Youth Volunteer Corps offers summer opportunities

Washington County volunteer youth group cleans up Pioneer Park, St. George, Utah, May 5, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Youth Volunteer Corps of Washington County, St. George News
Youth Volunteer Corps logo | Image courtesy of Jennifer Byington
Youth Volunteer Corps logo | Image courtesy of Jennifer Byington

ST. GEORGE – A substantial number of today’s youth say that they want to volunteer, yet only a fraction of them actually take steps to create change. With a mission to encourage youth to become more actively involved in the community through service, the Youth Volunteer Corps of Washington County are gearing up for a great summer of volunteering with awesome summer adventures planned for youth ages 11-18.

The Youth Volunteer Corps consists of several team leaders – who are Americorps members – serving with different agencies in different locations throughout Washington County to help youth discover that they can make a difference.

“The volunteer opportunities are always free,” Youth Volunteer Corps Americorps Member Jennifer Byington said, “and we do all kinds of things, like helping out at the retirement community, partnering with the Red Rock Center for Independence and having fun with their youth, cleaning up after events, helping out at the races like Color Me Rad, working at the Community Resource Center, going to Best Friends animal sanctuary, going to the Children’s Museum and helping out there, and anything the youth want to do to help in the community.”

Besides the recognition and the satisfaction of helping out in their community, after a youth volunteers for 50 hours, they get a shirt, and after 100 hours, they are able to get a medal and the Presidential Volunteer Service Award.

“The YVC is a great resource to put on college, scholarship and job applications,” Byington said. “We actually had a girl get a $21,000 scholarship based on her YVC participation.”

The group held their first meeting on May 5 when the youth were invited to share their volunteer service project ideas in order to start setting up future volunteer projects.

Upcoming Youth Volunteer Corps events

  • Meadows Retirement Community
    • June 14 | 10:30 a.m. | Help out for a Father’s Day Party
    • June 17 | 2:15 p.m. | Help out with a craft
  • St. George Children’s Museum
    • June 21 and 27 | Noon | To help out and interact with the children during their activities, prepare for future activities, and do some spot cleaning
  • Red Rock Center for Independence
    • Every Tuesday during summer | 9:30-11:30 a.m.

“We love to have their ideas on what they want to do,” Byington said. “It’s all based on the youth, they can sign up and come to what they want to do. We try to have a broad selection so they can pick and choose and they are able to do things around their schedule.”

Resources

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

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1 Comment

  • Religious Preference? June 9, 2014 at 7:45 am

    Are these volunteer opportunities religion based, meaning do members of a particular religion get preferential treatment, especially with a chance for scholarship reward? Will the crappy work be reserved for those non-members? Don’t tell me preferential treatment based on religion doesn’t exist with volunteer groups in this region. You’d either be lying or in complete denial of fact.

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