Young Help

As teens prepare for college, many are trying to find ways to be noticed by schools. Volunteering has given teens and adults the chance to be a part of the community and prepare for college. Along with volunteering comes more opportunities to meet people and create relationships.

“There are lot of service clubs at the high school, and Key Club is one of the bigger ones, and there is Interact Club, NHS, NAHS and Chain Link,” Key Club sponsor Mrs. Walter said.

Key Club is an entirely student run volunteering club in BHS. Kiwanis is the international club for volunteering. Builders club in middle school is a branch of Key Club. If you are not apart of these clubs, there are also different ways to get involved with volunteer opportunities.

“The Bow Wow Bash will reach out [as well as] any kind of elementary school, plus Fear Farm always needs people. If you are looking just on your own, then I would start with looking through any church for food pantries. Fear Farm is one that you can also do on your own; you just need a waiver Other places include the library and the senior center in ­Danville,” Walter said.

Key Club is accepting new members into October and continues to accept food for food pant

ries. Help is needed through all events. As Halloween is soon approaching, so are haunted houses including those of Fear Farm which is an entirely volunteer-run haunted house. You can find the volunteer waiver here: https://www.waiverfile.com/b/IndianaFearFarm.

Key Club President and senior, Joanna Senff said, “Fear Farm usually needs the most help considering that we usually need 15 volunteers for three to four nights. The elementary schools usually need help as well.”

“Big events like Relay for Life need help and then a lot of those elementary carnivals,” Walter said.

Senff explains that it’s not only the volunteer opportunities that people get out of Key Club.

“Teens can benefit from doing these opportunities for college and resume, but then also just the experience and the fun of volunteering. I have made friends and I got leadership opportunities as well. There are many volunteer opportunities within the club. It helped me know that I want to help people and volunteer in the future to have that in my life. I want to do something in college with that,” Senff said.

With may teens involved with Key Club, there are many stories from burnt shoes to sweethearts.

“This was an event from years ago, but we volunteered at Brownsburg Meadows, and they were hosting a sweetheart dance that they needed volunteers at. We had a pretty good group of kids go over and they danced with the residents and one of our officers–he was dancing with a resident who had dementia–and she thought that he was her son, and she would always go, ‘oh you’re so handsome,’ and kept saying that he was her son. He came back and thought it was so fun and he shared that story so many times.”

If you are interested in joining Key Club, stop by a meeting on Tuesday mornings from 7:15-7:45am in the LGI room or contact Mrs. Walter.