found a way to come together and help one another in times of hardship as well as times of prosperity. In many ways, I think that the passion and dedication Americans have for philanthropy sets us apart from others. However, if one looks closely at the statistics of the types of Americans volunteering, one will notice that the percentage of teenage volunteers is rather minute. Why, though? In simple terms: school, extra-curricular activities, social life. These days students are hounded with a plethora of “busy work”. In high school, students are given hours of homework, have numerous tests to study for including the SAT/ACT, and are involved in a number of extra-curricular music and sports activities that consume an enormous chunk of their time. When students do have spare time, they would rather hang out with friends and “have a life” rather than engage in monotonous volunteer work. So, how does one engage teen volunteers and make volunteering fun?
1) High Impact: Volunteers, especially youth volunteers, want to give time to a project where they can immediately see the positive impact they have created as a result of volunteering.
2) No commitment: Youth volunteers typically like one time community service projects and do not like to make a huge commitment of their time.
3) Entertainment/Rewards: In order to make volunteering fun, project coordinators should consider bringing games, bringing some form of entertainment, or giving the volunteers a reward for dedicating their time to making the world become a better place.
Simply utilizing those three steps in developing a community service project will surely help attract more youth volunteers. Hopefully, over the next couple of years, the number of youth volunteers will rise.
Blog Submission by Suneil Kamath, Youth Volunteer and Summer Intern at HandsOn Central Ohio
No comments:
Post a Comment