volunteering in your community -...
TRANSCRIPT
Volunteering in
Your Community
Chapter 5.2
P125-130
The Need for Citizens’
Involvement
Americans do volunteer work to help make
their communities better places to live.
A community is a group of people who share
the same interests and concerns.
Many volunteers are students in grades 6-12.
The Need for Citizens’
Involvement
Governments provide for many needs,
but their resources are limited.
Also, they are bureaucracies—complex
systems with many departments, rules,
and people in the chain of command.
Thus, governments cannot respond
quickly to social problems.
The Need for Citizens’
Involvement
Good citizens are concerned about the
welfare—the health, prosperity, and
happiness—of all members of the
community.
The Need for Citizens’
Involvement
Some ways people participate in the
community include leading a scout troop,
mentoring schoolchildren, visiting a
nursing home, and collecting canned
goods.
The Need for Citizens’
Involvement
Volunteerism is the practice of offering
your time and services to others without
payment.
Many Americans also contribute money
to charity.
The Need for Citizens’
Involvement
Many companies also believe in giving
something back to the community.
They may sponsor a recreational sports
team, donate prizes for charity fund-
raisers, contribute money to build a
public swimming pool, or offer college
scholarships to students.
The Need for Citizens’
Involvement
What are some ways you could
contribute to your community?
People contribute to their communities in
countless ways. You and your fellow
students might visit nursing home
patients, volunteer at an animal shelter,
or collect canned goods for a local food
pantry.
Volunteers in Action
People are more
likely to
participate when
they feel a
personal
connection to a
cause or know
others involved.
Volunteers in Action
Many charities are local and focus on
one or two projects.
Others are large, national organizations
with varied activities.
All depend on ordinary people to give
their time.
Volunteers in Action
More than half the country’s schools
arrange community service for students
in grades 6 through 12.
Many require it.
Volunteers in Action
The federal government has created
national volunteer programs.
Americans in the Peace Corps help
people in the poorest corners of the
world.
Volunteers in AmeriCorps and the Senior
Corps serve within the United States.
Volunteers in Action
AmeriCorps members might help disaster
victims, clean up polluted rivers, or assist
people with disabilities.
In exchange, they receive a living
allowance and money to help pay for
college.
Volunteers in Action
Americans aged 55 and older can
volunteer through the Senior Corps.
They take part in the three main
programs: Foster Grandparents for
children with special needs, Senior
Companions for other Seniors, and the
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program in
which they might serve Meals on Wheels
or do other neighborhood activities.
Volunteers in Action
The new USA Freedom Corps brings
together the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps,
and Senior Corps, plus a new component
called Citizen Corps.
Volunteers in Action
What kinds of things do Peace
Corps volunteers do?
Peace Corps volunteers have served in
135 countries, where they advise
farmers, teach children, dig wells, help
start small businesses, and fight the
spread of AIDS and other serious
diseases.
The Benefits of
Volunteering
By banding together to serve the
community, we really serve ourselves.
Benefits of volunteering: we make our
communities better places to live for all of
us.
The Benefits of
Volunteering
We gain opportunities to learn, make
friends, and improve skills.
We gain the satisfaction of knowing that
we made a difference in someone else’s
life.
The Benefits of
Volunteering
What did Alexis de Tocqueville
mean when he said volunteering
is “self-interest rightly
understood”?
He meant that, by banding together to
serve the community, we really serve
ourselves.