Young Brevard County Volunteers Build Character

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It’s not even 8 a.m. on a school day, but Imagine Charter School students Kewon Simmons, Jordyn Holder, Keshaun Pressley and Amy Flaherty are munchkins on a mission of cleanliness in their West Melbourne school’s courtyard.

The four are busy bagging any bit of litter that catches their sight. In the school cafeteria, fellow students Isaiah Lasseter, Joshua Schackelford and Rasean Smith energetically maneuver brooms to keep the floor spotless.

The students at Imagine are eager to volunteer for such duties.

“Character development is really important at Imagine,” assistant principal Mary Karnetski said. “We put it up there together with academics, and volunteering is very important for character development. It helps children build self-esteem.”

Volunteering is a win-win situation for child and community, as both gain strength from the other.

Javan Goulbourne has volunteered at Palm Bay Public Library since he was 11, often coming in to help three or four times a week for several hours. Now 21 and a student at Brevard Community College, Goulbourne still volunteers at the library on Wednesdays.

“I enjoy working to help other people,” he said. “It has also helped me be comfortable with other people.”

In our consumer society, encouraging children to serve their community teaches them it is better — or at least as good — to give as it is to get. Volunteering also teaches compassion for the less fortunate, and that it is cool to care.

“Youth who volunteer learn early on the importance of service to others and how that builds a sense of community,” said Dr. Mary Beth Kenkel, dean of the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts at Florida Tech. “They also discover that being of help to others results in much personal satisfaction, happiness and significance.”

On a weekly basis, Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy student Taylor Kara visits the DOCK in the Booker T. Washington neighborhood of Melbourne. For the past four years, Taylor has volunteered at the DOCK to help the kids who rely on the drop-in center as their haven from the tough streets around them. The DOCK kids love Taylor and vice versa.

“I like to see how much all the children appreciate me coming to talk with them about how their day went,” Taylor said. “I have been working with the same group for four years. I feel I have had a great impact on them when I see how excited they get when I come to help them with their homework.”

Many schools stress the importance of volunteering. For teens, an added benefit is the community service hours earned through volunteering, hours that help pave the way for a Bright Futures scholarship.

At Holy Trinity, for example, elementary school pupils are introduced to service to others through the school’s Character Education Program.

“This continues with our junior high and high school students where they perform their service learning hours,” said Debra Simmons, Holy Trinity’s communications coordinator. “Students are required to complete a minimum of 120 service hours for graduation. Our students provide service in response to community-identified concerns.

“They then learn their personal connection between their service and their academic coursework and their role within the community. Like with Taylor Kara, we find that students develop a sense of compassion and care for others and the community in their volunteer work.”

For home-schooled children, volunteering can be a vital connection with the outside world.

“I get to meet a lot of people,” said Rebekah Waldorf.

The Malabar teen volunteers at Palm Bay Public Library with her younger sister, Rachel. Giving of her time has given Rebekah a way to better manage her time.

“Volunteering at the library helps me get organized,” she said. “I’m artistic, so the rest of my life is not very organized.”

Children who volunteer not only find a sense of accomplishment in their labors, but they also discover they enjoy the experience.

“I like helping others because it’s fun,” said 7-year-old Ella Kroflich.

Ella and her mom, Kim, are part of Mothers of Hope, a new volunteer group founded at Hope Episcopal Church in Suntree. The group unites parents and children in a service activity.

“We started as a ministry to the church, but the premise is to do stuff with the kids to help the community,” said Heather Barlow, whose children, 2-year-old Brooke, and 10-month-old Brenna, are getting an early start in community service.

At a recent Suntree festival, Mothers of Hope hosted a lemonade/bake stand that netted more than $400 for the New Hope Children’s Home in Jamaica.

Ella was so interested in making a lemonade sale for charity that she preferred not to take a play break.

For Ella’s mom, volunteering is a way to count family blessings.

“I think it really helps keep me from forgetting or taking for granted how fortunate I am in comparison to so many others,” Kim Kroflich said.

The children involved with Mothers of Hope range from toddlers to teens such as Rachel McLeod.

“I started out doing this just as a way to get community service hours for school, but it turns out it’s a lot of fun,” said Rachel, 16. “I enjoy knowing I’m doing something good with my time.”

Maria Sonnenberg is a Melbourne writer whose work appears in several publications in the area. This story originally was published in Brevard County Moms magazine and also published on October 4, 2010 on FloridaToday.com