Getting youth involved in volunteer service is one of the best ways to promote healthy development, so the YMCA Center for Asset Development teaches others about best practices in service-learning.
We had a lot of fun with 28 girls in Volunteer Camps at Harpeth Hall School this past summer. Check out our Web site, The Asset Edge, then click on “blog” in the sidebar. Drop us a note to let us know that you visited – we’d love to see you in cyberspace!
- Susan Ragsdale & Ann Saylor
Here is what 28 rising 2nd – 6th graders accomplished:
- painted 21 pictures with senior citizens for their benefit auction;
- worked in the Nashville Urban Harvest gardens;
- cut out 300 masks for Cheekwood children’s programs;
- divided 300 bags of rice for Charis Food Ministries;
- prepared for Preston Taylor Ministries Summer Camp;
- collected 14 bags of trash at Warner Park, and made 14 bracelets out of recyclable materials;
- stocked 242 boxes of tissues, sorted 9 huge bins of pull tabs for fundraising, and assembled 22 miniature houses for collecting pull tabs for the Ronald McDonald House;
- made 8 bags of play dough and 36 heart cards for patients at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital;
- made 200 animal toys out of recycled towels, played with dogs and cats, assembled 100 disposable litter boxes, and filled 6 dog toys with peanut butter – all for the Williamson County Animal Shelter; and
- washed windows and doors at the Freedom Recovery Center, and then made 32 encouraging cards for the women and children in this transitional living center.
That’s a lot of work for rising 2nd-6th grade girls. It was truly girl power in action! And they all left camp with lots of new ideas for helping their community become a stronger and healthier place to live!
back to initiative