Research shows that it is not only the community's involvement in the child that affects his or her growth, but also the child's involvement in the community. Community service improves kids' leadership and problem-solving skills, as well as, their confidence and overall sense of well-being. It also fosters an atmosphere of cooperation and kinship between young people and other members of a community. Unfortunately, many kids miss these benefits, because of low youth participation in community activities. This is caused by a lack of initiative on the kids' part, and little effort made by adults to involve kids in such activities. In a recent survey taken by Upper Valley teens, 48% of the kids reported: that they served in their community for one or more hours/week, but only 39% of area high school students felt they were "given useful community roles;" and a mere 22% reported that their "community values youth." The United Way of the Upper Valley cites declining volunteer rates as a possible factor for youths' lack of life skills, and their engagement in risk-taking behaviors such as drug and alcohol use.

Today, over 15 million U.S. kids or 30% of the population aged 5-17 are engaged in some sort of community service. In the Lebanon and Hanover high schools there are active youth volunteers involved with a group called, Youth-In-Action. Different groups of youth work together to perform regular community service like doing yard work for seniors, providing child care during PTO meetings, or serving meals during monthly church dinners. Other area youth are working with groups from their church or synagogue to make a difference in their community, and in other parts of the U.S.. A youth group from the Norwich Congregational Church, for example, has helped to rebuild churches in such places as South Carolina, Maryland and Maine. Also, in some area schools&emdash; elementary through high school&emdash; teachers try to integrate service learning into their curriculum, while many include a unit on community service learning. And there are many organizations that welcome youth volunteers. It is a matter of matching the youth with the opportunity that will get her started in a life of community service.

BOAST, Building our Assets for a Safer Tomorrow, is a nonprofit organization that aims to create a community-wide commitment to the healthy development of youth. BOAST believes that one reason for low youth involvement in community service is that kids are unaware of the ways in which they can make a difference. In order to inform them of the available options, BOAST has compiled a directory of local community service, volunteer, and fund raising opportunities for children ages five and up. This directory includes a list of places that offer youth volunteer positions, as well as information about what each volunteer job entails, what age groups of children are eligible, whom the kids should contact, etc.. BOAST hopes that this directory will aid children in finding projects that interest them, and therefore generate enthusiasm for community service. Giving youth a chance to get involved will help them form meaningful relationships with adults, and feel more appreciated in the process. Kids are looking for ways to improve their hometowns by doing something they love. Adults will find that not only can children make dedicated and enthusiastic workers, but they offer fresh ideas and a new perspective.

Performing community service is wonderful, but without reflection, you haven't gotten the most out of the experience. Allowing your child to take time to reflect on his community service will strengthen the experience, and allow him to see its application to his life and the world in general. There are several models on reflection, but one of the easiest is the three step The What?, So What?, Now What? way of reflecting on an experience.

After your child has participated in a volunteer activity (if it is a one time activity then do it immediately after, or if it is long term project, then do it periodically) ask her first to describe "What happened today?" and "What did you do?" during the activity. This naturally leads to interpretation of what happened.

The next step requires the child to reflect on the difference the experience made to both her and the others who were involved. This step looks at the consequences of the days actions, and gives meaning to them. At this point the questions asked are usually, "What did your experience mean to you?," "How do you feel about what happened today?," and "What did you learn from today?"

The third step involves the process of taking lessons learned from the experience and reapplying them to other situations, and then to the larger picture. Questions that you might ask your child would be: "How did what you learn today apply to other parts of your life?"

So, ask yourself, what are your child's interests&emdash; animals, arts, environment, recreation, technology? Help your child pick a field that is interesting to him, and then look for places to volunteer that match the interest. Be creative and don't forget to look close to home, especially for children under age 10. Young people and adults alike who engage in community service will stay committed, have more fun and get more out of the experience. This is especially true, if they are interested in what they are doing, and feel that they're are making a meaningful contribution.

Volunteers for charities and other nonprofit entities have an additional line of defense against the threat of personal liability now that Congress has finally passed a federal Volunteer Protection Act.

Acting in the euphoria for citizen service following the Presidents' Volunteer Summit in Philadelphia in April, Congress passed with fanfare a bill that had been languishing in both House and Senate, in various forms, for a decade.

The new law (42 USCA Sec. 14501 et seq.) generally provides that volunteers will not be personally liable for their acts or omissions if they are acting within the scope of their responsibility for the organization and the harm is "not caused by willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed."

A volunteer is a person who performs services for the organization without compensation, other than reasonable reimbursement or allowance for expenses actually incurred, or "any other thing of value in lieu of compensation, in excess of $500 per year." If this standard is met, a volunteer would include a person serving on the board of directors or a building committee, or a person teaching classes. If might even include individuals not normally thought of as volunteers, such as officers of the entity or apprentices providing services to the organization. The key in each case is whether the statutory definition of a volunteer is met. Volunteers for governmental entities are also protected.

A "nonprofit organization" is one classified as exempt from tax as a charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or "any not-for-profit organization which is organized and conducted for public benefit and operated primarily for charitable, civic, educational, religious, welfare, or health purposes." An organization does not qualify if it perpetrates hate crimes.

Although the law provides a benefit to volunteers, it will not in most cases reduce the recovery of a victim. Since the Act does not eliminate liability of the organization itself for the acts or omissions of its volunteer agents, and since most nonprofits maintain insurance to protect themselves and their volunteers, most cases will continue to be settled by insurance payments from the organization's insurer.

A volunteer is not personally liable for harm that he or she caused if the volunteer was (1) acting within the scope of his or her responsibilities, (2) was "properly licensed, certified, or authorized by the appropriate authorities" to act in such manner "if appropriate or required," (3) did not fall below the minimum standard of conduct described above, and (4) was not operating "a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other vehicle" for which the state requires an operators license or insurance.

The protection does not apply to misconduct that constitutes a crime of violence or terrorism (for which the volunteer is criminally convicted) or a hate crime (whether or not convicted). In addition, there is no protection for sexual offenses (for which the volunteer is criminally convicted), for civil rights violations, or for acts that occurred when the volunteer was under the influence of "intoxicating alcohol" or drugs.

Finally, the Act does not preclude a nonprofit organization from bringing a suit against one of its own volunteers for damages to the nonprofit.

The Volunteer Protection Act certainly does not mean that volunteers will be immune from suit. Plaintiffs' lawyers representing injured persons will, whenever possible, continue to sue volunteers, by alleging gross negligence, flagrant indifference, or acts outside the scope of the volunteers' responsibility.

Nonprofit entities will continue to be sued as well, however, since they are likely to have "deeper pockets" and will still be liable for acts of their volunteer agents, even if the volunteers are not personally liable. Where the nonprofit has insurance for the claim, which hopefully covers the volunteer as well as the organization, the outcome will probably not be much different under the Act.

If the nonprofit is without insurance, however, the volunteer may have a defense to personal liability not available to the organization.

Permission is granted for organizations to download and reprint this article. Reprints must provide full acknowledgment of source, as provided: Reprinted from the December 1997 issue of Don Kramer's Nonprofit Issues®. For more information about the publication call 1- 888-NP-Issue or visit the Website at http://www.nonprofitissues.com Found on the Energize Volunteer Management website: http://www.energizeinc.com.