What is Volunteer PowerCrew?

• Volunteer PowerCrew is a youth initiative developed through collaboration between The Meadows Foundation and the Volunteer Center of North Texas.  The goal of this youth volunteer initiative is to provide Dallas County middle and high schools with a curriculum-based service learning program that will inspire future leadership roles and encourage students to become stakeholders in their community. Simply put, Volunteer PowerCrew is designed to give students the ultimate resource for getting involved in the community.

Why was Volunteer PowerCrew established?  

• The Meadows Foundation saw a need in the community for a youth volunteer initiative that would enable students to learn about the importance of volunteering. Volunteer PowerCrew is also an extension of a pre-existing Meadows Foundation program, The Charitable Schools Program, which provides grants for educators to conduct volunteer projects in their schools. The Meadows Foundation believes that the two programs provide both teachers and students with the ultimate resource to volunteer in the Dallas community. 

What is the purpose behind Volunteer PowerCrew? 

• The program truly has many purposes.  The first purpose is to provide a free resource to teachers who wanted to enhance their current classroom activities by implementing our service learning curriculum.  Our teacher resource kit allows teachers to cover the core academic subjects with lesson plans consisting of hands-on volunteer opportunities that encourage students to sharpen new skills and further expand their knowledge.

  The second purpose of the program is to expose Dallas County middle and high school students to the importance of volunteering and how through volunteerism they can make a positive difference in their community.  This is accomplished in a variety of ways including a Youth Summit, which is a celebration of student volunteerism as well as being an excellent forum for students to learn about local volunteer opportunities.  We also achieve this through the Volunteer PowerCrew Web site —www.powercrew.org— that allows students to search for volunteer opportunities, track their volunteer hours online and share their own personal experiences with other students.

  The third purpose of Volunteer PowerCrew is to infuse the local Dallas nonprofit community with a whole new generation of vibrant creative young volunteers.

What do students who participate in the program get out of it?  

• Volunteer PowerCrew is more of a resource than a program with exact parameters.  We really do aim at being the ultimate resource for students and teachers to become involved with volunteerism in the Metroplex.  With that being said, we hope that students who utilize our resources will develop leadership skills, gain exposure to multiple career opportunities and make a lifetime commitment to volunteering.  As for tangible benefits, students who use the tracking component on www.powercrew.org to log their volunteer hours can have sent to them an official transcript for college applications, scholarships and job applications.

  One of the other great benefits is the direct support students receive through the Student Programs department at the Volunteer Center.  Volunteer Center staff is always on hand to answer questions, discuss volunteer interests and help guide students through their volunteer experiences.

Why is it important to register with Volunteer PowerCrew?

• When you register with Volunteer PowerCrew, you are entitled to track your volunteer hours free of charge. Many schools, organizations and colleges are now requiring that students have a certain number of volunteer hours either to obtain entrance or stay in an organization.

  Volunteer PowerCrew offers a tool to aid you in tracking those important hours, Every Hour Counts!  Volunteer PowerCrew can also send you an official transcript on Volunteer PowerCrew letterhead stating the hours you have tracked at any point during your volunteer career.