Making a Difference: The Youth Factor and Their Impact on Nonprofits

Making a Difference: The Youth Factor and Their Impact on Nonprofits

By Ailin Darling, Communications Intern, Giving Children Hope

In June of 2008, Giving Children Hope, a faith-based nonprofit that distributes humanitarian aid, sent a small team to Myanmar to deliver aid to areas affected by Cyclone Nargis. Equipped with medical supplies and bundles of necessities, the team negotiated their way from the country’s capital to a small, isolated village in the Irrawaddy delta. The six seasoned travelers formed a diverse group: a globe-trotting missionary, a doctor and co-founder of Global Medical Brigades, a veteran YMCA affiliate, the director of Giving Children Hope’s Indonesia office, the president and founder of Giving Children Hope, and his son, Jonathan Ditty, a college student. Despite his young age, 18-year-old Ditty has been participating in disaster relief efforts for years, and has grown and matured through his experiences.

More and more young people are becoming involved in community service and volunteer work, largely to fulfill school requirements and impress colleges. But service by students can be more than just an exchange of a few hours work for what they need to put on paper. Many students are finding volunteer work to be an enjoyable, rewarding and important learning experience, and organizations are discovering that they too can learn from their youthful contributors.

At age 15, Ditty went to Sumatra, Indonesia just a few months after the tsunami hit the region. This was to be his first of many disaster relief trips, and the first of four to Indonesia. However, as he recalls the things he saw in Myanmar, he notes the recent trip as truly unique. “People were living off of nothing, most of everything got wiped away by the cyclone… but I’ve never been received like that or had so much thankfulness from any group of people,” says Ditty. He contributed his talents to the trip (he assisted the doctor in a makeshift medical clinic), but he believes he gained even more from the experience. The soon-to-be sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles describes himself as “blessed” by these opportunities, and asserts that his experiences with international aid inspired him to study medicine and become a doctor. He currently works part time at Giving Children Hope’s distribution center.

Though Ditty has the advantage of his family’s involvement with international aid, his growth through service is hardly unique. During the summer months, Giving Children Hope has approximately 25 young volunteers per week helping with inventory, cleaning and repairing facilities and sorting through donated medical supplies. These tasks may be simple, but the contribution to the organization is wholeheartedly felt by its staff. “Containers are full of medical supplies because volunteers sort them,” says Volunteer Coordinator Melissa Strauss, “Missionaries are able to carry hundreds of pounds of medicine to malnourished and sick people in foreign countries because volunteers sort and stock the medicine in our Mission Store.”

Although many young volunteers are fulfilling a school requirement, most acknowledge that they get something more out of the experience than completed volunteer hours. Student Michael Kim was surprised to find that volunteer service is a more enjoyable and rewarding way to spend the summer than playing computer games. “Once in a while you should have new experiences. It makes you a better person,” he says.
Strauss is grateful for the presence of students at Giving Children Hope. “Youth come in and have so much energy and optimism,” she says. “Young volunteers usually have a lot of questions about the products they sort, or where they are going,” says Strauss, “they are not satisfied with just the work, but are inquisitive with the process of what we do as an organization.” Such curiosity enables these kids and young adults to develop an understanding of domestic and international aid, a process that is largely taken for granted or unknown by adults. They also learn that helping the less fortunate can mean more than giving financially. Jenise Steverding, Giving Children Hope’s Director of Advancement, acknowledges that volunteers often have more to offer than a few hours of labor. She points out the growing use of social networks such as Facebook by nonprofit organizations as an example of what the younger generation has to offer. “They bring new and innovative ideas, new networks; they are as much a part of the success of our projects as staff and donors,” says Steverding. Giving Children Hope has seen these benefits of acquiring volunteers in the youth population and recently built a partnership with Global Medical Brigades, the world’s largest student-led international relief organization, to bring in more young volunteers and interns.

Volunteers like Jonathan Ditty and Michael Kim have learned not to underestimate the value and power of helping those in need. After reflecting on the impact that service has made on their lives, their opinion on volunteering is clear: Do it. “It doesn’t have to be international; there are all sorts of local places where you can volunteer to the homeless, to neighborhoods that have basically nothing,” says Ditty. “Once you go to places like that you get a better understanding for people, and that is something that you’re going to carry with you for the rest of your life.”

The staff at Giving Children Hope has learned the importance of fostering growth in a new generation and has experienced the benefits of a youth perspective. “[Volunteering] empowers them to make a difference regardless of their age,” concludes Strauss. “We all know that while in your teens, confidence boosters go a long way.” Steverding adds, “They get to participate with their time and talent in making a difference in the world… We like to say at Giving Children Hope, ‘This is YOUR world, this is YOUR organization’ and through the use of volunteers it literally is their organization.”

For more information, please visit www.gchope.org. Giving Children Hope is a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty (domestically and abroad) through disaster relief, health and community development, vocational training and advocacy.