Anne Frank once said, “How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment: we can start now, start slowly changing the world!” Young people in the Cedar Valley are certainly expressing that very sentiment by their actions in service learning and volunteerism. We have begun service learning classes in six school classrooms and in one church youth group for 4th through 12th grade. Most schools have just begun to choose their concerns and to craft projects. We will have projects dealing with preventing school dropouts, an awareness campaign about the effects of bullying, an awareness campaign to help abused children, interviewing and writing of cultural stories about the elderly, and a project that will reach out to military personnel.
Approximately 400 high school students from Columbus and Expo High School helped their community this September through one day service projects. Expo students observed 9-11 Day of Service by cleaning up public areas surrounding their school. Columbus students celebrated their Homecoming Week by spending a morning doing service projects throughout the community.
The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley has a wonderful volunteer simulation game to share. We are more than willing to facilitate this simulation with any class or group. The purpose of the activity is to encourage participants to think about their community values and to highlight the importance of community service and volunteerism.
We are offering a new service this year. We have a short presentation on Family Volunteering that we are willing to present at PTA’s, 4-H groups, agency meetings, and other small groups. Please contact us to find out more details and to schedule a time.
Call Jean Seeland at 272-2087 to get your youth involved in service.
No comments:
Post a Comment