Corey Pudhorodsky has volunteered as a youth group leader for several years. You may know Corey as the voice of the 501c3Cast. This past summer, Corey and this group of teenagers spent a week in the Hartsville, South Carolina community to do volunteer work in support of Habitat for Humanity.
At the conclusion of the volunteer project, Corey interviewed the youth volunteers regarding their experience. You can listen to the interviews by going to the August 7, 2007 podcast at http://501c3cast.com/shownotesAug07.asp. The interviews were insightful because the information came straight from the teens.
Based on the interviews, I developed the following list of traits that should be a part of any volunteer project that involve youth:
- Provides a new experience
- Shows "immediate" progress in making a difference
- Is fun
- Is well prepared and organized
- Encourages (but doesn’t force) participation
- Matches work to skills of each youth volunteer
- Involves a group of friends and other youth
- Work is challenging
- Adequate number of supervisors and trainers
- Future volunteer opportunities are available
I have been impressed with the youth volunteers I have had the privilege to work with (see Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?). Don’t underestimate the impact they can make. We need to encourage them and make each of their volunteer experiences a positive one.
Remember, they are our future leaders.
This is a great list! I will share it with all the youth group leaders that I know. Thank you.