Volunteer Guide for Students and Parents

Thank you to Mary Lynn Perry, from the Volunteer Center of Sacramento, for this comprehensive guide 

to GOOD WORKS for students and their parents!

www.volunteersac.org

Donate Via ChipIn.com to Help Publish More Good Works!

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to provide the following community service resources to students!

ANIMALS/ENVIRONMENT, CHILDREN/EDUCATION, FOOD/SHELTER, HEALTH/SAFETY, HUMANITARIANISM, SENIORS/DISABLED, SPORTS, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

• Database of Opportunities by Interest Category

• Reflections on Service by Category

• Calendar of Opportunities

• Videos of Students Doing Good Works in their Areas of Interest

Palo Alto Online : VIDEO: VolunTEENS, Part 2

Thank you, Carolina, for sharing your talent as a short film producer to highlight more Palo Alto High School teens' good works. There are so many stories out there! I enjoy sharing what I see our students do to make a difference in the world, while pursuing their interests. This is one more way to prove our students aren't doing service-learning and volunteering for "credit." They are doing it because they have passion and they care. 

Palo Alto Online : VIDEO: VolunTEENS, Part 2

For more good works ideas, stories, and database of opportunities check out "Get Involved," volume 3!

A Dream Come True: Palo Alto Parent Makes Video of Our Teens Giving Back

Thank you, Carolina Moraes, for your tireless work to document the good works of so many amazing Palo Alto teenagers! May this project continue to blossom, inspiring more young people to "Get Involved."

Palo Alto Online : VIDEO: VolunTEENS, Part 1

Students Get Funds to Give Back to the Community

Thanks to Gunn @ Your Service, more students in our district have a chance to make a difference with their creative energy and ideas! Read the inspiring article here: 

http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pubid=embarpub

Good Works Medicine for My Injured Hand

Have you ever regretted not stopping the car when you saw an accident? I have, but a sweet woman named Christine made made all the difference when she turned her car around on the way home from work December 27th in Salt Lake City. I am fairly athletic and coordinated, but I do trip sometimes while running. I'm writing this blog with one hand to say a big "Thanks!" to all the Christine's out there who slow down enough to perceive human need. She could see that I was not alone, but that fact did not deter her questioning, "Are you okay?" The self-sufficient side of me insisted, "Yeah, I'm okay thanks," until I pulled my hand from a deep crevice next to the sidewalk. "Wait, no, I think we need a ride."

Back at home in the Bay Area, Doctor Schneider, the hand specialist at Palo Alto Medical Foundation, described this as a "severe injury" that will take four months to heal. When I told our department at Paly that I would need some time off, an extremely generous co-worker offered to make a Costco run.  I asked for three items (embarrassed to need help), she showed up with a station-wagon full--we've been feasting for days. She would not accept reimbursement and even offered to go again. I wouldn't dream of sending her back into the traffic jam she dealt with to get here, but the gesture means everything.

In my broken, lopsided state I don't know who feels better from these acts of service and going out of one's way, these and others who have helped or myself having been a reluctant receiver of their goodness!

For the first hour, as we drove in circles looking for an urgent care clinic that didn't seem to exist on Google Maps, I had no feeling in my finger. I was sure it was severed under the thick cotton running gloves, but was elated when my husband asked if it was bleeding. "No," I said, "just dangling and I can't feel it."

Palo Alto Online : Paly students honored for community service

A Small Representation of Palo Alto High School's 162 Fall 2011 President's Award Recipients

Are there any other schools out there that run a similar program to ours at Palo Alto High School? What a cool job I have to document, verify, and share our students' service hours--with the essential help of our dynamic parent volunteers. About a third of our student body is actively involved in community service. I am so proud of our students' contributions, they make the world a better place while pursuing their interests and passions! Go Vikings, keep me smiling every day with your good works.

Palo Alto Online : Paly students honored for community service

Palo Alto High School's Service-Learning Program

• Living Skills Course (mandatory) Requirement: 15 service hours during class enrollment. Written reflection required by teacher.
• Transcript Recognition (voluntary): Minimum of 100 service hours documented by mid-September of student's Senior year. Reflection required by Career Center.
• President's Award: (PAHS is a certifying organization, sponsored by the Corporation for National & Community Service): Minimum 0f 100 service hours documented in 12 calendar months. 2 Award ceremonies, with over 200 student recipients each school year. Paly application deadlines, first Friday (school day) in October; first Friday (school day) in April. Written 1-2 page reflection required by Career Center.

Read some of our student's past reflections on service in Get Involved, Paly. Thanks to a generous grant from the Palo Alto Community Fund, the next edition is in the works.