Youth Service Project- Help?

[jennybaby]

Alright, so I am Service Vice President of my fraternity. Basically, I'm in charge of organizing service projects (or volunteer opportunities) for the fraternity. At the end of April, it's national Youth Service Weekend and every chapter is asked to do a service project involving youth.

I am holding a planning meeting tonight, but want to go there with ideas. We are a small chapter, so something like a Festival or big event is out.

Some of my ideas:

Go to Boys and Girls club, team up and teach them something. We'd offer 3-4 classes depending on amount of volunteers. (Baking, photography, video games, etc)

Read at the public library on Friday afternoon. (This would be a small event, so we'd do something else on Saturday, or we'd do it Friday and Saturday)

Put on a puppet show at the public library, and then set it up so the kids can make their own puppets.

I'm really at a loss and want to go to the meeting with a bunch of ideas so we can pick the best one.

Any input on my ideas or more suggestions?

[SkippyNXC]

hmm, well an on-going (but always needed/important) idea would be to become mentors or lil Big Brothers/Big Sisters... but its not a day long commitment, i think you have to commit to a few hours a month for a year...


you could do like a sports-games kinda day at a local community center... play games, paint faces, etc.


hmm i can't think of anything else atm but if something comes to mind i'll post it...

[sandy03]

I don't know the restrictions on whether it can or can't be religiously affiliated, but the United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR) does a lot of disaster relief all over the world (right now obviously a great deal of it going to Haiti) and is always asking for donations of Disaster Relief Kits - everything from school supply kits to health kits to cleaning kits and even bedding and birthing kits.

The school, health, and birthing kits are the cheapest (estimated cost is $8-$12 each) and once the supplies are purchased putting them together is pretty simple. If you start now, you could probably get a lot of the supplies donated and then go someplace like the Boys and Girls club or wherever and have the kids help put them together. Especially something like a school kit would be fun because it would be kids helping kids!

All the details can be found on their website. UMCOR Kits (http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/)

[amisteratwisterandme]

I love the idea of working with the Boys and Girls Clubs. They seem to always have kids that need more attention you know? (My nephew goes to one)

It would be great if you could incorporate some type of service for the kids to do, maybe something for a nursing home or something like that?

You could set up all kinds of stations, sounds like fun.

OR, do you have a Ronald McDonald house close?

[jennybaby]

I don't know the restrictions on whether it can or can't be religiously affiliated, but the United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR) does a lot of disaster relief all over the world (right now obviously a great deal of it going to Haiti) and is always asking for donations of Disaster Relief Kits - everything from school supply kits to health kits to cleaning kits and even bedding and birthing kits.

The school, health, and birthing kits are the cheapest (estimated cost is $8-$12 each) and once the supplies are purchased putting them together is pretty simple. If you start now, you could probably get a lot of the supplies donated and then go someplace like the Boys and Girls club or wherever and have the kids help put them together. Especially something like a school kit would be fun because it would be kids helping kids!

All the details can be found on their website. UMCOR Kits (http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/)

I'll keep that in mind. Hati is an on going project with us, and that would be a neat way to incorporate and get the youth involved. :) Hard part is getting donations around here. EVERYONE on campus, and off, is collecting.

[sandy03]

I'll keep that in mind. Hati is an on going project with us, and that would be a neat way to incorporate and get the youth involved. :) Hard part is getting donations around here. EVERYONE on campus, and off, is collecting.

I would say to start with local churches. Especially Methodist churches (since this is a methodist charity) typically have ongoing collection things right now, and you may can contact them and ask to work with any youth/kids they may have in putting stuff together. If it works, the would essentially do most of the work for you (and you could have all the members of your fraternity bring one or two things to contribute) and all you'd have to do is show up and spend a few hours with the kids putting stuff together.

[mj512]

The Academy that I work for has the National Honor Society volunteer at the Orlando food bank/soup kitchen. You could do that for a day.

[ksherlin]

Date Auction! Not you of course, but others... we did it and raised $900 for our Student Senate.

[jennybaby]

Date Auction! Not you of course, but others... we did it and raised $900 for our Student Senate.

Haha! So funny. My friend and I came up with that idea today for a fundraiser!

Anyway, we decided on the puppet show. I am super excited- as is everyone! We also just plan to get involved with the Boys and Girls club on a regular basis.

[Century Guy]

I'd like to make a suggestion: Soup Kitchens/Homeless shelters. I've done several service projects both as a "youth", and as an adult, all having to do with these types of places. It makes a lasting impact on you.

If you have a local homeless shelter or kitchen for the poor, volunteer to serve food. Volunteer to do painting projects...anything like that. That's true service, and helps you appreicate what you have at the same time...especially in the times we're living in.

[kgvettegirl]

RC and I are officers in a Corvette Club. We found out that our local food bank is really hurting right now. They feed over 1100 seniors and shut ins as well as supply the homeless shelter and local churches. So we are trying to arrange a "Stuff the Truck" event. Our dealership club sponser is helping out, allowing us to use one of the big pickup truck, for a whole week, to hold boxes of non-perishable food. We are going to try and raise $1000. during our cruz and car show and collect enough food to fill two semi's. The local radio station is going to help get the word out. Hooter's and Outback are helping us out too. So far everyone that we have talked to is really excited to get on board and help out.

[jennybaby]

That is amazing! I love it when the community pitches in and helps each other out. We have a lot of that coming up. We've been doing a lot of car shows. One for Lung Cancer and one for Haiti.

[jennybaby]

So, I guess I'll update everyone because I am stoked about this event!

We decided to do a puppet show. We're working on our own. The theme is "Helping our friends and our community." The title is "The Not So Big, Bad Wolf": The Three Little Pigs- retold. We are going to re-write the story so that the wolf helps the pigs make their houses strong to wait out the storm.

Anyway, after the puppet show we will hold a craft session where kids can make their own puppets and color. Then we'll have a discussion about helping others. :)

I got us a spot at Barnes & Nobel. The community resource manager is so excited! He's advertising in store, on the website and on their calendar. I am going to talk to Elementary Schools to get the kids interested. I also need to track down a puppet stage, or we'll make one.

If this event goes well, we can get a permanent spot! :crossfingers: This is HUGE for me! I am so excited to be doing this for the kids. I can't wait to start making the puppets and getting it all together.