Wondering how the youth are staying involved as volunteers in your community? Check out some of their projects this week!
One of the motivations in our youth community is to be a "change-maker", leave a legend behind, and be legendary. How do we do this? The first step is to engage as a volunteer. Look at some of our projects:
Volunteer at the Humane Society - The mission of the Blue Mountain Humane Society is to prevent cruelty and promote kindness to companion animals in our community. Our youth volunteers socialize the animals, clean up messes (your imagination can run wild with that), bring the adoptable moments onto social media, and lend helping hands. The adoptable animals at BMHS make it easy to show kindness!
Promote Community action at the Walla Walla Warming Center - Each winter season, a group of local volunteers, churches, and NGOs working to provide a warm night's sleep for Walla Walla's homeless population. There is an age limit to who is permitted to work in the shelter, however, the youth are still involved in the background washing up after everyone is gone, preparing the bedding for next winter, and organizing resources so that they are accessible. This is a very impacting area to serve in.
Bring Food to the Food banks - Several youth are organizing small food-raisers at their schools, challenging their fellow classmates to bring a can of food to share. If you see a food-raiser and if you have a bit extra to spare, share!
Promoting Healthy Eating - Some of Walla Walla's finest chefs are under the age of 18 and 1 cup of kindness can go a long ways! Several youth have coordinated with our food pantries to host recipe sharing and provide cooking classes.
Volunteer at Yeehaw Aloha - This non-profit thrift store is supported by generous donations to provide affordable prices for everyone, while raising funds to improve opportunities for Walla Walla's youth, and fund gifts to a diverse group of local charities, daily. Our youth love this mission and the experiences that they have had sorting and organizing merchandise, learning to build shelving units, restoring vintage furniture and promoting a mission that helps kids.
Being Big - The 21st Century After School program has worked with Youth United to partner senior students with freshmen. When a younger student is partnered with a "Big", they can gather wisdom and support from their fellow classmates with a focus on philanthropy, life skills and making the best of their education. Building community every day!
Would you like to know more about youth engagement? Are you interested in volunteering? We can help you get connected! Contact: Kristen Sayers, yu@unitedwayww.org, 509.529.1183
