LatinaLista — One criticism of today’s young people is that, with all their extra-curricular activities, technology that absorbs their attention from mobile phones to Wii and their time spent with social media, they don’t think enough about “giving back” to their local communities.
One organization in Ohio wants to change that. UGive.org wants to make philanthropy relevant to students by matching students’ talents and passions with area nonprofits. In return, students benefit from the satisfaction of how it feels to help others, along with, other benefits like meeting school service requirements, enhancing college applications and fulfilling school club service requirements.
The benefit for local nonprofits is that they get help from volunteers who want to be there to make a difference. So far, over 2,000 students have volunteered through UGive.
In addition to matching students with nonprofits, UGive.org keeps track of students’ hours, creating a printable “service resume” stating when and where each student has volunteered.
The organization’s hope is that this “service resume” grows as students get older and fulfills the organization’s goal of creating “Life-long givers.”
