Kids Show They Care Through Volunteering
And Community Service

by Tim Wood

            Anne Van Vleck wanted to make sure her three sons learned about volunteerism and community service at a young age, so that they would carry those values with them into adulthood.

            “It’s really important to me,” said the Chatham mom.  “It’s in my bones, and I wanted to incorporate it into my family.”

            But opportunities proved elusive.  She was told her kids, ages 7, 9 and 10, were too young.  She was told to join a church, but that wasn’t the direction she wanted to head.  Then, while searching on line, she came across Kids Care Clubs.

            The group was founded in New Canaan, Conn., in 1990, when a group of children got together to rake an elderly neighbor’s lawn.  A short time later, the same kids made 150 bag lunches for a local soup kitchen.  In a few weeks, the group had grown to more than 50 enthusiastic kids.

            Today there are some 1,800 registered Kids Care Clubs. The network of locally based groups provides a structure for groups of young people, from pre-schoolers to middle school students, to help out in their community.  Through the organization’s website, local organizers can find step-by-step instructions for service projects that touch on a wide range of community issues, from hunger to literacy.

            “It was exactly what I was looking for,” said Van Vleck.

            She recruited a few like-minded moms and held the local Kids Care Club’s first meeting last January.  The group did its first project in February, creating 200 homemade valentine cards which the kids then delivered to residents at Liberty Commons.

            “It was so moving, so rewarding,” said Van Vleck.  The kids also made 100 “giggle bags,” paper bags filled with small toys, bubbles and other small trinkets, which they handed out at the Family Pantry.  For their third project, the group held a beach clean up.

            During the current school year, Van Vleck plans six projects, beginning with a bake sale and yard sale this Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Chatham Village Hall, which is helping to sponsor the event.  Most of the proceeds from the sale will go to the Family Pantry; 15 percent will go to Opportunity International, which provides micro loans to people living in Third World countries. At the group’s last meeting at the Chatham Community Center, Chatham entrepreneur Bob Bowden gave a talk about the organization.  “He was perfect for the kids,” Van Vleck said. “He is really so passionate about the organization.”

            About 20 kids from both Harwich and Chatham attended that meeting, and many of them, along with a half dozen parents, will be working at Saturday’s sale.  Van Vleck was able to get a $300 grant from the Quaker Company, a Kids Care national sponsor, to help publicize the event; in addition, some of that money will go to Opportunity International.

            Kids Care stresses keeping things simple.  Van Vleck said she tries to ask questions at a level that will engage youngsters. At the last meeting, for instance, she talked about the Family Pantry and poverty, and kids discussed what it meant not to have money.  The kids read a story about going to a food pantry written from their point of view.

            According to the Kids Care website, the organization’s mission is to develop compassion and inspire a spirit of service in elementary and middle school aged youth.  Kids who volunteer from an early age adopt more healthy lifestyle choices, according to the organization, learn life skills and continue to volunteer into adulthood. 

            “I hope the kids get it,” said Van Vleck.  “We try to talk about how fortunate we are, being grateful for what we have, and that we can make a difference, even just a little bit. Just to get them thinking about volunteering, thinking about making small changes, I think is important.”

            Van Vleck hopes upcoming service projects will be generated by the kids themselves.  “We really want the kids to come up with ideas, to feel like it’s their club, and we’re just the adults who help get things moving,” she said.

12/3/09