NRCCUA NEWS!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 3/23/2007

March 23, 2007
By Christine Ferretti
The Detroit News

For Kawthar Ali, community service is as critical as college classes or her part-time job working with children.

A veteran of numerous volunteer efforts, the University of Michigan-Dearborn senior spent her spring break this month repairing Louisiana homes destroyed by Hurricane Rita. She was one of 300 students who gave up traditional revelry for old-fashioned philanthropy.

"Volunteering isn't something I make time to do. I feel like I need to do it," said Ali, 22, of Dearborn Heights. "I always ask myself, 'How can I help " other people?'

Ali has plenty of company for her giving spirit. Moved by tragedies such as the 2001 terror attacks and the Gulf Coast hurricanes, youths in Michigan and nationwide are picking up hammers, helping the elderly and feeding the hungry in record rates, according to at least two recent national studies.

Volunteerism among American teens has doubled to 28 percent since 1989, the highest rate since statistics were tracked by the Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington, D.C.

The numbers are even better in Michigan. College students ranked 12th nationwide in giving back, with 37 percent volunteering an average of 32 hours per year in 2006, according to a first-ever survey by the U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The spirit is extending from Plymouth-Canton and Birmingham public schools to Taylor and Warren Woods Tower School, where participation in a program that sends buses of volunteers throughout Metro Detroit has more than doubled to 155 students this year.

Motivations vary by youth

Students' motives are as varied as their efforts. High schools such as those in Detroit and Birmingham require community service to graduate, while Plymouth-Canton awards a half-credit to students who complete 100 hours.

Others are motivated by altruism. Madonna University senior Crystal Howard of Belleville traveled with five others from the university to Mississippi and Louisiana to rebuild homes for two weeks as part of Madonna's Alternative Spring Break program this month.

"It was an amazing opportunity," said Howard, 21, a pastoral ministry major who also volunteers to teach at St. John's Deaf Center in Warren.

"If you don't practice what you preach, it's useless."

She's not alone.

Nationwide, 38,000 students participated in so-called "alternative spring breaks" this year, up from 35,000 in 2006, according to Break Away, a Florida nonprofit.

And Michigan is a longtime leader. The University of Michigan launched one of the first alternative spring break programs in 1990 and now sends 400 students to 35 sites around the globe. Some 300 Michigan State University students this month fixed homes in Louisiana, Honduras and Puerto Rico.

Ali participated through the United Way's program, whose nationwide participation has tripled to 300 since it kicked off last year.

"As college students, we worry about work, school, resumes and we're not aware of what goes on outside our own box. It's not all about my life," she said.

Differing motives revealed

A February report by the National Research Center for College and University Admissions concluded that recent disasters sparked a surge in volunteerism. It claimed 61 percent of students do volunteer work; and of those, 42 percent participated in some way in hurricane relief.

"The fear transferred from the victims of Katrina to kids across America," said Don Munce, president of the Missouri-based group. "High school students respond aggressively and positively to disasters."

Others aren't so sure. A widely publicized report in February led by San Diego State University concluded college students are more narcissistic than ever and their past good deeds largely are motivated by padding college applications or resumes.

Erika Sorensen acknowledged that accumulating community service hours for the National Honor Society was part -- but not all-- of her motivation to sign up to spend a week building Habitat for Humanity homes in Covington, La.

The Groves High School junior and friends "ran" to sign up to the Birmingham School District's first-come, first-served spring break trip that leaves April 9.

"We had nothing else to do over spring break and thought why not go to Louisiana and build houses?," said Sorensen of Beverly Hills. "I felt like I should do something if I could and I have the time to do it."

No. 1 reason: To help others

Some volunteers may enhance resumes with service, but most don't, said Frank McGhee, program director for the Youth Initiative Project of the Neighborhood Service Organization of Detroit. Ninety percent of the 200 teens in the program have only one motivation: To help others, he said.

"This group was volunteering before the popularity set in," McGhee said. "They don't do it because they need community service hours. This is a youth-driven program that makes them want to stick around."

The program's rewards are evident to Rosalyn Edwards, 15. The sophomore at Detroit's University Preparatory High School speaks once a week about gun violence to middle school students.

"You become a leader overnight," she said. "I love my community and want to better my community."

The earlier kids start giving back, the better the benefits, said Karen Palgut, who helps her children Rachel, 15, and Alan, 17, collect clothes for the needy at Plymouth High School.

"If everyone did community service this would be a different world," said Palgut, 49. "They are volunteering and not just because somebody's making them do it, I think it's important and young people understand that."