Being part of a team has always been a major issue for every human being. Especially young people who tend to be excluded from the society as part of the growing up procedure consider belonging somewhere to be very important. This is the reason why volunteerism is always a good idea.
Of course not all young people have the same motives or the same plans since everyone reacts differently when it comes to time or money. Generally speaking individuals get involved in volunteering activities not only to help society but also to acquire qualifications useful to their personal and business life.
Governments should establish projects to encourage young people’s participation to volunteer in activities. Such a case is the government of Malaysia whose policy aims to this direction.
Being an active part of a community could be beneficial both for the community and for every individual. Community is used here not only as a geographical term but it also means people having something in common. Once the spirit of serving the general good is spread, young people will be more than willing to offer their help.
Researchers conducted by Smith, 1994, Zomern et al, 2004, Emma, 2005 and Zappa and Zavarrone, 2010 have all tried to define whether the relationship between social interaction and volunteerism is positive among young people. All concluded that there is indeed a positive relationship between them.
Based on this fact it is obvious that youth should be encouraged to take more active to role in the community by making a commitment to a good cause. What is really necessary here is a policy that will motivate young people to get involved in volunteering.
Here is a list of Volunteer matching sites, such as Idealist.org, Networkforgood.org. Volunteer Solutions to which Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn could be added. Facebook could be really effective for announcements related to volunteering since polls can be hosted and feedback is earned. Awareness could be maintained through blogs while You Tube videos can turn out to be very successful for a message to be spread.
It should also be stressed, that the benefits affect the teens’ lives not only on a social but also on a professional basis, because they never know where all these can lead to. In addition, fundraising and community development belong to arguments, brought up support volunteerism.
-By Giota Gkika
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References
Communications, DHA. “Social media.” Go to KnowHow NonProfit. N.p., 28 Feb. 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <https://knowhownonprofit.org/campaigns/communications/social-media>.
Mohd Ramlan, M. A. (n.d.). Social Interaction as Constituent for Youth Volunteerism. Ιnternational Proceedings of Economics Development & Research, 74, 13.
THE DIGITALISTS 
Giota, I really liked your post. Full of positive thinking. I totally agree that volunteering is very important and must begin in an early age. The sooner a kid learns that giving is more important than taking, the more essential this lesson is. In fact, in volunteering we do get something back, it might not be something tangible, but we feel happiness that we helped someone have a little bit of what we have in our lives and we take it as granted, food, water, clothes, etc. Surprisingly, 93% of teens said that they want to volunteer and create a social change (Gregolre, 2012). In addition, the survey showed that young people who have more active social lives are more likely to engage in volunteering activities” (Gregolre, 2012). Probably, that answers why more and more millennials are actively engaged in issues that matter to them. Personally, I have done a lot of volunteering but I will always remember my contribution to an event that was organized in Deree for the institution for people with special needs, “Hara”. That day, I really felt that for me, in my life, some things are granted, but for some people are not, and that’s ok. We are all humans and we applause each other’s’ efforts. I was there, to help them and cheer for them, for their effort. If we all do a little bit of volunteering, we’ll understand that, we are part of the world but we are not the world. So, yes to volunteering, and yes to volunteering in teens.
-By Vicky Krommyda
References
Gregolre C., (2012). Teens volunteering: new data shows that young people want service to be social. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/27/teens-volunteering-new-da_n_2025240.html
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