Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is coming up April 20th to 22nd.  That’s just over two weeks from now! It’s an international day when kids of all ages volunteer to make a difference in our world.  Youth Service America has many ideas for how to get involved.  It’s not too late to join another project and you can find them on the international map YSA provides.

One of the GYSD projects is the Great American Bake Sale to raise money to fight hunger in America. Kids are having bake sales the weekend of April 20 and giving the proceeds to No Kid Hungry. 

It may be too late to start your own project for this year, but you can use the above resources or join one of the many organizations for kids that unite in service on this day.  I have been wanting to do a list of organizations for kids to get involved in volunteering, so here it is.

1. 1.  Alpha Leo Clubs are for kids aged 12-18 and are guided by a Lions Club group and representative
2. 2.  Do Something Clubs for teens provide resources and grants for clubs that do at least two service projects a year
3. 3.  Excel Youth Zone’s Clubs XYZ  are K-12 after school clubs and Clubs eXcel just for high school students  
4. 4.  GenerationOn Kids Care Clubs are clubs for elementary and middle school aged children sponsored by the youth service division of the Points of Light Institute
5. 5.  Kids Korps is a youth volunteer organization for young people, ages 5 through 25 that partners with more than 250 national and local non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics,  and children’s hospitals
6. 6.  Volunteers of America Action Teams pair high school students with Major League baseball players to get entire schools involved in community service projects
7. 7.  Youth Volunteer Corps do service projects that tie school curriculum to community service during the school year and then work on extended projects during the summer

You can usually find whether the above clubs have a chapter near you by visiting the website linked above.  They will have a link or a map to search by city, state or zip code.

You’ll notice some of the groups meet after school or try to do their work through schools.  It makes sense.  Kids are already at school and can meet afterwards.  You have a large concentration of kids from which to recruit members at schools. You also have concerned adults available in teachers to help guide kids.

In fact, many school sponsored clubs also do service projects. Sometimes it’s through the honor societies or student government; sometimes it’s a separate service club. My honor society did service projects but we also had a Key Club which is a junior Kiwanis Club for kids that wanted to get involved in service but weren’t honor roll students.

I specifically did not include groups like the boy scouts that do service projects but also teach kids other skills. The above groups focus exclusively on volunteering and service projects. Joining one of these groups is a great way to get your child involved in helping others while also being a part of a group of peers with the same goal.