Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Sunday, July 1, 2012

SUMMER NEWS

Summer Volunteering
The Jamal family explored volunteer opportunities at Boys and Girls Club and City Arts.  This is the first time we are looking at family volunteering because one of the girls is 12 and the other one 14.  Most organizations have a rule-due to liability reasons-that no one under 14 can volunteer without an adult present.  Some require volunteers no younger than 16 year old.  All organizations have background checks for volunteers working with children.  Most organizations require an adult supervising volunteer teens from the school or organization the teens are coming from because that person will be the first respondent in case of emergencies and for liability issues.

The girls will attend a preliminary visit with the arts coordinator at Boys and Girls Club and keep us posted on their selection regarding where they will choose to volunteer as a family in July.  Thank you to Mrs. Jamal for being willing to explore  volunteering with the girls.  We look forward to updates and pictures of our first family direct service memories in OKC. 

We had examples like SOW LOVE of family volunteering in Zambia and other parts of the world, but we have not documented intentional intergenerational family summer volunteering, a great new volunteering frontier.  Thank Jamals and A. Jay, Director of Boys and Girls Club for the opportunity to explore this possibility. 

Class of 2016 is begining to explore summer service.  Great start Jack T. and Delwin R.

Grace W. served over 100 hours at Shiloh Camp.  Following a family tradition, she will be the third member of the family to qualify for Presidential Award for work at Shiloh Camp.  Nice job, Gracie!

Many Cyclones, including YAC leaders volunteered at the Casady Summer Football Camp: Blake G., Drew C. 5, Clark H., Gary W., Denver J., Trainor C., DJ R., Sam K., Bobby S., Alex P., and James B.  Great job, guys! 

Went to Boys and Girls Club and saw Jennifer I. who has been volunteering @ the club since school ended.  WOW!!!  Jennifer loves it at Boys and Girls Club.  A. Jay, its director, is very impressed with Jennifer's commitment, who is first to arrive in the morning, before 7:00 a.m.  Mrs. Clay, OKC teachers and Oklahoma Green Schools committee members will be volunteering at B&G Club in the second week in July.  B&G Club is considering being the first Green after school option and participating in the International Day of Peace, 11 days of Unity as well as having club members in the first Youth LEAD OKC, grant funding provided.

Grace G., Nelson E., Mrs. Gliva and Mrs. Clay volunteered at the Stars and Stripes Regatta June 30th and July 1st.

Katie H. and Mrs. Clay visited City Arts and talked to the Education Director who stated the need for summer camp CIT's.  Former Casady service-learner, Cornelia P. is now part of the paid staff at City Arts.  Go Cornelia!  Mrs. Clay will volunteer at the Video production class the week of July 15-20.

VISITING WITH FORMER YAC SENIOR CHAIRS
Kaija W. visited with Mrs. Clay in June.  Kaija shared how much being part of a service-learning course and her YAC leadership helped her in college where she has been an outstanding servant leader.  Kaija will write an article to share in this blog soon.  Another senior YAC Chair, Sunita Darbe just published her first professional article.  Mrs. Clay will see Sunita in early August and we will have more news. 

A REQUEST FROM A TEEN


My name is Lauren Wethers, and I'm an intern with Volunteen Nation http://www.volunteennation.org/, a youth-led national non-profit organization spreading the spirit of volunteerism. Volunteen's goal is to involve more youth in their communities and make it easier for them to find volunteer opportunities. The organization recently expanded nationally and is “by teens, and for teens”.

We would immensely appreciate the promotion of Volunteen Nation to the students at your school. Not only can they find unique service opportunities that are close to home and fit their interests, but their service will also benefit themselves, the community, and your school. Please inform your students of our website to assist them in finding volunteer opportunities.

Youth volunteering promotes a healthy lifestyle, teaches life skills, improves the community, and gives the volunteers a lifelong work ethic. According to Volunteering in America, education and youth service institutions are the most popular organizations through which teenagers and adolescents volunteer. This makes a school an ideal place to encourage youth to serve their communities.

To learn more about Volunteen Nation, please check out this recent Family Circle article: http://bit.ly/wVyMqU

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Lauren Wethers lauren@volunteennation.org

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About Me

cbc: clayc@casady.org; 405-749-3103