Most scholarship programs call for young teens to volunteer hours of community service. The state of Florida has a lottery sponsored scholarships called Bright Futures. The 100 percent level scholarship calls for young people to maintain a 3.5 grade point average and to volunteer at least 100 hours. The scholarships covers 100 percent of tuition and books.
As the Mother of a 15 year old, hoping to get a Bright Futures Scholarship, I have run into some obstacles trying to find volunteer opportunities. Most places either won’t accept teenagers or have time restrictions. Some even will let teens volunteer as long as they are directly supervised, but the volunteer locations stated that they didn’t have the staff to offer. Most scholarships won’t accept church related service if it is directly related to witnessing or evangelism. Following are some creative ideas of where our youth can volunteer and if I encountered any limitations.
1) The Democratic and Republican offices in your counties. Maybe the election is over, but many of these offices are full time equipped and still need help making phone calls or sending out mail. I called the local office in the small county we live in and the only restrictions are that they have strange hours and we would have to work the volunteer hours in. Be sure and check with the Democratic or Republican headquarters in your community.
2) Ronald McDonald House. Most larger communities or cities with specialized children hospitals have Ronald McDonald houses. Jacksonville has one located near the Nemours Children’s Clinic and the Baptist Children’s Hospital> this is probably one of the locations my daughter will end up volunteering. The director of the house in Jacksonville informed me that youth can volunteer in many areas, depending on their interests. She stated they had one youth who loved to cook, and offered to cook meals for families. My daughter is interested in working directly with the children, perhaps babysitting or just entertaining them.
3) Recycling Centers. Near our small county is a waste water and recycling center called New Region River. They are always looking for any volunteers and are happy to get youth to help. I have worked with them before in river cleanups both of the local St Mary’s River and the Stl. Johns River in Jacksonville. At one river cleanup event, the youth even received t-shirts and a cook out afterwards.
4) Your local zoo. The Jacksonville Zoological Gardens accepts youth volunteers from two different age groups. They have the 12 – 14 year old volunteers who are very strictly limited, and the 15 and older youth. The youth generally assist visitors in the educational center or work at the petting zoos. Do not fear, they will not have your child feeding steaks to lions.
5) World Changers. This is a church based volunteer opportunity sponsored by the Baptist Convention. A teen does not have to be a Baptist as any youth are accepted. There are various sites across the United States, sponsored and organized by local churches where work is done. Youth usually are involved in painting houses, roofing houses, or landscaping. My daughter has gone two years in a row and can paint or roof anyone’s house upon request. While it is church related, the hours that are non witnessing are counted. Out of 30 hours spent volunteering in a week, my daughter stated that only about two hours are spent witnessing and passing out flyers.
Maybe these ideas will give you a chance to expand your child’s volunteer opportunities. Our youth are more than willing to volunteer if offered the chance. Besides, a free scholarship or two aren’t bad tradeoffs for their efforts.
