The Care or Be Square Youth and Family Volunteer Fair that is taking place this Thursday, May 24th from 6 – 8 pm at the DeKalb County Outreach Building (2500 N. Aniie Glidden Road – County Health Dept. campus). We have 22 vendors participating in this first time event. Vendors will be sharing information about the youth and/or family volunteer opportunities available in their organizations. Our goal is to provide young people and their families with a myriad of opportunties that compliment both their interests and schedules. Summer is a great time for young people to get out in our community and make a difference! Our target population is middle and high school students, but families with elementary age children are welcome to come too.
Why should youth get involved in volunterism?
• Youth who volunteer just one hour a week are 50% less likely to abuse drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, or engage in destructive behavior. (Search Institute)
• Youth who volunteer are more likely to do well in school, graduate, vote, and be philanthropic. (UCLA/Higher Education Research Institute)
• Out of 13.3 million youth, 59.3% volunteer an average of 3.5 hours per week, versus 49% of the adult population volunteering an average of 4.2 hours. (Independent Sector/Gallup)
• Youth who volunteer are three times more likely to volunteer as adults. (Independent Sector/Gallup)
• Teens say the benefits received from volunteering are: Learning to respect others; learning to be helpful and kind; learning to understand people who are different from them; developing leadership skills, becoming more patient, and better understanding of good citizenship. (Independent Sector/Gallup)
• Only 22% of DeKalb and Sycamore youth report they are given useful roles in the community. (2007 developmental assets survey)
Please don’t hesitate to contact Mary Hess with questions – maryh@bengordoncenter.org or call 815.756.8501 x. 111