Volunteer Opportunities for Teens

Yesterday, Met Council participated in the TeenLife Live 2012 Expo. Together with about 40 other local non-profit organizations, we exposed and engaged teens to volunteer opportunities available to them.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics teens are the least likely to volunteer out of any demographic. It was therefore exciting to see so many middle and high school aged students so ready to invest in their community, and rewarding to be able to provide ways for them to do so.

People often assume that teens lack the passion and resources to really be able to take ownership of their community. In New York, there is also the assumption that opportunities are hard to get to. At Met Council, we know that this is not true – there are many opportunities that young people can engage in and they are in all five boroughs. Here are just a few:

Senior Lunch Program: Serve hot kosher meals every Sunday to 20-25 low-income seniors at one of our housing sites in Kips Bay, Manhattan. Some volunteer duties include setting up, waiting on the clients, serving lunch, and – most importantly – socializing and promoting community building.

Masbia: Help out at our kosher soup kitchen to provide nutritious meals through serving or food preparation. The soup kitchen operates from Sunday to Thursday.

Benefits Outreach (great for school groups!): Spend a day or an hour in your neighborhood with your friends to spread awareness about public benefits that low-income individuals can receive from the government by putting up flyers in local restaurants and other public places.

Are you a teen? Would you like to get involved with and give back to your community? Where there is a will there is a way and Met Council is there to help you find it. Contact volunteer@metcouncil.org to get started!

Do it Yourself Food Drive

Met Council and the Manhattan Jewish Experience (MJE) have been working together more and more. Most recently the folks at MJE sponsored a food drive that benefited Metro House, our low income housing site in the Bronx for people with physical or mental disabilities. We and the residents at Metro House thank them for their hard work!

Does organizing people and food or clothes to benefit those in need sound interesting? Met Council can give you some pointers about how to set up a successful drive.

Pick an item you will be able to get
For example, if you live in an apartment with many young couples, have a drive for baby supplies.
Have clear regulations
If you ask for clothes, make sure that every flyer says “new or very gently used clothes.” If you ask for toys, make sure to specify that they canʼt have batteries. If you ask for food, make sure to say that it has to be kosher. If you ask for books, make sure to specify an age group.
Publicize!
Put up flyers by the water coolers, in the cafeteria, in the elevators, on the stairs, in bathroom stalls,in the lobby, and anywhere else that has high foot traffic. Print your flyers on bright paper or with bright colors so that they will get peopleʼs attention.
Contact!
Send emails to your friends, people who live in your building and colleagues so that they all know when and where they can go to drop off their donations.
Get help!
If you are doing a drive at work, ask people in different departments to help publicize and promote the drive. If you are at an apartment, ask your doorman to tell people when they walk in about the item drive. If you have a co-op board ask the president to send an email to everyone in your building.
Create incentives to entice people to donate
Give a prize to whoever brings in the most items, or buy lunch for the person who donates the most. Get your boss to shave his head if 200 cans of tuna are brought in. Do anything that you think may make people donate.

Has anyone else done a drive before? Do you have anything to add to this list? What made yours successful or not?

Please contact the Volunteer Department if this sounds like something you want to be involved in!