I had the privilege of talking with two amazing students who spent a week this past summer going to Kenya with Me to We and their Travel with Purpose trips.
These were an amazing young man and woman from the area who decided to do something to better the world and I cannot applaud them enough for striking out on their own and do something amazing at such an early age.
It is no small feat to actually leave and do something for the first time without that parental safety net.
Sometimes fear can hold us back from doing something extraordinary and not everyone has to leave the country to do it
According to Statistics Canada, in 2013, 44 per cent of the population volunteered with a charity or non-profit organization.
Of that percentage, 66 per cent of those people were between the ages of 15-19.
That is an amazing group of young people who are doing things that, stereotypically, they are criticized for not doing.
An interesting part of the statistics from 2010, which was not included in the 2013 survey, was that volunteers with children make up the highest percentage of volunteers with 59 per cent of parents with school aged children taking the time to volunteer.
Kids take a lot from their parents, from political views to their place in the community.
The fear that can hold people back can either be enforced or discouraged by parents without parents really knowing it.
If a kid sees their parents volunteering, they will want to be a part of that.
If a parent does not support a kids desire to go on a trip to volunteer for a week, that will affect the kids decision whether to go or not.
Some of these reasons can be valid, like the parents wanting the kid to start making a difference closer to home.
I grew up with a family who tried to balance both the idea that people in other parts of the world matter as well as trying to help the people at home.
Since the start of the school year, I have seen lots of examples of both, especially when it came to fundraisers tied to Me to We, who organize We Day, as well as teachers supporting their students as they brainstorm ways of helping within the community.
I have also seen the opposite where kids are discouraged from doing either helping out in the community and helping outside it.
I think it comes down to the value placed on the community and the lives of people who can be deemed less fortunate than the rest of us.
From there it comes back to how the parents treat the community. If they help out and show that they value it, the kids have a better chance of following that example.
Kids who value the community are the ones who will be less likely to harm that community through vandalism, theft, or property damage.
We are not just raising volunteers, we are raising better members of the community.
