Being able to contribute is a huge part of being a good community member. Most schools require students to contribute some hours in the community before graduation.
 With the state that the world is in right now, nearly everyone is struggling.
 Add natural disasters such as the earthquake that happened in Haiti last year, plus the tsunami that happened in Japan last month and difficult situations are created.
FEED THE NEEDY
 It’s hard to believe, but  in our community alone there are hundreds of people who go to bed each night without food to eat.
 An easy way to get involved and help out in the community is dropping off food at food pantries.
 Another way to make an impact in the community is volunteering at homeless shelters.
 There are lots of opportunities to donate food at those shelters. Government funding is limited and people who run homeless shelters rely on peoples’ contributions in order to fulfill the demand for assistance.
 The shelters are also understaffed. There are usually just a few people who work there and they also rely on volunteers from the community who are willing to come in and help prepare the meals and serve them.
MENTORSHIP
 Having someone positive to look up to is obviously important in order to produce quality members of society.
 The problem is, not everyone is lucky enough to have quality older people to look up to.
 According to an article from the U.S Air Force, mentorship can either be defined as a form of counseling, communicating or learning from an older figure or simply as a form of leadership.
 Whether we are aware of it or not, junior high and elementary students constantly look up to high schoolers and everything that they’re doing.
 “Little kids are so innocent and non judgmental; (working with them) gives you a different perspective, one that you may have lost,” junior Madi Chicoine said. She volunteers at Clay Elementary as a school-based mentor.
 “It is important to become a Big because through mentoring you can have a big impact on a child.  You have the opportunity to help shape a child’s future for the better by empowering them to achieve academically, socially and emotionally,” Big Brothers-Big Sisters school-based mentoring coordinator Lisa Green said.
BIGS AND LITTLES
 Big Brothers-Big Sisters is an organization that matches elementary-aged kids with high schoolers for positive relationships.
 Our school already has a partnership with Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Central Iowa, where students are encouraged to volunteer an hour a week to meet with their little.
 If a student is interested in volunteering to be a mentor, they have to go through a screening first.
 If they pass the screening, they then are asked about interests and preference for their little and the organization works to match the pair.
 “Being a mentor is really rewarding because you get to make an impact on someone’s life,” sophomore Joy Gachii, a Big Sis, said.
MISSIONARY WORK
 For something fun that could get students out of their comfort zone, usually it is a great idea to get out of town, the state or the country, to take part in different projects such as building houses, teaching people and repairing cities that have been hit by natural disasters.
 This past spring break, a group of students from here were involved in a program that took them to New Orleans to help out in areas that were still devastated from the hurricane that hit several years ago.
 Senior Blair Brown, along with others, went to help out in New Orleans through Lake View, a church located in Pella.
 “Being there and seeing all the damage that still has to be repaired helped me feel very aware of just how blessed I am.
 “We all crowded in 15 passenger vans and drove for 18 hours to a church located in Sidell, Louisiana,” Brown said.
 Volunteering and working with people who are also passionate to help out can be very rewarding and also fun.
 “I didn’t get paid for working, but I honestly experienced the best week of my life. I was paid in blessings by the people in New Orleans and by the people on the trip,” Brown said.
 Volunteering is hard work, but our communities would not run without people who volunteer their time, money and effort, not only to help out organizations, but also  people unable to help themselves.
 Contact Central Place Family Resource Center, 266-6795, to get started volunteering.