Providing our Young People an Opportunity to Serve

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Author: Reggie Huff, LMSW, Operations Manager

Volunteers are part of the lifeblood of the Services Building.  Those that come in to volunteer help provide needed hands that help us to serve those who are in need.  Without this valuable resource it would be tough for the Services Building to maintain the level of excellence that we strive to achieve each day. Thus, we are so thankful for our volunteers and our young people who choose to work at the Services Building as part of the youth summer jobs program.

This year, Big Brothers and Big Sisters who are a part of the Grow Detroit Young Talent or GDYT, an initiative that provides summer jobs to the city’s youth, approached us to bring on board some of their youth for job placement.  The youth are paid by GDYT, but work at selected sites around the city.  We were approached by several organizations to be a site for youth to work at.  Three organizations that approached us were Big Brothers and Big Sisters, City Connect and the Detroit Police Cadets program.  The three organizations sent us a total of thirteen youth.

The youth participated in both our pantry and clothing programs. They also participated in our Emergency Service Program and Distribution Program as well.  Some of the job duties were stocking shelves, assisting guests with their food orders, sorting clothes, working in distribution, and assisting in assessing guest needs, assisting in intake and welcoming guests to the facility.  The students took their jobs serious and we were pleased with their eagerness to assist others.

The youth were with us from four to six weeks and during that time became part of the Services Building family.  I was impressed with the manner in which the youth went about doing their jobs demonstrating both professionalism and enthusiasm.  In a day when our youth are perceived as being disinterested in serving others or participating in positive behavior experiences, these youth destroyed that perception.

As we wind down the program and the youth are preparing to go back to school, Services Center staff is sorry to see them go.  The youth renewed our faith that given an opportunity they will step up to the challenge.  Several of them have said that they want to come back to volunteer during the school year.

I challenge each of us to work with our youth to help them find their place and purpose in life.  We can do this by engaging with them, getting to know them, and mentoring them.  As the youth who worked at the Services Center go back to school, I believe they will go back better off for their experience in working with us and better as human beings in helping to give back to the least of us.  If you did not participate in the GDYT program this year, I encourage you to think about doing so next year. I guarantee you will be blessed and encouraged by and in our young people, as well as helping them to prepare for careers later in life.