The Relevance of Community Service Organizations Part 4

…A boy struggles to get a wiggly worm on the end of the hook and asks for help from an adult.   The same boy later returns to proudly show that person the four inch blue gill flapping on the end of the hook while displaying an ear to ear smile that is nothing short of priceless.

…A shy, young lady musters up the courage to participate in a public speaking contest, with the prodding of her parents.  She places in the top three gaining confidence and courage from something that used to terrify her.

…A group of students studying  English as a Second Language  participate in a horse drawn wagon ride, roast hot dogs and s’mores over an open fire, play kickball instead of soccer and decorate pumpkins all on a crisp October Sunday afternoon.  None of those activities are native to the student’s culture

    The saying goes something like,” Children are our most valuable resource for the future.”  In each of these examples and many more than could be listed, the life of the child or young adult has been enriched and enhanced through the work of community servants.  They are members of the Optimists, (www.optimist.org )the Lions, The Kiwanis and the Rotary, or several other organizations.  The projects have been able to provide education, cultural growth and just plain old fun.

     So this begs the question:  If children are most valuable resource for the future and community service groups provide the framework for helping with the positive development of young people on their journey toward becoming a responsible adult, how can those groups be considered irrelevant in the 21^st century?

      It’s rough out there.  Most agree some of the societal changes that have taken place during the past two decades have not created a positive environment for young people.(those changes can be another blog for another time) Yet membership in the aforementioned service groups has been on the decline during these times to the point in which the word” hemorrhaging” has been used to describe it.  But, there is a simple way of changing the course of service organizations so relevancy is no longer a question.

       It can be as simple as telling a story……….in the next post.