"One of those benefits is that volunteers make peoples' lives better. And a second benefit is self-directed: people who help others help themselves. Volunteers feel personal satisfaction when they see how their efforts are making the world a better place. This is a powerful tool for reducing stress, combating depression, and providing a sense of purpose.Volunteer work can be challenging but those who tackle problems or aid strangers meet like-minded people of all ages from a wide variety of backgrounds. This reduces feelings of loneliness. It can also help you widen your social circle beyond you immediate family while forming bonds that last a lifetime"--

More than 70 percent of America's 60 million young people believe they can make a difference in their communities, and the numbers support their assertions. Teenagers spend 2.4 billion hours annually in volunteer service, and their labor is worth $34.3 billion to the U.S. economy. Volunteering brings emotional satisfaction, provides opportunities for learning skills that can be used in the job market, and helps teens to make career choices. But the major reasons that teens cite for performing volunteer service is the compassion they feel for people in need and the belief that they improve the quality of life for others. Volunteering: The Ultimate Teen Guide is a complete guide for teens who want to volunteer. Young people get a complete picture of what volunteering involves, including the personal commitment and the physical and emotional stamina, as well as the positive_and sometimes negative_consequences. This book is filled with inspiring and rewarding stories from teen volunteers who testify to the benefits and the immense personal satisfaction as a result of their volunteer efforts. Volunteering is a wonderful resource for both teens as well as those who work with teens on how to use one's time and energy to positively impact society and to gain personal satisfaction from helping others.

Outlines the personal and social benefits of voluntarism, and helps teens find volunteer positions that match their interests and experience.

Volunteering: Insights and Tips for Teenagers provides a complete guide to the world of volunteerism. It shows you how to become engaged in what will be among the most gratifying and worthwhile experiences of your life. In this book you’ll learn why volunteerism is so important both to volunteers themselves and to those they serve and explore different types of volunteer opportunities and how to find and secure a rewarding volunteer placement. With advice from professionals and first-hand accounts from teen volunteers, including a fifteen-year-old girl who started a foundation that now helps hundreds of new parents, this book will help you make the most of your volunteer experience. You will learn how to research volunteer opportunities what to expect from the application, interview, and orientation process how to be a successful volunteer how to handle unfamiliar or uncomfortable situations and how to ask for help, and how you can use what you learn as a volunteer to create new academic or career opportunities. With helpful tips for success and a resource list of volunteer opportunities, this book provides everything you need to understand the vital and vibrant world of volunteerism.

Teens generally volunteer their time because they want to -- even with high school and college requirements. But teen idealism, joined with youthful energy and enthusiasm, often isn't enough to make volunteering the best experience possible for teens. Teens (and their parents) need help and guidance. How can a teen decide whether to volunteer -- and how to find out where to volunteer? How can teens choose the best kid of volunteer experience, and how can they judge whether it's working or not? Whether building a house for Habitat for Humanity or serving as a nurse's aid, teen volunteers learn patience, develop leadership skills and grasp the meaning of good citizenship. Volunteer opportunities also serve as a way for teens to explore potential interests for career areas. Coverage includes: -- Why volunteer? -- Opportunity descriptions -- what's available -- How to get prepared -- Deciding what you want -- group, solo, with adults, with kids, etc. -- How to find the volunteering opportunities in your interest area including online references -- from animal shelters to tutoring programs. -- Basic etiquette of volunteering -- Next steps -- what to do if you want to get more serious about volunteering (post-high school experiences, political internships, City Year, etc.)

A comprehensive guide to the six fields of service most open to teen participation: education, environment, health care, the needy, politics, and substance abuse.

When teens volunteer at the library, they gain new skills, make connections, and build their resumes, while libraries benefit from a new generation of advocates. This guide shows librarians how to establish or develop a teen volunteer program. Advocating a flexible approach, this book speaks to every library, including both public and school libraries. From small libraries with no budget to large libraries with seemingly endless budgets and everything in between, all of the concepts covered can be scaled up or down to meet the needs of the community being served. The book begins with the big picture, discussing benefits to teens, libraries, and communities; it then reviews volunteer types and volunteer possibilities for teens, including the traditional roles of shelving and programming as well as passion-led projects, programming opportunities, and special initiatives and drives. Specific volunteer roles are described in depth, with instructions for practical applications, and concrete examples and experiences from various types of libraries illustrate principles discussed. Readers will also learn how to establish volunteer partnerships within and outside of the library. The book ends with a discussion of methods for evaluation and assessment.