It’s no doubt that having the opportunity to volunteer in one’s community is a valuable thing for people of all ages. For students in particular, volunteering, especially as part of their educational curriculum, provides a unique opportunity for students during their time in school to make a difference to their local community as well as developing their social and professional skills. As summer break is upon us, we want to take a moment to thank the student volunteer groups that support Meals on Wheels of Lancaster during the school year.
IU13:
A few Fridays each month, several students and their chaperones take an hour or two to volunteer in our office as part of a program called the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 (IU13), an education service agency dedicated to delivering services to school districts and communities across the state.
Serving the 22 public school districts in Lancaster and Lebanon counties, as well as students in nonpublic schools, preschoolers, and adult learners throughout Pennsylvania, IU13 is a leader in recognizing the needs of schools and implementing programs to meet those needs, with a core compelling purpose of improving student learning. More than 7,800 children—from birth to age 21—are served by IU13 each year.
The students exposure to real- world workplace environments. They have helped us immensely with our administrative tasks: folding brochures, assembling volunteer and outreach packets, mailing letters, and compiling survey data. They were a huge help as they entered over 100 client survey responses into a spreadsheet this past month. Their last day volunteering with us this school year was May 24.
School District of Lancaster: McCaskey HS Students:
Each Wednesday, Student volunteers and their teachers deliver meals to home-bound individuals in their neighborhoods. They have also helped us with some demolition in our new building on Columbia Avenue. Their days spent ripping up carpets and pulling out dead foliage have helped us save time and money as we prepare to start construction.
Conestoga Valley HS IU students:
As part of their educational curriculum, Conestoga Valley IU Students deliver meals every Friday with their teachers in the Conestoga valley area. Below are some of their notes reflecting on their experiences
Stone Independent School Seniors
Finally, some seniors from Stone Independent School, a private project based learning High School in Lancaster City, reached out to us asking if we could work with them to do some volunteering as their senior project. They delivered some routes in small groups and filmed their experience to put together a video that portrays the fun and fulfilling experience of volunteering with us. Stay tuned for the final product!
We are so grateful for the students that help volunteer with us during the school year. And on behalf of nonprofit organizations everywhere that benefit from students that volunteer during the school year, thank you volunteering students everywhere for all the time and effort you put in! Now that summertime is here, these students are off on break. But that doesn’t mean their volunteering has to stop! We have open volunteer slots where the students used to come in each week. We invite all on break: college students, teachers, and students with their parents and grandparents, to consider spending your free time this summer volunteering with Meals on Wheels of Lancaster! Visit https://mealsonwheelsoflancaster.org/volunteer/ for more information!