Addicted to Volunteering

Who: KeUndreia Moore, 10th grade

What: What I like about volunteering is not only do I make other people feel good, but it makes me feel good too. I learned that volunteering is not something you are forced or demanded to do, it's something you want to do. I also learned that many great experiences can come out of volunteering. It was important to me because I felt like what I was doing was going to make a difference somewhere along the way in this world. To see the many different opportunities and privileges that came out of volunteering, it would definitely be something that I would want to do again. Through my sixth to eighth grade year, I have run in volunteer marathon races for the fight against breast cancer. I even volunteered at the food giveaway booth at my church. In the sixth grade, my teacher asked a couple of my friends and me if we would do her a favor and since she was our favorite teacher, we said yes. We didn’t know that our favor to her would be to volunteer to help clean up areas in the community as a part of Clean South Dallas. I feel that if I had not been part of Clean South Dallas, I probably wouldn’t look at volunteering in the same way I do today. 

Where: Dallas, TX

When: 2003-2004 school year

School: Lincoln High School

SPUR Success

Who: 6th grade kids

What: As SPUR leaders, we share God's Word with kids who may not know about Him. Many who attend do and bring their friends. We play games and then have a group lesson. Afterwards, the leaders have a meeting of their own to discuss the kids and have a Bible study.

Where: Georgetown, TX

When: 3/2004

School: Georgetown High School

Coloring for a Cause

Who: Occupational Preparation Class

What: I downloaded coloring and activity pages for the students to use. I copied the pages and the students then designed front and back covers for the packets. They included positive messages for the children at the hospital.

Where: Utley Freshman Center

When: 2/10/2004

School: Utley Freshman Center

Adopt-a-Family

Who: Mrs. Ahmed's class

What: The students sponsored two families over Christmas. Money was raised to try to get all the things on the family's wish list. It was a lot of fun as we took a shopping trip to a store to buy the items and then the students had to wrap all of the gifts before they were sent over to the families.

Where: The Lattner School

When: 12/5/2003

School: The Lattner School

Reading for a Reason

Who: Laura Mancilla

What: I volunteered after school to read to younger kids at a church center. I worked up to three hours a week, and was committed to this until the children showed signs of improvement.

Where: West Dallas

When: 5/10/2003

School: Thomas Edison Middle Learning

Sam Jones Fun Run

Who: Mallory Jones and volunteers

What: After the sudden death of my father, Sam Jones, due to a heart attack in 2001, I decided that I wanted to honor my father in a way that would show people what a fun guy he was. I decided to create a charitable fun run. Once I had decided to venture on with this "Fun Run", I found a worthy beneficiary at the University of Indiana. The response I had from friends, family and others affected by heart disease was and has been tremendous! I am proud to say that this event has been totally organized by 15, 16 and 17 year old students. We raised $3,900 our first year and now have a $19,200 expected budget for the Sam Jones Run in 2004.

Where: Garland High School

When: 4/22/2003

School: Garland High School

Cleaning Up the Community

Who: Students and community

What: We were able to rejuvenate the neighborhood by getting several trucks and volunteers to do a sweep of trash that had accumulated on the sidewalk. The neighborhood is an older one with elderly people. At the end of the day, the neighbors came out and showed their appreciation for our efforts by presenting us with a gift.

Where: Dallas, TX

When: 3/3/2003

School: Roosevelt High School