Kids can lead the way!

Teaching Pre K-8, Apr 2001 by Laminack, Lester

The Parent Connection

A Monthly Newsletter for Parents

National Youth Service Day, April 20-21

Parade Magazine recently reported that last year, three million young people and adults participated in more than 10,000 volunteer projects across the country as part of National Youth Service Day. The list of projects was impressive and included mowing the lawn of a neighbor who has been ill to more long-term commitments like tutoring in a reading program. Other services included:

One 15-year-old and her mother opened a new reading room at a YMCA community center where friends and students unloaded 4,000 donated books and built shelves to house them. Many of those same volunteers also served as afterschool tutors at the community center.

* A father, mother, their four sons and many of their friends organized a neighborhood clean-up in Philadelphia's Germantown section.

* One 10-year-old says he began volunteering at the age of seven when he made holiday cards for the residents at a nursing home. He helped organize a student volunteer league and now 5,000 elementary students gather each month to make crafts for sick children.

* A 17-year-old and his mother volunteered on National Youth Service Day to help renovate a house through Habitat for Humanity.

Parade reported that Youth Service America says that volunteers contributed an estimated $225 billion in value to the country. Volunteering not only helps the community; it builds character. According to Parade, 71 % of today's adult volunteers began helping as teens. Be sure to check out the volunteering suggestions on the next page that you and your child can do together.

For more information about other interesting volunteer opportunities visit www.SERVEnet.org or visit Youth Service America at www.ysa.org

Lester Laminack is Professor and Head of Elementary and Middle Grades Education at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. E-mail: laminack@wcu.edu