Actually doing it is another.
Over Thanksgiving, I was watching TV with mi madre and a commercial came on about donating to a foundation that helps educate poverty stricken kids in another country. The lady of the house commented on how amazing it would be to do what those people on the TV are doing: helping children. I told her that she could do that now without ever having to leave the U.S. In fact, she could do that without ever having to leave her zip code. Haha, she blew me off after I told her how volunteering at one of the local schools is easy enough to do.
A couple weeks ago City Year Seattle's Young Heroes program started up again. This is the team I was on while a member of City Year. This go around, I am only an adult volunteer termed a "Team Leader". I have a gaggle of middle school students who look up to me almost every Saturday for leadership in some aspect.
Young Heroes' program is designed to teach middle school students about social issues within their city and then to perform active service relating to that issue (this past weekend they learned about the Muscular Dystrophy Association and stuffed envelopes for the annual Hop-A-Thon fundraiser - interested? Go here: Seattle MDA). I was the person who planned the curriculum part of the day when I was a corps member.
Right now, these middle school students are not completely aware of the good they are/will be performing every Saturday service day. They are not children with messiah complexes. They are only showing up because 1) their parents are making them, 2) their friends go, 3) they want to meet new friends, or 4) they want to hang out with the Josh. Okay, okay, so that last one might be a bit of a stretch, but you get the picture.
When our team last year got interviewed by the national manager for Young Heroes teams we were asked what we expect the kids to take from the Saturdays. We all responded that we wanted them to learn about the subject of the service day but I also added that I hope they have a seed planted. Yeah, so maybe these young people will not become the next Mother Theresa after performing service to Seattle's community for a day, but the thought will be there. It will grow as they grow and will affect how they live their lives down the road. That's the best we can hope for; that what we are doing creates the leaders of tomorrow.
Whoever coined the "Power of Youth" got it right. Young adults working with teenagers at making tomorrow better than today. There is power in what we do and the ripple effect created from one day of service is going to reverberate for centuries to come.
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