Many of you are actively involved in serving your community and I say applause, applause to you! Although I realize that you aren’t doing it for the pat on the back – kudos to you for giving back to those around you. Others of you would love to take part in community service, you just don’t know where to start. So, from time to time, I’ll list some ideas here to hopefully either gently remind you that you can serve others – or to give you a direction in finding a place to serve.
Stand out with community service…
Community Service Ideas for High School Students
Let’s start with a few larger examples. Your local hospital. Most every hospital has several opportunities for volunteers, ranging from the pink ladies and gentlemen of retirement age all the way down to high school students. In order to volunteer in a hospital you must commit to a specific term of service – sometimes it’s a summer program, or it can even be as much as one year. Most every hospital will involve students in hospitality services but they realize that students are also there to learn – so they’ll often have educational programs available to volunteer students as well. One of our local students even got to observe a few surgeries last year. Volunteers often have a lot of interaction with patients, so if you are compassionate and want to learn more about the medical field, this could be a great place for you. Go to your local hospital’s website and type ‘volunteer’ in their search engine to learn more.
The local library. Your public library system greatly needs volunteers. They can use those of you who can make a long-term commitment to be available on a weekly basis, or you can offer to help with special events on an occasional basis. Students are often called upon to shelf books and organize media. And, with training, may be asked to do more complex tasks. You can walk into your local library and discuss it with them – or go on to their website to see what they have posted there.
Community sports. Most every community has a set of sports teams that needs volunteers. The Upwards Sports programs, the YMCA, local homeschool groups and local county agencies all field teams in a variety of sports. Most teams have adults that coach them, but teenagers are often welcome as assistant coaches, referees, concessions providers, etc. If you are playing a sport yourself, check with your own leagues – if you’re not already involved somewhere, you can go online and find a local sports program near you.
Here are a couple of larger sports programs that need volunteers. If you’re in the area, check them out:
ESPN’s Wide World of Sports (Orlando, near Disney) needs lots of volunteers for upcoming marathons.
Special Olympics of Florida: (click on the County Coordinator links to find your local contact)
If you want to use your volunteer hours to aid in qualifying for scholarships, be sure to request a confirmation letter from the organization with which you volunteer. The letter should be on the organization’s letterhead and should give the date(s) and number of hours you have spent working with them.
ADDED: See my follow up post with more community service connections!
~ to your success and thank you for serving!
Joanne
Image courtesy of jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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