Service Projects Teens Really Enjoy

By Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda

 

“Who is my neighbor?” the lawyer asked Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, to which Jesus replied by telling the now-familiar story of the Good Samaritan. One way we can empower teens to grow in this awareness of neighbor is by pointing out personal ways that they can use their talents, energy and youthful enthusiasm through service projects. Most of us are familiar with commonplace youth service projects: tutoring younger students; visiting nursing homes; cleaning up a church or a cemetery; or participating in an alternative Spring Break opportunity. The following ideas, however, represent a sampling from across the country of youth groups that have transformed rather ordinary service projects into unique, creative opportunities. Some of these ideas are quite simple. Others are rather elaborate. Most of them emphasized a connection between local needs and the larger Body of Christ. And all of them, in one way or another, can feed our creative juices and encourage us to think outside the box! 

 1.    SERVICE LEARNING RETREAT -- 15 youth from the Harrisburg, PA, Diocese annually attend a five-day immersion experience called “Go Work in Vineyard.” This year, teens will travel to a rural coal mining area of their diocese and learn first hand about poverty, social action and their own vocation--through service by organizing and serving a food pantry; cleaning a local parish; visiting elderly; and cooking for families [Danville, Pennsylvania]. 

 2.    WONDERFUL WIDOW WAGON WASH -- a car wash & checkup for the widows of the Church, twice a year [Eastside Church, Duncan, Oklahoma].

 3.    PENNIES FROM HEAVEN -- A contest is being held among all youth and youth groups in the parish to see who will bring the most donated pennies. After reaching the goal of $10,000--to be collected solely as pennies--a group of youth will travel to the Philippines to participate in the actual building of a church structure at their sister parish. [St. Thomas More Church, Englewood, Colorado].

 4.    GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY -- To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Harpeth Hall, an all-girls school, committed to give 50,000 hours of volunteer service to their community in one year. To accomplish this, they enlisted the aid of students’ families, faculty and alumnae--giving awards to every youth who accomplished over 100 hours of community service. Work included: 8th grade pen pals with senior citizens; 7th graders “adopting” Headstart children; 5th & 6th graders collecting food and books for the homeless [Harpeth Hall, Nashville, Tennessee].

 5.    LIBRARY BOOKS -- A day of washing children’s books at the local library. The only materials needed were mild soap, rags, and plenty of hands to wipe, dry and put books back on the shelf! [St. Anne’s, Gilbert, Arizona].

 6.    SCAVENGER CANNED FOOD DRIVE -- Teens are given a list of canned goods and are divided into teams, sending them off with drivers and a list of parishioners’ addresses. A time limit is set for them to return to base. The group with the most items “wins”--and the parish food pantry becomes very well stocked! [St. James Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma].

 7.    BUILD A HOME -- Members of a California Quaker group joined members of St. Augustine's Church to build a home in one day for a Mexican family near Tijuana, Mexico, under the auspices of an organization called Corazon (Spanish for heart) [San Francisco, California].

 8.    CURBSIDE SERVICE -- Several local youth groups requested permission from the city’s police department, then offered to paint residential curbside address numbers for homeowners who needed it. [Campbell, California].

 9.    COFFEE CART -- Ordinary Sunday donuts are regularly enhanced by teens selling cafe late and mochas after Mass, donating the proceeds. [St. Timothy’s Church, Mesa, Arizona].

 10.    CHEW FOR CHANGE -- Teens got permission from the school to allow students to pay a fee for the privilege of chewing gum during school hours (normally a no-no!). The money collected went to a local homeless family with 15 children, most of them adopted and physically or mentally challenged [Indianapolis, Indiana.]

 11.    YOUTHLINE -- Students joined forces with the city to establish a resource and just-to-talk telephone line for teens operated by high school and college students [Boston, Mass].

 12.    WHEELING -- Students volunteer with the local hospital chaplain to help wheel patients who want to attend weekly Mass or services to the hospital chapel [Toronto, Canada].

 13.    SWING DANCING ANYONE? – A least a couple of youth groups plan and lead an inter-generational swing dance at the local Senior Citizens Center [ Mesa, Arizona; also in Minnesota].

 14.    SWEATSHOP FOR A DAY -- Working from 7 am to 8 p.m., teens made bags used to hold school kits for underprivileged children. Participants collected donations of all materials used to make the bags, all the school materials later placed in the bags (pencils, crayons, paper, sharpener), as well as raised money used to ship the school kits to Free the Children headquarters in Toronto for distribution to the needy. [Cathedral High School, St. Cloud, Minnesota].

 15.    INTERFAITH CLEAN UP PROJECT -- Catholic and Mormon teens in Arizona joined forces for a day-long program of community service projects throughout their home town. All materials (food, work gloves, hats, t-shirts for participants) were donated as teens cleaned up a local community garden; the Riparian Park and natural habitat; and several homes of elderly and disabled people. Jobs included, cleaning, pulling rocks, weeding, painting doors, replacing windows, spreading wood chips and putting up fences [St. Anne, Gilbert, Arizona].

 16.    ALIVE HOSPICE -- Youth run errands for Hospice patients and their families. [Nashville, Tennessee].

 17.    CLOWN MINISTRY -- The archdiocese of Oklahoma City offered classes on how to be a clown: how to choose a face, how to apply makeup, how to do balloon art, and how to choose a custom. Then the trained youth clowns visited area nursing homes and the children’s hospital. [Oklahoma City, Oklahoma].

 18.    HOMELESS AWARENESS WEEK -- The youth collect pledges for this experience, which takes place every year the week before Thanksgiving. For one whole evening, the youth eat and live the way the homeless in their city live, including sleeping in a cardboard box for the night--in November--in Michigan! [St. Anne Church, Alpena, Michigan].

 19.    CHILD CARE -- Area high school and college students visit weekly the children at a local homeless shelter to read books, offer planned games and organize activities for the often restless children staying there. University students collected the children’s art work to create a formal display for Vanderbilt’s cafeteria. [Nashville Family Life and Hope Center, Tennessee].

 20.        MOTHER TERESA SERVICE TREE -- The parish created a “tree” full of cards listing service projects to do during Lent. Each card included the project description, the organization it involved and who to contact. Once a person completed the project, she tied a pastel colored ribbon on the tree symbolizing the many service projects that were performed in the local area. [Holy Family Parish, Kirkland, Washington].

Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda (mscaperlanda@osv.com) is an award-winning Catholic author.