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Volunteering
Volunteering is a great way to get in touch with what you want to do — and do a good deed while you're at it! In 2004, 15.5 million teenagers — that's 55% of all teens — volunteered, contributing more than 1.3 billion hours of service. (Hint: Volunteering is also valuable work experience, even if you're not getting paid, and it's better than gold when it comes to college applications.)
Whether you're into the environment, athletics or art, you're sure to find a volunteer opportunity that will be rewarding, teach you a thing or two about yourself and make a real impact in your community.
DoSomething.org
No matter what causes you're into, this site will help you find a way to get involved. You can even search by zip code to find volunteer opportunities with teens in your local community.
Youth Service America
YSA is a nonprofit resource center that partners with thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries. YSA sponsors Global Youth Service Day each April, getting millions of young people involved in the improvement of their communities by addressing climate change, education and illiteracy, poverty, health, hunger, and homelessness.
YSA also includes a search of local volunteer opportunities year-round, which you might be interested in.
Keep Texas Beautiful
If cleaning up the environment is your thing, there are lots of ways to get involved — starting right there at home, where you can sort your family's recyclables, remind members of your household not to waste electricity and water, and help clean up litter in the neighborhood.
There are also a number of volunteer organizations you might enjoy. Keep America Beautiful sponsors the annual Great American Cleanup, getting more than 3 million volunteers to help out their communities by planting trees and flowers, picking up litter, helping with community recycling projects, and cleaning up parks and seashores. Keep America Beautiful also offers year-round volunteer opportunities in communities all over the country — to find a way to help near you, contact your local KAB office.
Take Pride in America sponsors the Take Pride Schools program, where students can band together to help the environment. Get your friends involved! Volunteer groups might clean up a park or beach, build or repair playground equipment, or create wildlife habitat areas to benefit the public. To get your school involved, talk to your teacher or principal.
For the Dogs (and Cats)
If you're interested in a career working with animals — or you're just a softie when it comes to the furry critters — you might really enjoy volunteering at an animal shelter. While initially you probably will put in some time feeding the animals and helping clean their cages, there are all sorts of fun jobs to go around: walking dogs and taking them through obedience classes, grooming and playing with cats, even taking pictures of the animals and writing descriptions of them for the shelter Web site.
To find a local shelter, start by looking in the yellow pages. Shelters sometimes have different listings, so look under "animal shelter," "humane society" and "animal control."
There are also several reliable sites where you can locate local shelters online:
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
What a Zoo!
If wild game is more your speed, consider volunteering at your local zoo. A number of Texas zoos have volunteer programs geared toward teens age 13 and older.
The Caldwell Zoo (Tyler)
Cameron Park Zoo (Waco)
Frank Buck Zoo (Gainesville)
Texas Zoo (Victoria)
If you don't see your hometown zoo listed here, check your local yellow pages!
Special Olympics Texas
If you're interested in athletics, teaching or health care careers — or you just like sports — working with the Special Olympics is a great opportunity. Special Olympics volunteers work year-round to help coach athletes, assist at events and more. There are four state-level competitions each year, as well as several local training and competitive events.
Special Olympics Texas volunteers who are 14 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. But don't let that stop you — make it a family affair! To get involved in your community, contact one of the 19 area Texas Special Olympics offices to determine where your help is needed.Habitat for Humanity
If you're interested in architecture, construction or interior decorating — the kind of stuff you see on Trading Spaces or Extreme Home Makeover — you might be interested in volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat has helped low-income homeowners build more than 300,000 houses around the world.
Habitat's Youth United program challenges young people, ages 5 to 25, to fully fund and build a house with their local Habitat for Humanity affiliate. While volunteers under 16 aren't allowed on build sites, you can still get involved in your community. Help out in the local office by filing and answering phones, stuffing newsletters and mailings, or helping with local events.
Find your local Habitat for Humanity chapter >>
Hospitals and Nursing Homes
Are you interested in a career in health care? If you're thinking of becoming a doctor, nurse or medical assistant, there are always volunteer opportunities at local hospitals and nursing homes.
This type of volunteer work is easy — it's as simple as talking to an elderly patient, reading someone a book or playing a game of cards. Your visit can do a lot to brighten someone's day! If you have a talent for performing — sing, dance, recite a poem, do some magic tricks, whatever you have up your sleeve — it's sure to be a hit. You might also find your talents well put to use organizing social activities, or working on craft projects.
If you want to do something really cool, get a tape recorder or video recorder and offer to create an oral history project for the residents of a local nursing home — ask them to share their life stories, so they can be passed down to younger generations. When you're done, compile the tapes and donate the project to your local historical society or library.
To find a hospital or nursing home in your area that would like volunteer help, check your local yellow pages. Call or visit and fill out their volunteer application to get started!
YMCA
Many communities have a local YMCA, which serves as a community center, athletic center and educational center all wrapped up in one. You may not know this, but the YMCA is 100% volunteer-run — which gives you a lot of opportunities to get involved.
As a YMCA volunteer you might find yourself leading an exercise class, reading to preschoolers, cooking for a bake sale, designing posters, greeting visitors or helping out at special events. Search by zip code for the YMCA closest to you or check out your local yellow pages and give them a call and see what you can do to help!
Do It Yourself
Don't see an opportunity that excites you here? Get some friends together and start your own volunteer project. All it takes is a little effort and your own creativity. You can make a difference!
Have you started a volunteer project in your community that you want to tell us about? Send us an e-mail about your project, and you may be featured on Get A Life!