You've seen stories on TV about animals in need or people who need assistance after a natural disaster. Some teens who live in cities have seen firsthand the growing population of homeless people. Others have had experience with a friend's or relative's illness.

So what can you do about any of those things, you ask? I'm just one person, you may think, and a teen at that - someone who adults don't listen to or take seriously. That's where volunteering comes in.

Volunteering to help out with something you believe in can be one of the most gratifying and enjoyable things you can do. Volunteering gives you an opportunity to change people's lives, including your own. And it can be fun. Read on to learn about some of the benefits of volunteering, then check out our resources for how to go about doing it.

Plenty of Choices

A great thing about volunteering is that it isn't like school: instead of having the choices made for you about where to go and what subjects to learn, you get to pick. You can give some thought to what really interests you and who (or what) is most deserving of your time.

If you like animals, consider helping out at a local shelter, which depends on volunteers to keep the cats and dogs healthy and happy.

If politics is your thing, campaigning politicians from the president all the way down to the local county sheriff or town mayor can always use a helping hand.

If you have a friend or relative who has or had a medical problem (like cancer, HIV, or diabetes, for example), you might be inspired to donate some time to an organization that raises money for research or spends time with people with the illness.

If you like children, there are tons of opportunities - from being a Big Brother or Big Sister to helping out in an after-school sports program.

You can serve food at a homeless shelter, volunteer to spend time at a retirement community, help out at your church or synagogue, take part in a park cleanup day - the possibilities are endless.

And if you have more than one thing you love, you can combine the two: if you love kids and are great at arts and crafts, you can visit children's hospitals and lead art activities with pediatric patients. Or if you are passionate about pooches and helping people who are visually impaired, you might be able to volunteer at a seeing-eye dog school.

Start Out Slow

Another reason why volunteering is a bit different from school is that you can try it out at your own pace. Once you've decided what organization you'd like to volunteer for, you have the chance to just spend some time learning the ropes, following other volunteers, and seeing how you like it. You will receive training for your assignments, which may be done formally by a supervisor or by working side-by-side with an experienced volunteer.

Another good way to get your feet wet with an organization is to take part in one of their walks, runs, bike rides, or cleanup days. Many large organizations (especially those related to the environment or finding cures for diseases) have day-long activities like these, and it's a great way to get involved, get some exercise, learn more about the organization, and meet the volunteer coordinators and other volunteers.

A Good Way to Meet People

Because your tastes and ideas change as you grow, you might feel like you have less in common with certain people than you did before. That's where another benefit of volunteering comes in. It allows you to meet people who have similar interests - they care about this issue enough to volunteer, and it allows you to share some common ground. You may make new friends of the same age or of different ages - or you might just get a new bunch of acquaintances. Either way, you come out ahead.

Expand Your Mind

Volunteering is a great way to learn new skills - from learning to work as part of a team with all different types of people to setting and reaching goals. It allows you the chance to see what kinds of things you're best at and which things you enjoy the most. A volunteer job that you love can even help shape your ideas about your goals for the future.

Volunteering can also broaden your mind. It provides you with a sense of responsibility: people are depending on you in a way that no one may have ever done before. It may help you develop a new understanding of people who are different from you - people with disabilities, people in financial distress, children, or the elderly. You might come in contact with people who you might never otherwise talk to or spend time with - and in doing so, learn a lot.

It'll Make You Feel Good

This is one of the main reasons why volunteers say they devote their time to helping others, and it's not surprising. Volunteering makes you feel that you can make a difference in someone's life - that even though you're just one person, you do have the power to change things for the better. It can make you feel good to be wanted, too - when people depend on you, it can change the way you look at yourself. Volunteering can make you feel proud of the goals that you've achieved for the organization - like helping to coordinate a walk that raised money for breast cancer.

Volunteering is also a great way to get a perspective on your own life. Sometimes it's easy to get consumed by worries about your grades or the fight you had with your friend or mom or dad. And although these things are very important in their own way, sometimes it can be helpful to get some distance and think about everything around you. Volunteering allows you to do this: it lets you focus on others and see that your involvement in the world can be very meaningful.

Finally, volunteering can help save you from being bored; it gives you a place to be where you can have a good time and keep busy.

It'll Make You Look Good

Naturally, you shouldn't do things just for the sake of pleasing other people - to really enjoy something, you have to be interested in doing it. In addition to all the other reasons, volunteering can also be an impressive thing to adults. It shows that you are reliable enough to make a commitment and show up at a place every week on schedule. It also shows that you believe it's important to make the world a better place - and that you're willing to sacrifice your time and energy to help do it. Employers and people who review college applications are almost always pleased to learn that a teen has volunteered because he'll not only bring skills to college or a job, but also ideas about how to build a stronger community.

The Next Step

When you've decided what you're interested in, it's time to find out where you can volunteer. You have several choices: you can look in your local phone book under "volunteer," call some charities directly and ask if they have needs in your area, ask friends or relatives for some names of places, look on bulletin boards in your library or in bookstores, or search the Web. You can also click on the Resources tab on the right side of this article to see a partial list.

Depending on the size of the organization, some have entire departments devoted to recruiting, training, and scheduling volunteers (many large hospitals or national organizations, for instance). Others may only have one person in charge of volunteers. Either way, it's best to ask for a volunteer coordinator when calling. Be ready to answer some questions they may ask when you call, like:

*Why do you want to volunteer for our organization?

*What do you know about our organization?

*How many hours a week would you be able to volunteer?

*What are your interests?

*Do you have any special skills?

*Do you have a way to get here?

Most places will then ask you to come for an interview, which is usually pretty casual - they want to talk to you face to face and if they haven't yet asked the questions above, they will do it at the interview. Whether your interview is on the phone or in person, don't forget to ask questions of your own. Because volunteering is a two-way street, it's a good idea to think about certain issues ahead of time. You might want to ask:

*What will be expected of me if I volunteer here?

*What kind of training will I receive?

*How many other volunteers are there?

*How many hours do you expect me to volunteer each week/month?

If it's a good fit - meaning you like them, they like you, and you like the work - volunteering can be an incredible experience.

Reviewed by: Andrea Littleton
Date reviewed: August 2002