Look at the Herndon United Methodist Church. They have a clothing collection on the weekends and I think you only need to be 13 to volunteer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost no one wants a 7th grade volunteer. Some can't for insurance reasons, others know that young volunteers make more work, not less. If the school wants volunteer hours from kids too young to volunteer, then they should provide the opportunities themselves (but they don't want to, because they know 7th grade volunteers are just more work). I call BS on the poster claiming it's easy and their 7th grader has 50 hours. Just a troll.

The only places I know of that can provide volunteer hours for kids are some churches, PTA's and schools themselves, and Boy Scouts.

Incorrect. My seventh grader got 28 hours by being a counselor in training last summer. It is not hard at all to find places who will take “free labor.” You can enroll your child in a babysitting course and they will sign off on hours, that’s eight right there. Any sports team they are halfway decent at they can volunteer to teach little kids, easy hours —don’t know any coach who wouldn’t take 13-year-old helper to wrangle a bunch of kindergartners during a sports practice. My husband volunteered rec league coached for 10 years and he would’ve absolutely welcome to that and signed the hours. Unless you have a seventh grader, shut up with your troll comments.

We have to complete hours during the school year, so summer camp is not helpful. Sports doesn't count. And I know taking a babysitting course wouldn't count (is that really accepted at some schools???)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost no one wants a 7th grade volunteer. Some can't for insurance reasons, others know that young volunteers make more work, not less. If the school wants volunteer hours from kids too young to volunteer, then they should provide the opportunities themselves (but they don't want to, because they know 7th grade volunteers are just more work). I call BS on the poster claiming it's easy and their 7th grader has 50 hours. Just a troll.

The only places I know of that can provide volunteer hours for kids are some churches, PTA's and schools themselves, and Boy Scouts.

My 6th grader has 180 in the past year, mostly from camps and programs. If you're in the right place with adults who have known you for years and pour into kids, it's possible, but also the kids they allow to be volunteers so young actually do the work.

What do you mean camps and programs? Why is everyone so vague? Can no no specify the actual programs or camps, as I have googled and its almost impossible to search for tween targeted programs.

Anonymous wrote:Omg, I cannot believe you are asking this question, this is so freakin easy! My 7th grader already has over 50 hours. But here you go, since you’re not capable of googling it yourself:

Public libraries
Church
Community centers
Sports rec teams
Retirement homes
Soup kitchen
Neighborhood cleanup

Not hard. I think it’s pathetic only 20 hours are required. I’m making my kids double that minimum every year. This generation needs to get off their goddamn devices and give back more of their community. Maybe they wouldn’t all be such selfish a-holes then.

I'm assuming you work in the nonprofit space or something? We reached out to our local libraries and community center and they don't have any availability, and our Church only has sporadic opportunities over the year for kids DD's age.

Sports rec teams won't qualify I'm pretty sure.

Retirement homes -- I will look into that, I volunteered at one when I was a teenager, but in my home state you had to be 16 because of the oxygen tanks and fall risks and related liability for children.

Soup kitchen is definitely not letting a 12 year old handle food.

"Neighborhood cleanup" -- I mean to get credit I don't thinks he can just wander around picking up trash and logging it, maybe at your school?

I am a big proponent of volunteering, and actually ran a major service project for a home for developmentally disabled when I was a teenager, tutored homeless children as an adult, but its actually harder to volunteer now since there is a huge supply of Jr/Srs in high school all desperately vying for the same volunteer slots for college and high school requirements.

And we all know a young volunteer is almost more work than the labor they provide, with training, liability, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax Volunteers is a great site for finding opportunities. What I found though at that age, an adult has to accompany the child. We’ve done hours at Burke Lake Park, Colvin Run, and Frying Pan Park.

This site?

https://www.volunteerfairfax.org/

or this

https://www.townoffairfax.org/departments/fairfax-volunteers/

or this

https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/opp_search

Anonymous wrote:Omg, I cannot believe you are asking this question, this is so freakin easy! My 7th grader already has over 50 hours. But here you go, since you’re not capable of googling it yourself:

Public libraries
Church
Community centers
Sports rec teams
Retirement homes
Soup kitchen
Neighborhood cleanup

Not hard. I think it’s pathetic only 20 hours are required. I’m making my kids double that minimum every year. This generation needs to get off their goddamn devices and give back more of their community. Maybe they wouldn’t all be such selfish a-holes then.

Is there any sort of volunteer opportunity to teach you to be a nicer person? For someone who claims to value giving back to the community, maybe you could add "Be genuinely kind" to your list of charitable activities. You need to work on living your "values" when you're anonymous and no one is around to marvel in how charitable you are.

Anonymous wrote:Omg, I cannot believe you are asking this question, this is so freakin easy! My 7th grader already has over 50 hours. But here you go, since you’re not capable of googling it yourself:

Public libraries
Church
Community centers
Sports rec teams
Retirement homes
Soup kitchen
Neighborhood cleanup

Not hard. I think it’s pathetic only 20 hours are required. I’m making my kids double that minimum every year. This generation needs to get off their goddamn devices and give back more of their community. Maybe they wouldn’t all be such selfish a-holes then.

How many of these also required parents to attend? No way a soup kitchen lets you drop your kid off.

Anonymous wrote:Almost no one wants a 7th grade volunteer. Some can't for insurance reasons, others know that young volunteers make more work, not less. If the school wants volunteer hours from kids too young to volunteer, then they should provide the opportunities themselves (but they don't want to, because they know 7th grade volunteers are just more work). I call BS on the poster claiming it's easy and their 7th grader has 50 hours. Just a troll.

The only places I know of that can provide volunteer hours for kids are some churches, PTA's and schools themselves, and Boy Scouts.

My 6th grader has 180 in the past year, mostly from camps and programs. If you're in the right place with adults who have known you for years and pour into kids, it's possible, but also the kids they allow to be volunteers so young actually do the work.

As someone who works with and coordinates volunteers, schools need to stop requiring this. If they want kids to have the hours to check off a box, they need to come up with, develop, manage and audit the opportunities.

Anonymous wrote:Almost no one wants a 7th grade volunteer. Some can't for insurance reasons, others know that young volunteers make more work, not less. If the school wants volunteer hours from kids too young to volunteer, then they should provide the opportunities themselves (but they don't want to, because they know 7th grade volunteers are just more work). I call BS on the poster claiming it's easy and their 7th grader has 50 hours. Just a troll.

The only places I know of that can provide volunteer hours for kids are some churches, PTA's and schools themselves, and Boy Scouts.

Incorrect. My seventh grader got 28 hours by being a counselor in training last summer. It is not hard at all to find places who will take “free labor.” You can enroll your child in a babysitting course and they will sign off on hours, that’s eight right there. Any sports team they are halfway decent at they can volunteer to teach little kids, easy hours —don’t know any coach who wouldn’t take 13-year-old helper to wrangle a bunch of kindergartners during a sports practice. My husband volunteered rec league coached for 10 years and he would’ve absolutely welcome to that and signed the hours. Unless you have a seventh grader, shut up with your troll comments.

Check back with their elementary school. They often need volunteers for school events.

Almost no one wants a 7th grade volunteer. Some can't for insurance reasons, others know that young volunteers make more work, not less. If the school wants volunteer hours from kids too young to volunteer, then they should provide the opportunities themselves (but they don't want to, because they know 7th grade volunteers are just more work). I call BS on the poster claiming it's easy and their 7th grader has 50 hours. Just a troll.

The only places I know of that can provide volunteer hours for kids are some churches, PTA's and schools themselves, and Boy Scouts.

Omg, I cannot believe you are asking this question, this is so freakin easy! My 7th grader already has over 50 hours. But here you go, since you’re not capable of googling it yourself:

Public libraries
Church
Community centers
Sports rec teams
Retirement homes
Soup kitchen
Neighborhood cleanup

Not hard. I think it’s pathetic only 20 hours are required. I’m making my kids double that minimum every year. This generation needs to get off their goddamn devices and give back more of their community. Maybe they wouldn’t all be such selfish a-holes then.

Fairfax Volunteers is a great site for finding opportunities. What I found though at that age, an adult has to accompany the child. We’ve done hours at Burke Lake Park, Colvin Run, and Frying Pan Park.

Our school requires 20 hours of volunteering in 7th grade but gives no guidance. I’ve looked at some Arlington and Fairfax county clearing house websites but looking for other ideas? Wish school kept a list and shared with us…