Today’s guest post comes from Michael LaRue, a Teen Volunteer Leader with HandsOn Suburban Chicago.

 

1)      Let us know our boundaries: When you put teens in charge of something make sure you let them know their boundaries in the leadership. There have been many volunteer activities that I have participated in where I had no idea what I was suppose to do when it came to leadership. Whether it be overstepping my boundaries and giving instructions that the teen should not be giving. Or just standing there not knowing where to start because there have been people doing the jobs you thought were directed towards you.

2)      Impact is most important to us! When thanking a Teen Volunteer know that most of us know we are doing a good job. If we weren’t happy with the progress or success of a program we wouldn’t be doing it. Therefore, if you’re going to thank us know that the only thanks we truly need is seeing the smile on the leader’s face or the smile of the people we’re serving (in my case the students I mentor).

3)      Treat us with respect. Know that we are here to volunteer because we have passion for what we are volunteering for, As a teen leader I know that I don’t have full control and I would never expect that, what I do expect though is to be treated with respect for I am giving up time to help something that is important to me.

4)      Don’t treat us like we are kids. We may not be adults, but we do have an idea of what is going on. Tell us what we need to do and allow us to ask for change in order to improve what needs to be done.

5)      Don’t expect more out of teen volunteers than you expect out of yourself. We are a team; therefore we should be working together for a common goal, not separately.

 

Michael LaRue has been volunteering since he was a freshman in high school in his hometown of Arlington Heights, Illinois. In four short years, he’s worked with Riley Elementary School Homework Club tutoring students and helping them with homework. Through Buffalo Grove High School’s Interact Club, he’s helped to lead his peers in impacting their community in various ways.  Most recently, he’s become a Teen Volunteer Leader with HandsOn Suburban Chicago, taking a key leadership role in the CHiL program, where he leads and supports 20 volunteers who work with middle school students to improve their grades through homework help as well by acting as role-models and mentors.  

HandsOn Suburban Chicago is a partner and grantee of generationOn, Points of Light’s global youth service enterprise. Through a dynamic partnership called Ready-Set-Go!, generationOn and HandsOn Suburban Chicago have almost doubled the amount of direct service and leadership opportunities available to youth in northwest suburban Chicago. To learn more about Ready-Set-Go! and to access our free resources to train adults to be more effective managers of youth volunteers, click here.

Winter is quite firmly here.

And with it, a new set of emergencies to prepare for. While hurricanes and tornadoes are rare during this time of year, emergencies related to snow and ice become more common.

Heavy snow fall and ice storms can paralyze cities, making travel difficult and sometimes making even going outside dangerous.

The midwest is experiencing firsthand what snow and ice can do to disrupt everyday life.

Just like any emergency, being prepared is critically important for ‘weathering’ the storm.

Do you know what to do if your city essentially shuts down for three days (or more) because of winter weather?  What if you lose power because of ice bringing down power lines?

Have you thought about how to prepare for serious winter storms?  You can make sure you’re Good & Ready for winter weather emergencies with Points of Light’s emergency preparedness program.

Here are some tips to help you brave winter disasters:

• When you know that serious winter weather is on the way, try to keep a full tank of gas in your vehicle.  It helps to prevent your fuel lines from freezing.
• Minimize travel.  If travel is absolutely necessary, make sure you have an emergency kit in your vehicle and that someone knows where you’re going and when you should arrive.
• Avoid driving when conditions are dangerous.  Sleet, freezing rain, snow and ice all make driving more difficult.  Even after the storm has passed, you may not even see patches of ice on the road.
• Make sure you have a disaster kit with at least a three day supply of food and water (one  gallon per person per day), battery or hand-crank powered radio and flashlight, medicine, baby supplies (if needed), extra pieces of warm clothing and blankets, and extra supplies for your pets.
• Don’t use a generator, grill, or any other device that burns fuel inside.  Only use them outside and away from doors, windows, and vents to keep carbon monoxide from entering your home.
• Protect yourself from frostbite and hypothermia by dressing in multiple layers of loose fitting clothing (tight clothing can restrict blood flow)

We have some great resources on mobilizing spontaneous volunteers in a disaster.  The American Red Cross has different emergency specific preparedness information available here, and ready.gov has great resources for preparing for winter weather emergencies and tips for what to do during the worst of the weather and after the storms have passed.

Don’t forget about your neighbors, either.  Check up on them to make sure they’ve got everything they need to ride out the storm and that they’re safe and warm.

Are you ready for winter weather?  Are you ready to watch ? Are you sitting under a plam tree wonder just what this “snow” thing we’re talking about is? Let us know in the comments!

 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader whose actions sparked a national movement. The 13 years he dedicated to civil rights activities ignited concern and conscience within our country’s citizens. His courage and selfless devotion were undeniable, and for this his legacy continues to inspire Points of Light and volunteers around the world.

January is awesome! Why is January awesome?! Because January is Poverty in America Awareness Month. While poverty has plagued our society for decades, attention should be given to the poverty rate increase from 13.2% in 2008 to 14.3% in 2009-the biggest statistical increase since 2004. Similarly, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, between 2000 and 2008, the number of poor Americans grew by more than nine million. Now that you have been inspired to fight poverty in America, we have ten ways to fight poverty in your community and throughout America:

1. Support a local or family-owned business. Small businesses keep communities together, while also pumping money back into the community and ultimately fighting poverty. These small businesses also often have interesting or unique items, which is always a bonus. 
2. Plan a vacation around a learning or helping experience. Vacations are always fun; however, consider the communities around your vacation destination and the potential poverty within those neighborhoods. Take a few hours out of your day while you’re on vacation and volunteer.
3. Donate to your local food bank. Hunger is a year-round issue, and forces people to choose between food and other expenses.
4. Shop for good. Choose stores or services that support local groups. Buy local, it can be better for your health and wallet.
5. Organize a food drive in your community. A food drive will provide a family food, while also bringing your community together and hopefully motivate other community to do more to fight poverty.
6. Do a fundraiser! Plan a walk-a-thon, yard sale, lemonade stand, or benefit concert to raise money for a local organization. Why not have fun with your fundraiser while supporting a good cause?! These activities will surely be exciting and worthwhile!
7. Research! Become aware of local policies and programs that affect low-income families. Find out where poverty is focused in your city, how widespread the poverty stricken areas are, and how you can help. 
8. Share your research! Voice your concern and tell your community members that it’s Poverty in America Awareness Month so that they are also inspired to improve the community or will spread the word about this awesome month.
9. Always show respect to people working at minimum wage. Be courteous and respectful of their efforts or just greet them with a simple smile. You never know how much a smile can improve their day.
10. Use public transportation whenever possible. Your support helps to insure that public transportation remains available for us all.

We hope these tips have inspired you to support Poverty in America Awareness Month! Tell us what other community service activities you plan on doing to commemorate Poverty in America Awareness Month.

New Year’s Resolutions are often made with the best of intentions and promptly dropped. Statistics show that about two weeks into the year one-third of those who make resolutions are close to quitting. By March, 85 percent will have thrown in the towel!

What better way to keep that resolution to volunteer than to reassess exactly how volunteering will benefit you? You may be surprised at some of the various benefits of volunteerism!

•  Meet new people Volunteering brings together a diverse range of people from all backgrounds and walks of life. It puts you in contact with folks with similar interests that you may not have encountered otherwise! Volunteer projects are a great way to make new friends or simply meet people with different life experiences than your own. You can not only develop lifelong personal and professional relationships, you can also hear about job openings, gather insider employment information and develop great references.
• Network and gain connections In these uncertain economic times, the opportunity to network is nothing to scoff at. Volunteer projects offer that chance, and often in an arena related to your current skills. Networking is an exciting benefit of volunteering and you can never tell who you will meet or what new information you will learn and what impact this could have on your life.
• Looks good on your resume & college application Volunteering demonstrates workplace, management, and leadership skills that can be documented in a resume. Work experience is work experience, with or without a paycheck. If you are developing new skills or thinking of pursuing a new career, volunteer work can give you valuable, practical experience. Career counselors and headhunters encourage job seekers to document pertinent volunteer experiences. Volunteer work support skills, character and balance in life. 90% of executives in a national survey of Fortune 500 companies believed volunteering built teamwork and provided valuable professional development opportunities.
• Learn new skills Volunteering is the perfect vehicle to discover something you are really good at and develop a new skill. It is never too late to learn new skills and there is no reason why you should stop adding to your knowledge just because you are in employment or have finished education. Planning and implementing a major fundraising event can develop goal setting, planning and budgeting skills. Supervising and training other volunteers helps to develop supervisory and training skills. Volunteering is the perfect way to discover something that you’re good at while contributing to the benefit of your community.
• Gain confidence and a sense of achievement Volunteers are motivated in their work because they are able to work for a cause or passion that they truly believe in. When one is able to work for a cause close to their heart, they feel a sense of achievement at seeing the effect that their good work has on others. Volunteering around a personal interest or hobby can be fun, relaxing and energizing. That energy and sense of fulfillment can carry over to other aspects of your life and sometimes helps to relieve work tensions and foster new perspectives for old situations.
• Better your health Those who participate in volunteer activities report higher levels of life satisfaction, sense of control over life, and feeling physical and emotionally healthier. A report featured in The International Journal of Person Centered Medicine found that people who give back to others lead more happy and healthy lives than those who do not volunteer. “People in general are happier and healthier, and may even live a little longer, when they’re contributing” to their community or an organization they are passionate about, said study author Stephen G. Post, PhD. A majority of study participants said their volunteer activities enrich their sense of purpose in life and lower stress levels. The survey also showed that those who give back are less likely to feel hopeless and lonely than people who do not volunteer.
• Feel good by doing good! Volunteering is about giving your time, energy and skills freely. As a volunteer you have made a decision to help on your own accord, free from pressure to act from others.  Volunteers predominantly express a sense of achievement and motivation, and this is ultimately generated from your desire and enthusiasm to help. It may be true that no one person can solve all the world’s problems, but what you can do is make that little corner of the world where you live just that little bit better!
• Establish yourself in your community We sometimes take for granted the community that we live in. It is easy to become disconnected with the issues that face your community as a whole. Why not bridge that expanding gap through volunteering? Volunteering is ultimately about helping others and having an impact on people’s wellbeing. What better way is there to connect with your community and give a little back? As a volunteer, you certainly return to society some of the benefits that society gives you.
• Find new hobbies and interests Finding new interests and hobbies through volunteering can be fun, relaxing and energizing. Sometimes a volunteer experience can lead you to something you never even thought about or help you discover a hobby or interest you were unaware of. You can strengthen your personal and professional mission and vision by exploring opportunities and expanding your horizons. Perhaps you’ll discover a previously unknown passion for education or making blankets for homeless shelters!

What are the benefits you’ve experienced through volunteering? Have you succeeded in keeping your resolutions? Let us know in the comments below.

It’s a brand new year and many of us have made resolutions to make our lives better in one way or another. We hope your resolutions include working to make your community better, too!

But where do you start? How do you make your community a better place? We have some tips to get started, and we’d love to hear about what you’re doing!

Find a cause you care about.

This is the best first step, because if you’re not connected to the work that you’ll be doing, it’s not going to be any fun. What do you care about most in your community? Does your local school system need a little help? Are there a lot of stray animals in your neighborhood? Do you love the way your library smells and want everyone to be as excited about books as you are?

Once you’ve found something in your community you’d like to make better, then…

Find a way to help.

One of the easiest ways to find a way to get involved in a cause that you care about it is to volunteer with an organization that’s already supporting that cause.  You can find thousands of volunteer opportunities with HandsOn Network affiliates across the country.

Do a little research.

Spend a bit of time on the websites of the organizations that host the projects you’re interested in. Find out how they support the causes you’re interested in and learn about the work they do in your community. If you find a nonprofit you’d like to support and a way to support them that sounds fun, you can…

Sign up for a project!

Each of our affiliates has a way to sign up for projects on their site. They’re not all the same, but it’s really easy!

Remember it’s OK to ask questions.

It’s alright to ask questions about the project before you show up. Project listings should have a person to contact if you have any questions about what the project is about and how you need to prepare. A lot of questions are answered in the project descriptions, but if your question isn’t it’s alright to get in touch with the event organizer so you’re ready for the day when you show up!

Show up ready to have fun.

You’re volunteering because there’s a cause you care about, right? That doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time! The best way to make sure you’ll have fun at your first volunteer experience is to go in with an open mind.

You might be asked to do something different than what you signed up for, or you might be asked to something you don’t know how to do. Keep an open mind and try it out, you might learn a thing or two, or find something you never thought you’d love to do! Volunteering can be serious business, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.

Take time to reflect on your experience.

A lot of volunteer projects have some time set aside at the end of the project to think critically about the work that you just did. Reflecting on how working in a community garden can have an impact on the health of the local watershed or how it can influence kids to eat better is an important part of the volunteer experience. It doesn’t just give you a definite stopping point for a project, but it helps volunteers to better understand how their work has multiple effects in their community.

Keep making a difference!

Did you have a great time volunteering? Did you make new friends? Did you learn something new? Awesome! Why not let us know?

Tell us about it on or ! Did you not quite fit with the project or organization? That’s alright! There are a lot more organizations out there that need your help that could be a better fit for you.

Was your first volunteer experience great? Did you decide to find a different way to volunteer? Let us know in the comments!

Pass it along.

Did you have a great time volunteering? Why not bring a friend along with you next time? Not only will it make sure you know someone at the project, but you’ll be involving your friend in something you care about and making your community better! Plus there’s a great opportunity to take cheesy pictures to share on Facebook!

 

It’s that time of year again. A time to reflect on the year that has passed and to look forward to the next year. And maybe take a nap.

Here at HandsOn Network, we’re fortunate enough to have the time to relax after a year of great events and volunteer projects. Before we settle down for our long winter’s nap, we wanted to share some posts that you might have missed over the past year and invite you to tell us what you want to learn more about in the coming year. Let us know in the comments. See you next year!

• Eight Tips for Writing the Perfect Thank You Note
• Get Creative and Say Thank You to Volunteers
• Tips for Community Engagement in Rural and Urban Communities
• April Showers Will Bring May Flowers
• 10 Kid Friendly Service Projects
• Volunteering Tips for the Zombie Apocalypse
• 10 Ways to Fight Poverty in America

Today’s post reaches back into the archives for Zachary Hect’s post on how his faith supports his service. 

My entire life, I’ve walked straight past them. If they dared to approach me, I would turn my head the other way.  If they attempted to speak to me, I would pretend like I didn’t hear them. However, over the summer — this all changed. On a PANIM-BBYO program, IMPACT: DC, I finally stopped and spoke to a homeless person.

I have always held certain beliefs about homeless people, but these misconceptions were all shattered on one sunny day in a park in Washington D.C. For about half an hour I spoke with a man who was homeless. This man transcended every homeless stereotype. He was college educated, well read, and completely lucid. I soon realized that you do not need to be mentally unstable, or unintelligent to be homeless, just unlucky. It could happen to anybody, even me. This wasn’t the first community service I had ever done, nor was it the last….but it certainly was the most meaningful.

Recently I sat through a presentation by the CEO of Youth Services America. The CEO stated that my generation of teens is doing more community service than any other generation and that he couldn’t be prouder. Upon hearing this I wasn’t surprised, but I was also a little skeptical. Today teens complete hours of community service for school and to pad their college resumes. So while there is an abundance of service taking place, it isn’t always thoughtful service. I like to say this type of community service is volunteering as a means to an end.  And, while any community service is positive, this kind of service is the least meaningful. Most of the people that do this service do not put their heart into it and they rarely get anything out of their experiences.

It’s my feeling that community service needs to be completely revamped. There shouldn’t be requirements or standards.  Teens should do community service because they want to. When teens do community service they need to be inspired.

This is no easy task…. While inspiring a teen doesn’t necessarily require a large amount of work, it requires getting the teen to take a leap of faith.  Earlier when I mentioned my experience in the park, I failed to highlight what preceded it.  I didn’t just arrive; for over a week I learned about what being homeless was. PANIM was able to captivate me through education. This is why I was willing to take a leap of faith and speak to a homeless person in a park.   Community service should not be just a quick hour of volunteering with no introduction or closure. It needs to be an educational and worthwhile experience. It needs to be an experience that truly changes the way a teen think and feels.

If we are able to do this — community service will still be done, but not so a teen can graduate high school, or so they can get into college…. Community service will be done because teens will want to do it.

Zachary Hecht is a senior at Commack High School where he is a High Honor Role student and an IB Diploma candidate. Zach is on the regional board of BBYO’s Nassau-Suffolk Region. His interests include international relations and economics.

Today’s post reaches back into the archives for Saumya Haas’ post on how her faith supports her service. Saumya is Executive Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith.

There is no way to agree on a definition of faith. We each have our own way of understanding. The same can be said for interfaith work. There are lots of ways, and many reasons.

When it comes to faith, I’m everything and nothing: a hereditary Hindu Pujarin, a Unitarian Reverend, and Manbo Asogwe (Priestess of Vodou). I celebrate Christmas and Winter Solstice. I am a religious humanist. I believe in science. I’m not an authority on anything, but I am irrepressibly curious; I question my motives, effectiveness and reason every day. I’m also the Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith: this secular organization exists because of my definition of faith.

I was raised with the idea that certainty is suspect: critical assessment, empathy and debate are necessary vehicles of a faith life. These are also the qualities that advised my family’s deep commitment to interfaith outreach, spiritual education and social equity work. Of course we didn’t use those terms. It was just what we did. I went into the slums and helped. I never failed to notice that the kids I played with and helped during the day didn’t leave at the end of it. This was their real life.

Those slums taught me. I worked with Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and people who practice tribal and folk tradition, with ethnic and cultural groups whose rivalries and divisions make religious differences look like nothing. These groups were made up of sub-groups, of sub-sub-groups. Of individuals. I didn’t know I was an interfaith facilitator. I always felt I was the one learning. I still do.

Today, I live in the USA and my organization, Headwaters/Delta Interfaith, does a variety of things: we are very involved with revitalization efforts in New Orleans, where we are opening a non-denominational Spiritual Space as part of the innovative New Orleans Healing Center. We work with Hindu American Seva Charities to unite Hindu communities across the USA in social service outreach projects, and assist the Pluralism Project at Harvard University with documenting faith diversity.  We also provide Social Media advice to other organizations and facilitate events that bring people together in mutual respect and curiosity. We still help the diverse populations in Indian slums by supporting the work of , the organization my parents started, where I discovered what faith, and interfaith could mean.

I learned that if you want to help people, you have to realize that they have a real life, not a life that you imagine or superimpose due to their faith/ethnicity/whatever. They are whole. Our burden is not to help them, but to unburden ourselves of certainty. Both faith and interfaith work require a struggle with our own egos. When I walk into a meeting, a slum, a church, a classroom, I have to remind myself: these people know more than I do. They are authorities on their own lives. I am an authority on mine. That is all.

I struggle with my attachment to results: I want to see the manifestation of my work. Changing societies is the tedious work of generations, of ages. It is happening all the time, but we don’t know how our own contribution will turn out. We can see our failures but it’s never given to us to know what we averted. We cannot measure the impact of things that do not happen: the lives saved, the neighborhoods preserved, the connections that caught and held the world together. We only notice the violence and the loss. The gain is invisibly hidden in the everyday. The proof of its existence is that there is nothing to see. I’m not talking about God; I’m talking about goodness. I’m talking about us.

As an expression of my faith, interfaith work becomes my faith.

I have questions about God that may never be answered, but I’m certain that other people are as real as I am. If God is real he/she/it is encoded by the reality I can see: it is that reality that I engage with. If God is within, then my urge to engage, to speak out against injustice, is also God. But in the end, my faith is most deeply in my fellow humans: in the wisdom of our combined cultures, unique heritage and the spark that gives us curiosity and compassion.

We each might have our own answer, but we seek them together.

Saumya Arya Haas, Executive Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith, advises local, national and international inter/faith and social equity organizations. She is a Hindu Pujarin, Unitarian Reverend and Manbo Asogwe (Priestess of Vodou); she blogs about religion at The Huffington Post and around the web. 

Volunteering and helping our fellow man has long been seen as an altruistic thing to do. But more selfish motives–pleasing friends, doing what you want–are more successful causes of effective volunteering! Regardless of motive, volunteering improves the health, happiness, and in some cases, the longevity of volunteers. Children who volunteer are more likely to grow up to be adults who volunteer. Even unwilling children who are forced to volunteer fare better than kids who don’t volunteer. Communities with lots of volunteers are more stable and better places to live, which in turn further boosts volunteerism.

“On one hand, it’s striking that volunteering even occurs,” says Mark Snyder, a psychologist and head of the Center for the Study of the Individual and Society at the University of Minnesota. “It seems to run against the strong dynamics of self-interest. There is simply nothing in society that says that someone is mandated to help anyone else.” Yet 1 in 3 adults do meaningful volunteer work on a sustained basis, he notes, and the United States has one of the world’s highest rates of volunteerism.

“People who volunteer tend to have higher self-esteem, psychological well-being, and happiness,” Snyder says. “All of these things go up as their feelings of social connectedness goes up, which in reality, it does. It also improves their health and even their longevity.”

Among teenagers, even at-risk children, who volunteer reap big benefits, according to research findings studied by Jane Allyn Piliavin, a retired University of Wisconsin sociologist. She cites a positive effect on grades, self-concept, and attitudes toward education. Volunteering also led to reduced drug use and huge declines in dropout rates and teen pregnancies.

Most people say they value volunteering because it’s “the right thing to do,” among other altruistic reasons. But the strongest drivers of successful volunteers are actually more self-focused. There are five main reasons people volunteer:

Understanding: the desire to learn new things and acquire knowledge.

Esteem enhancement: feeling better about yourself and finding greater stability in life.

Personal development: acquiring new skills, testing your capabilities, and stretching yourself.

Sense of community: making the world, or your piece of it, a better place.

Humanitarian values: serving and helping others, often with a strong religious component.

People often get into volunteer work because a friend asks them, and that can be a fine entry point. But people should also do some work to make sure the organization is a good fit for their interests and that the work they would be doing is also a good fit. Be sure to ask “what’s the optimal match for me?”

Further, if there is a jumble of factors motivating people to consider volunteering, they might want to reconsider. When people have multiple motivations, it is harder for them to be satisfied. Experts say it is easier to derive happiness when your goals are simpler.

Concern for others and concern for yourself can complement one another. Find a way to do good for others at the same time as you do good for yourself. Have you made volunteering a part of your social life? Let us know how in the comments below!