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Volume
13, Number 2, Fall 2002
Fall:
a great time to use your hands for service
By
Kristen Janson
Fall’s
upon us and it’s a great time to make a difference
in your community. Get involved with these tips and ideas
for incorporating community service in your 4-H year!
Well,
first off, what is community service?
In 4-H, community service is voluntary action by an individual
or a group of individuals that they perform without pay.
Service to the community, through food drives, walking dogs
at your local animal shelter or putting on clown paint and
cheering up kids in the hospital, can be fun, in addition
to helping you gain leadership and citizenship experiences.
It can also give you that warm and fuzzy feeling inside
that tells you you did something good for someone else.
Get
involved!
First, figure out if you want to do something on your own
or with your friends. If you want to make an impact through
a group effort, plan your project as a group. If you’re
not sure if your friends would be up to a service project,
just ask them! Studies show that nine out of ten people
say yes when someone asks them to donate their time, and
those who are asked to volunteer are four times as likely
to do some service work as those who aren’t asked.
(Independent Sector, 2000)
Next
Step: Start Planning!
Now that you’ve assembled a group of people to work
on a project, find something that interests everyone. If
you’re all really into fixing mechanical things, perhaps
you could round up some run-down bikes in your neighborhood
and fix them up for underprivileged kids. You all like kids?
Volunteer to read stories at a day care center. Need some
ideas? Visit the “4-H Community Service Ideas”
Web page at http://web1.msue.msu.edu/cyf/youth/commserv.html.
Now that you have an idea…What are you waiting for?
Get out there and put your community serving-learning project
plan into action by doing your best and having fun!
Evaluate
Your Effort!
When you’ve finished your project, be sure to take
some time to think over how it went. What could you have
done differently to make it better? Did you enjoy yourself?
How could you get others involved? Also, be sure to celebrate.
That’s right! Give yourself a pat on the back and
go grab some pizza as a group. You just joined the 109 million
Americans who volunteer. Did you know that 59 percent of
teenagers volunteer an average of 3.5 hours a week? (Independent
Sector, 2000)
4-H
Materials to Help You
-
YEA! Youth Experiencing Action: A Community Service-Learning
Guide (4-H 1553) – Are you ready to get
involved and really make a difference in your community?
In YEA, participants brainstorm, map strategies, make
decisions, take action, solve problems, cooperate, reflect,
evaluate and pass on new-found knowledge to others. This
curriculum is designed for the adults and older teens
who work with youth aged 14 to 19, and is available through
your county MSU Extension office, which is listed in your
telephone directory under your county name.
- Citizenship:
Public Adventure Curriculum – These materials
include a kit for grades 4 to 12 and a handbook for adult
and teen volunteers. The series provides the tools young
people need to define, plan, implement and evaluate an active
citizenship group project. You can order the curriculum
online from the “Citizenship and Civic Education”
section of the Bookstore division of the 4-H Mall at http://www.4-hmall.org.
Need Some Tools to Get Going? Look Here!
-
Project Plan-It!: An Online Project Planning Tool
(http://www.ysa.org/planit)
– Youth Service America has an easy, interactive
set of questions to guide groups and individuals through
planning a community service project. Project Plan-It!
allows users to create project plans, funding proposals,
press releases and service-learning reflection plans,
and provides other helpful resources.
-
Get Involved in Service Through 4-H (http://web1.msue.msu.edu/cyf/youth/commserv/getinvserv.html)
– Discover a wealth of community service tips on
the Michigan 4-H community service Web pages. The site
lists what youth and clubs gain when they actively participate
in community service and breaks community service projects
into five easy steps. Information about 4-H “teen
service officers” and ideas for involving younger
club members in community service-learning are also included.
Find out everything from getting started with your community
service project to ways to get the word out!
Cool
Ideas for Fall
-
Plant tulips or other bulbs in your community. They will
bloom in the spring.
-
Collect school supplies for kids who can’t afford
them.
-
Make posters and displays of safe and unsafe Halloween
costumes, masks and face paints.
-
Restore a neglected cemetery.
-
Trick or treat for canned goods and donate them to a food
bank.
-
Find out how you can help people register to vote.
-
Set up—and supply—bird feeding stations at
hospitals, schools and community sites.
- Coordinate
a homework huddle for kids who need schoolwork help.
-
Collect crazy and fun hats for kids in chemotherapy.
-
Put together a welcoming box for a family moving into
a Habitat for Humanity home. Decorate the box and include
cleaning supplies, toys for kids, and general household
items.
-
Rake the leaves of an elderly neighbor. Remember to jump
into the piles before bagging the leaves!
The
possibilities are endless, so get involved!
Tell
everyone about your community service project!
Share
your project idea by applying for the YEA Community Service
Learning Recognition Program. Everyone who participated
in the project receives a certificate of project completion
and a booklet containing all of the winning projects for
the year. Applications are currently being accepted and
are available through your county MSU Extension office or
online at http://web1.msue.msu.edu/cyf/youth/differen.html.
Kristen
Janson is the state 4-H student programming aide for older
youth programs.
Copyright
© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Michigan State University
Last Updated: January 10, 2005
Last Reviewed:
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Guide
to Michigan 4-H
