You’re Doing Good, Kid

5 organizations that offer meaningful service opportunities for kids

By Bryony Angell

Service — it’s an ethic we, as parents, hope to instill in our kids as they grow up. But how can we cultivate an authentic spirit and habit of giving back in today’s cultural climate, where actions are so often motivated by expected rewards of external validation? Luckily, there is a way to instill the true spirit of service while also giving recognition. Several national organizations with vital local chapters foster youth volunteering over the long term, affording kids a community of peers and mentors, a path to making a meaningful impact in the community — and kudos for their work and dedication. The best reward? A young person involved in volunteering as a part of his or her routine has a greater chance of maintaining that civic-minded habit into adulthood.

YMCA • seattleymca.org The YMCA maintains a respected lineup of youth summer camps, but did you know that the organization offers year-round programs to build on that love for camp while instilling leadership skills and values to boot? YMCA leadership development and counselors in training programs set the pathway to becoming a paid staff counselor. Students apply to the counselor intern program as they would a job, then spend two summers training before possibly being hired as a staff member. Programming during the school year keeps the community of interns and counselors-in-training working together on service projects locally and via maintenance projects at the Camp Orkila campsite; participants earn as many as 100 service hours in the process.

Camp Fire • campfire.org Another camp-based program with year-round activities for kids in grades 9–12 is Camp Fire. Camp Fire’s highest honor for high school students, the Wohelo Award (“Wohelo” stands for Work, Health and Love, the core values of the organization since its founding in 1910), is bestowed on youth participants who, over the course of two years, complete an intensive and highly individualized project that develops leadership, service and advocacy skills. A youth might organize and promote an activity at their school or give back to Camp Fire through planning an event, such as a You & Me Camp at Camp Fire’s Camp Sealth on Vashon Island.

Girl Scouts of America • girlscoutsww.org Girls involved in Girl Scouts can begin earning merit badges for service as early as kindergarten. In fourth grade, participants can begin work to achieve the organization’s highest honors, the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards, which are organized by age group as girls progress through school and are then awarded to a troop as a whole. The troop chooses a problem to solve, researches a sustainable solution and then gets the word out.

Boy Scouts of America (Scouts BSA) • scouting.org The Boy Scouts of America (which now welcomes girls, too) is a long-standing service-based organization for kids. Like Girl Scouts, Scouts BSA participants earn merit badges through service, the highest merit being the Eagle Scout badge, an award that is the result of many hours of service, not just a single project. Scouts work with adult mentors and local agencies to steward their projects, which may involve efforts to raise money, procure donations and organize other volunteers.

National Wildlife Federation (NWF) • nwf.org For tweens and younger kids looking to start a sustainable service project, the National Wildlife Federation offers a nationally recognized NWF Wildlife Habitat certificate through its Kids Garden for Wildlife program. Children as young as toddlers can initiate (with help from a parent, caregiver or teacher) the planting and maintenance of a small habitat garden to attract wildlife to an urban setting. Not only does a certified space join the national registry of such critical corridors of urban habitat, but the child earns a plaque to display and credit for service hours, either through their school or NWF. ■

Photo courtesy of National Wildlife Federation

Bryony Angell loves nature, art and mid-century architecture, and can find a way to connect all three to parenting.