SERVICE TO OTHERS

Volunteer service is all the rage in certain educational circles these days, for good reason. Few activities combine the doing absolute good in the world with the chance to make genuine human, cultural, and even political connections. The difficulty is often in finding a particular service activity that suits the inclinations and personality of the person doing the service, and there always exists in many kinds of service activities the possibility that the doer may so represent the service as to seem condescending or even insulting to the recipient. Gone are the days of noblesse oblige, when it was acceptable for the affluent of the world to find it in their heart and their schedule to take pity on others and perform some sort of charitable service, largely for show. While the world’s needs have not diminished, our understanding of the dignity of all people requires that service in our time involve real sophistication.

The seven suggestions in the SERVICE TO OTHERS category are either home-based or virtual as we experience restrictions on getting around, but it is our hope that such activities would be seen as a starting point from which young people can explore their own interests to discover the places where their strengths and proclivities can truly contribute to fulfilling the needs of others—including the planet itself.

SERV 1. There are thousands of agencies and organizations seeking volunteers—find some by going on line and search under “volunteer opportunities [yourtown]." If you find something interesting, sign up to help if you can.
Of all the suggested activities suggested here, this may require the least explanation. The world is full of need, andmost often this need is well advertised, if one knows where to look.

It is likely that there is a community or neighborhood organization that serves if not as a clearinghouse for volunteer opportunities, as a virtual bulletin board or NextDoor site. Try calling the town hall or a public school guidance office. Expect minimum age limits.

Try an internet search for “volunteers needed” situations, focusing on  your area. The search may need some refining, but stay with it.

When all else fails, look close to home: Are there specific needs that can be seen in the neighborhood that a young person could begin to meet on his or her own initiative?

If the idea of service does indeed make the youngster smile, keep looking. Something is sure to turn up.

SERV 2. If it is safe to do so, go to a local cemetery and see if there is work you could do: cleaning up around the stones, picking up litter, or even making records of the people buried there. Maintain proper social distancing from others. You may have to call local officials to find out what you can do. (And don’t try cleaning up the stones unless you are being supervised by a responsible adult, though; older stones can be irreparably damaged by attempts to clean them.)
There are cemeteries that look like a millionaire’s front lawn, and then there are those that receive little to no attention. It is reasonable to assume that a cemetery that is well-kept, mowed and weed-free does not require volunteer assistance, but a graveyard that is overgrown and littered—perhaps because it is used as a kind of free-form park or even trash receptacle by neighbors, needs help.

If a cemetery rescue mission seems in order, the first order of business is to determine who is in charge. Sometimes it is a religious body or a town, but some cemeteries are privately owned and a few—particularly small, isolated rural plots—are even the property of a single family. The more intensive the level of work the young volunteer wants to perform, the more urgent is the need to establish who the controlling authority might be and to obtain permission to conduct a clean-up operation. If the work is a matter of cleaning up litter—and the volunteer should be very wary of picking up even the most weatherworn flags and flower containers, no matter how unsightly they may be; if the litter consists of deposit bottles or cans, the volunteer can even establish a little fund to defray expenses.

Because a cemetery may look unkempt does not mean there are not those who love it and care for it, in their way. Cemeteries with particular historical interest need to be treated almost as archaeological sites, with a minimum of unsupervised work performed—no lawn mowers need to enter a cemetery without the express authorization of the management. It may even be the case that no one seems to know exactly who is in charge, which can turn the project into a research exercise.

It may also be that a small or old cemetery needs just the infusion of interest and energy that a young volunteer can provide. Perhaps a bit of interest will spark the management into organizing—or letting the volunteer organize—a “clean up, fix up” event, a nice way to bring resources to bear on what must be regarded as an important part of a community’s heritage.

And working around graves need not be morbid or scary. Such efforts are acts of respect and continuity, reminders that individuals, and times, pass on, leaving the living to remember and learn.

(ALSO: Civic and Community Engagement)

SERV 3. If you can do this while maintaining proper social distancing or using some PPE (personal protective equipment), offer to help out for a few hours a week with an older or infirm neighbor or family member.
Sometimes pitching in when a neighbor or family member needs assistance is harder than volunteering “in the field.” When an established friendly or loving relationship becomes a matter of caretaking there needs to be space and a chance for the helper to process the experience; in a world with a graying and increasingly dependent population, this is true for people of all ages.

But often there is no kind of service more valuable than helping out someone close to one. Whether the assistance is direct—weeding, pet care, reading aloud, moving things—or indirect—making telephone calls, for example—the performing of essential tasks is critically helpful and can often make the difference between anxiety and security for the person being helped. Other family members or neighbors may also appreciate being spelled so that they can get to essential matters in their own lives.

And of course the person being helped does not have to be old or permanently disabled. While helpful tasks typically fall in the category of odd jobs, such work does not always require pay; in older times, exchanging labor was part of the fabric of community life, and no one expected to be paid in cash. The young volunteer might just set an example here of a kind of neighborhood “help bank” that could pay off for many people over time.

SERV 4. Take care of an animal. If you don't have a family pet, put up signs offering yourself as a volunteer dog-walker or a pet-feeder. It’s a big responsibility, though, so you must do it consistently and well.
Some children are drawn irresistibly to animals, and vice versa. For such fortunate children, service in animal care can be a natural match. What matters most of all is the ability to regularly assume responsibility for the health and welfare of other living things.

Short-term arrangements can often be made with neighbors. A daily dog-walk or a week or two looking after household pets can provide owners with much-needed relief, and youngsters will enjoy building relationships with new animal friends.

Although pet-sitting and dog-walking often become paying jobs, there is no harm in the child undertaking some duties of this sort on a volunteer basis, at least as a first attempt; this might be especially true if the youngster’s reliability is not fully established. If more opportunities for this sort of work present themselves as time goes on, then it would be perfectly fine to go professional.

SERV 5. If you can do this while maintaining proper social distancing or using some PPE (personal protective equipment), make a project of picking up all the litter on a single block of a street or section of a road every day for a set period of time. (Be careful of traffic, though!) If you want to make this into a science and math project, you could even keep a careful record of the weight of the litter or of exactly what sorts of things you are finding. Write an article for your local paper (or at least a letter to the editor) about the things people throw away carelessly.
Roadside signs across the nation proclaim that businesses and organizations are eagerly joining adopt-a-highway programs, but there is no reason that such arrangements cannot be scaled down. If the young person were to decide at “adopt a street” or even a block, there will no doubt be, sad to say, a steady supply of litter to be picked up; perhaps it might even be possible to engage a few friends in the activity, or even a school or youth group.

Selecting a place to perform this service may be a challenge, as a busy street or highway may just not be appropriate. There are obvious safety considerations here, and some adult supervision might be needed; at a minimum, bright-colored clothing should be worn. If no plausible place presents itself, perhaps a local hiking trail or park would be a worthy substitute.

Another safety-related issue has to do with sanitation, and this is an activity best done while wearing rubber gloves. Direct contact with litter should be avoided, as should contact with other roadside hazards—animal droppings or certain plants like poison ivy, which thrives on many roadsides all over North America. A good scrub after pick-up duties have been performed is essential.

This activity can be done once, as a Clean-Up Day kind of event, or regularly, while walking a dog or just taking a stroll after school. A whole other issue is that of quantity of material to be picked up—some places may require multiple trash bags; perhaps deposit cans or bottles can underwrite the purchase. Even in no-deposit states, aluminum is recyclable and can be turned in to scrap metal dealers for a small premium.

For what it is worth, the study of trash and litter is actually a sub-specialty in the study of material culture, and there might be something to be learned from taking a systematic approach to collection and analysis. Counting cigarette butts or classifying beverage containers may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but the information may be of interest to some young people and perhaps of real interest or value to someone else in the community.

An excellent complement to this activity would be the composition of a letter to a municipal body or local newspaper, either decrying the behavior of the litterers whose carelessness one has learned about first-hand or urging broader community clean-up efforts.

(ALSO: Civic and Community Engagement; STEM)

SERV 6. Think of something that you are good at and find someone you can tutor or teach on line—could be art, could be algebra, could be reading, could be basketball, could be …
This activity begins with an act of reflection, a consideration of what the young person might actually be good enough at to teach. This might be more difficult than it seems, if for no other reason that some things at which they might be highly skilled are not of interest or use to others—or that the skill is so intuitive that breaking it down to be taught might be overwhelming.

But surely the youngster does possess a useful skill, and so the real problem becomes to find an audience. Try some kind of community bulletin board site or use family and friends to network.

Before any instruction begins, the young tutor should make an effort to break down the activity into intelligible and therefore teachable components or steps. A good teacher has a lesson plan, and so here a written outline or even a script would be very useful. Think about what the final goal or outcome would be, and “plan backwards.” Think about ways to make each step interesting or fun; perhaps a game would engage the participant(s) while also making even the “teaching” fun.

For one-on-one instruction, it is important that all aspects of the arrangement—goals, time, expectations, supplies and equipment if needed—be clear to all involved. A safe, appropriate, and supervised virtual space is critical. It is also important that the young tutor know his or her limits and that they be able to stop or end the arrangement if necessary.

The idea here is volunteer service, but the work here could evolve into a small business. While no one expects anyone endlessly to give away expertise, it is important for the parent or guardian to be ready to talk about the nature of service and its place in the life of a young person, especially when it might seem time to put the instruction onto a different sort of footing.

(ALSO: Business and Entrepreneurship)

SERV 7. Choose a household chore or responsibility around your house to take on without being reminded or even thanked. This could be some form or repetitive daily drudgery—putting away the clean dishes, walking the dog, folding your own laundry—or it could be an occasional major task that you are willing to monitor and do when it needs to be done, like weeding or replacing the batteries in the smoke detectors. You could take this idea one step further and offer to do these for an elderly or infirm neighbor.
Along with making sure that needed work is done, the development of dependable habits of mind and action is a main goal of assigning household chores. Doing household work without having to be asked or without the expectation of reward is, in many families, not only an obligation of membership but also an important learning experience. If this is already the case in your home, then perhaps adding still another chore to the child’s list is unnecessary, although experience suggests that there is usually time for one more thing and also that an important alternative goal to just getting things done is simply to wean the youngster of the need to be reminded to complete the task.

Whatever chores are assigned, it is important that they be developmentally appropriate and do-able by the child, although the historical experience of farm children suggests that even eight- or nine-year-olds can accomplish almost anything with a bit of instruction. The child who invokes child labor laws as an argument against doing chores should be referred to some of the literature on young workers in nineteenth-century coal mines of factories, an instructive research project that could provide useful perspective on the relative difficulties of cleaning up one’s room or vacuuming the living room as opposed to working twelve-hour shifts underground.

The child who is already an exemplary chore-doer at home might be encouraged to find an opportunity to perform some regular household service for a neighbor or relative in need. Help of this sort is always much appreciated, and the chance to develop a new relationship is itself always a positive learning experience.