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Western Montana RSVP, Hamilton, MT | |
| To kick off this joint project of Hamilton Middle School and Western Montana RSVP, a group of seventh-graders did preliminary research on the dangers of the Internet and how to avoid predators. Based on what they learned, they prepared a list of guidelines suitable for all ages. Next, senior volunteers were invited to join the students for an E-mail Set-up and Safety Day, consisting of several activities: 1) Students and seniors jointly reviewed the student-generated safety guidelines and modified them for distribution to the community. 2) The students taught the seniors how to set up, access and use free e-mail accounts. 3) Together, participants of all ages laminated e-mail and Internet safety cards and distributed them at a community booth at the Hamilton Spring Fair, as well as community computer labs at libraries and senior centers. Altogether, 18 middle-schoolers and five older adults worked on the project. While 80 percent of the young people admitted they were nervous before the seniors arrived because they had never worked with older adults before, 98 reported afterward that they enjoyed working on the project with the seniors. One hundred percent of the seniors said it was a good way for them to connect with youth and make a difference. Perhaps most importantly, this project opened the door for future collaboration between Hamilton Middle School and Western Montana RSVP, spurring the latter to add service-learning projects as an impact area for FY09. Plans are already underway to implement three to five new intergenerational projects! |
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Mature Services, Inc., Akron, Ohio (adapted from an article by Bill Lilley that ran in the Beacon Journal on February 18, 2008) | |
| A dozen senior citizens, 20 students from Our Lady of the Elms High School and a poem about the environment written more than 100 years ago might not seem like a natural mix. But that's the equation Inese Alvarez, program director for the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), and Marcie Bircher, moderator for the Elms Social Services Club, used to drive an effort to put eco-friendly lighting in low-income housing. The five-session program with the students and the senior volunteers kicked off with a presentation by University of Akron physics professor Larry Varner and a reading of God's Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins at the Akron high school. The culmination of the project was the installation of eco-friendly lights in Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority (AMHA) units on April 15, 2008 and an evaluation of the program on April 23, the day after Earth Day. "Our primary goals for our students are to educate and raise the level of awareness about the environment," Bircher said. "It's great that we can take this program into the lives of the AMHA folks. We will work to educate them, as well, on the environmental issues we're dealing with and present them with energy-efficient light bulbs." Five Elms students and six senior volunteers first got together in fall 2007 when Alvarez was holding sessions called Civic Reflections. "It was initially set up to get a better understanding between mature adults and young adults," she said, "and it was really great how the teen-aged students and the volunteers, all of whom are over 55, bonded to each other." Alvarez was so impressed with the group interaction that she wanted to expand the program. The Elms students who had been involved in the fall jumped at the opportunity. "What's great is that you initially get two different perceptions because of the difference in age," said Elms senior Bekah Frient of North Canton. "But then you come to realize that both groups are working together toward the same goal. 'Sure, we have different opinions because of the different ages. And different questions are raised. But that's great and I thought it was really great to work together with an older person." Bircher said one of the hidden benefits of the program is that it promotes a lifetime of community service. "The RSVP volunteers are such wonderful role models," she said, "and they go a long way to show our kids that serving your community goes on throughout your life. It doesn't end when high school ends." |
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RSVP of Jefferson County, Steubenville, Ohio | |
| RSVP of Jefferson County, Ohio partnered with Harding Middle School and Jefferson Community College to build a community rain garden at the Jefferson Community College parking lot on May 15, 2008. Fifteen RSVP volunteers age 55 and older signed on to participate (though threat of rain caused only 5 to attend) in partnership with 10 youth from the local middle school. Overall, 29 volunteers were on location to help with this multigenerational, service-learning community project thanks to additional partnerships with the Families and Children First Committee, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District. The project provided a springboard to continue similar efforts to help protect local rivers, streams and lakes from storm water pollution. As a result, key stakeholders expect to have the community rain garden project in place for years to come at different locations. In addition to the environmental benefits, this expansion will help RSVP extend throughout new parts of the county, increasing its service area and promoting volunteerism and intergenerational partnerships to even more local seniors and youth. The project served both the older adult volunteers and the students by teaching them something new about rain gardens and teaching them to appreciate and respect a generation other than their own. As one participant shared in a follow-up survey: "No matter how old or young you are, you can still have fun together. We always need to be attentive to others' needs and feelings. We all can work together to accomplish a common goal. What is nice is that we can drive by this project and feel proud that we helped to put this together." |
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Waterloo Community Schools and Prime Time Volunteers RSVP, Waterloo, Iowa | |
| This project expanded on an existing partnership to add a service-learning component to ongoing mentoring relationships. RSVP mentors and their mentees engaged in service together, choosing one of two opportunities: 1) One group volunteered at the Northwest Iowa Food Bank to learn about the scope and depth of hunger in their community. Six mentors and their mentees packed over 300 bags of food that children take home in backpacks to supplement their families' food supplies. Volunteers were also educated on the existing community need for food assistance. 2) A second served at the Cedar Valley Arboretum and Botanic Gardens, where eight mentors and mentees participated in spring cleanup activities and gained an appreciation of the arboretum and its benefits to the community. Both efforts were tied to current school curriculum and opportunities for future service projects will be available when a district greenhouse is opened in the fall of 2008. | ||
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SaYES Success: Jefferson County RSVP | |
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| Cal Poly Corporation, San Luis Obispo, California | |
| Cal Poly took a capacity-building approach and used its SaYES mini-award to market and promote VolunteerSLO, a comprehensive online database of local volunteer opportunities. The resulting marketing campaign targeted local baby boomers near retirement and encouraged them to become involved in K-12 service-learning projects and activities. Among other accomplishments, Cal Poly produced a complete set of targeted marketing materials, including pens, postcards, letterhead, and key chains and convened seven outreach events targeted at baby boomers and high school students, as well as other community volunteers. As a result of these efforts, VolunteerSLO was used for the first time ever for online registration for Make a Difference Day and yielded a record number of volunteers — more than 800! | ||
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| Byron-Bergen Central School District, Bergen, New York | |
As part of National Emergency Preparedness Month, over 40 people participated in a four hour workshop titled, "Are YOU Ready? Emergency Preparedness for Senior Citizens" on September 19, 2007. The class was organized by the Byron-Bergen Emergency Response Team (BBERT), a student group that supports health, safety and disaster planning initiatives throughout the Byron-Bergen School District. Presenters included a local RSVP volunteer, district staff, and local representatives of the Red Cross, Health Department, and Emergency Management Services, as well as five Byron-Bergen High School students, Diana Bonilla, Sarah Hartman, Trevor Laurie, Molly Long and Kayleigh Puma. BBERT students, who are trained to help staff a Red Cross emergency shelter at the Middle/High School, worked over the summer to look at utilization of the current space versus improved facilities currently being planned. "We currently can't shelter as many people as the Red Cross thought we could," said Sarah Hartman in her presentation. The planned improvements include increased gym space that would allow more cots in a better ventilated area, and improvements to the kitchen, cafeterias, and lavatories. One of the reasons people are hesitant to leave their homes during a disaster is the inability to bring pets to a Red Cross shelter. Molly Long explained the pilot project she is working on to create a pet shelter in the district's bus garage.Evaluations from the day were universally positive. "I enjoyed the program," wrote one participant. "It's nice to know our children are available to help." Another said, "Thank you all for taking the time for all of us." As further proof of their success, a number of Byron-Bergen students were invited to Albany to give a presentation about the BBERT program to New York’s First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer, New York State Education Department officials and State Farm Insurance executives to compete for additional grant money. |
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| Byron-Bergen Central School District, Bergen, New York | |
| Byron-Bergen students in grades 8-12 teamed up with AmeriCorps members and volunteers from RSVP of Genesee County to assemble and distribute emergency preparedness backpacks to senior citizens in the district. Each "grab 'n go" bag included essential items such as a flashlight, first aid kit, collapsible water jug, seven-day pill container, thermal blanket, and whistle. Students and their older-adult helpers worked after school to assemble the red backpacks, and reconvened on Saturday, October 27th (Make a Difference Day) to deliver the kits via school bus. Most of the recipients had participated in a four-hour emergency preparedness training at the Gillam-Grant Community Center in September, but some were "nominated" to receive a backpack by others. As a result, a number of people were pleasantly surprised. Lauren Mullen, a Byron-Bergen junior, applied for and won a student grant to enable BBERT to repeat this activity in April as a part of Global Youth Service Day. | ||
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| Interages, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland | |
| Interages, Inc. used SaYES funds to expand its existing Intergenerational Bridges service-learning and mentoring program, which pairs newly arrived immigrant youth in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs with supportive older adult mentors to assist with the transition to U.S. culture, language acquisition, and personal development. In this project, high school students were matched with older adult residents of a subsidized apartment building adjacent to the campus. The high school students visit and converse with the older adults, building their own skills at the same time. An on-site coordinator organizes intergenerational activities for the pairs, and the SaYES mini-grant was used to purchase materials and fund two field trips to enhance these offerings. Through mutual exchange, the older adults and the young people are respectively both providers and recipients of service. As a result of their participation, students improved their language and communication skills and reported increased self-esteem and confidence; two students who had never before thought of applying to college are now doing so with encouragement from their adult mentors. The adults, in turn, are stretching their own comfort zones; one wheel-chair bound resident who came on one of the field trips admitted that she had never been on the hydraulic lift before, but she wanted to overcome her fear so she could be there with the kids. When the school system’s student service-learning coordinator visited the program, she was so impressed that she invited program staff, as well as a student and an older adult volunteer to present to the Superintendent’s service-learning advisory group! | ||
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Marshfield R-1 School District, Marshfield, Missouri | |
| The SaYES award allowed Marshfield R-1 School District to enhance and support existing service-learning projects across four schools and all grade levels. These included: 1) High school Students Opposed to Destructive Action (SODA) worked with older adult volunteers to develop a stage performance addressing safety issues for Kindergarten and first-graders. The older adults provided direction, input and content guidance. 2) Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU), based at the district’s junior high school, designed and delivered a presentation on the dangers of nicotine and tobacco for second- through fifth-graders. Older adults helped with research, presentation design and delivery. 3) Students at one elementary school, together with older adults, volunteered at the local humane society, where they worked to improve living conditions for resident pets. 4) At another elementary school, students in the after-school program worked with older adult volunteers to make blankets and scarves for local nursing home residents. Thanks to the SaYES mini-grant, more students were able to engage in service-learning district wide, and according to Assistant Superintendent Jim Rich, students gained a better understanding of service-learning as a result. | ||
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Academy for Academics and Arts, Huntsville, Alabama | |
| Academy for Academics and Arts (AAA) middle-school students teamed with local baby boomer volunteers to restore the school’s greenhouse to working order and organize it to be user-friendly for classes of all ages, including storage areas for each grade level. One baby boomer volunteer served as expert gardener and coordinated efforts and resources across the project. Led by their baby-boomer partners, student volunteers installed a new irrigation system and repaired an existing cooling system. They also donated time and energy for clean-up. The greenhouse is a valuable setting for hands-on learning opportunities across the curriculum; for example, the school hosted a Day of Service focusing on the Business of Poverty, which was linked to a concept-based unit dealing with poverty across subject areas, including the arts. The greenhouse’s use has already expanded through a new partnership with high school special needs students who are using the greenhouse for their own plant sale to raise money for vocational training. |
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