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Service with a Smile For
teen who is on a tight budget, volunteering at local homeless shelters, libraries, boys and girls club, nursing homes, YMCA, handicap service providers, food banks, or a soup kitchen can be a lot of fun and very rewarding.
For example, at a nursing home, there are several services that you can provide and you don’t usually have to call ahead. Here are some things you could do: -Sing old fashioned songs and/or play an instrument in one of main rooms -Bring crafts to make with patients and use them for decorations in their rooms. -If its fall, bring a pumpkin and carve it for (and with!) one of residence. -Often nurses need help when games are being played and also with combing patients hair, doing make-up, painting nails, etc. -Some residents just like having someone to talk to. Bring a list of questions to ask about their teenage years of see if they have photos they would like to tell you about.
If you go to a soup kitchen, it is important to make an appointment before hand. You will need to sign up for a time and must commit to bring a certain number of people. Usually, your group will be serving food to those in need. Free dinner is usually provided after you are finished.
The following internet sites may help you find some opportunities to serve in your area:
www.goofyfootpress.com www.bgca.org www.nationalcasa.org/ www.literacyvolunteers.org www.rollingreaders.org. www.iyhf.org/. www.goodwill.org www.fourhcouncil.edu/ www.secondharvest.org www.ymca.net www.volunteermatch.org http://helping.org www.pointsoflight.org
World’s Funniest Home Video In preparation for this date, be sure to have a video camera, several slips of paper with different things seen on TV, and a funny word or phrase. For example: Commercial: “Hot Lips” News: “TV Dinner” Infomercial: “corpse” NOVA: Great Stunts of our Time: “hammock”
You could also have a bag of random objects (a telephone, an apron, a plunger, lipstick, a flag, a wig, etc). After closing their eyes, each couple draws a slip of paper from a hat and then takes an object from bag. For activity, they must create type of TV. program listed on paper, use phrase or word in their program at least three times, and use object in their program. Set a time limit for how long each program must be and let each couple prepare themselves. Record and watch your home video with popcorn and drinks.
Writer and author for Adventure Racing Central.
