Volunteer with Kids

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

 

Do your grandchildren live far away? Or perhaps you don’t have any grandchildren and miss interacting with small children.

Volunteering with kids can help you fill that need.

Numerous organizations in the area welcome caring adults to help improve the lives of children.

You may feel surprised at how much you enjoy volunteering with children in an area where you have little experience. However, it may be easier to start with something familiar. For example, if you have retired from teaching high school English, reading with schoolchildren may be a smooth segue.

Laurie Black, community education director for United Way Book Buddies, said that many people who volunteer are retirees (although not necessarily from school teaching).

“The kids are delightful to be with,” Black said. “The volunteers feel they’re contributing to the community and there’s a feeling of socialization. It’s an all-around wonderful opportunity.”

Because Book Buddies uses about 12 to 15 adult volunteers to work with children per session, the volunteers get to know each other and sometimes form friendships. Book Buddies provides training and materials. Volunteers simply need to show up and listen to children read aloud.

“As long as you like kids and can encourage a child to keep at it, as reading doesn’t come easily for students, you’re good for this program,” Black said. “We always staff the program so two staff are always associated with it. We do a lot of hand holding and make it simple for folks.”

Typically, volunteers work with the K-3 children around lunchtime.

Children who struggle to read receive much-needed encouragement and practice reading while volunteers “feel productive and like you can give back and there’s a role for you in society,” Black said.

“Another motivation for volunteers is that they love to read so much and want to inspire that in students,” Black said.

For opportunities like Book Buddies, there’s no need to feel like the program will take over their free time. The group meets weekly for half-hour sessions, although most volunteers stick around for two to four half-hour sessions in a single day. Volunteers have the summer off, but if they want to travel or have conflicting appointments during the school year, Book Buddies can be flexible to accommodate them.

The program grew from one school to six during its restart in 2023 once the pandemic ended, accounting for 600 participating schoolchildren. Black said that addressing remediation in reading spurred Book Buddies’ growth.

“People feel good about the progress they see in the students,” Black said. “The volunteer is a cheerleader and guide through the text.”

In addition to setbacks stemming from the pandemic, Black said that the reasons so many students struggle with reading include “language barriers, competing demands for parents’ time and a lack of understanding about how important practice is. They don’t realize the advantage their children have from practicing reading.”

Black noted that currently, only about one-third of American schoolchildren read at a grade-appropriate level.

“For struggling readers, we need great teaching, good intervention and lots of opportunities for practicing,” Black added.

To learn more about Book Buddies, visit www.cnybookbuddies.org.

 

Make-A-Wish

Make-A-Wish Central New York also draws retirees as volunteers. Caitlin Alcott, volunteer and community outreach manager for the East Syracuse-based chapter, said that the retiree demographic is drawn to volunteer as a wish granter, among the various volunteer roles available.

“Wish granting is a role directly working with the children and their families,” Alcott said. “They go out to the family home or meet virtually to help the child discover their wish.”

This involves talking with children about their favorite things and encouraging them to talk about dreaming big, whether their wish is traveling on a dream vacation, meeting someone famous or having an amazing experience for the first time.

In addition, wish granters help families build excitement and help children play a role in their wish making.

“They can provide little gifts throughout the way, call or send a card, and set up meetings to be sure that they have that interaction with the child,” Alcott said. “It’s such a huge step to just experience childhood for children with life-altering diseases. For some, it’s the first trip for their family based on genuine excitement.”

Wish granters do little of the hands-on wish planning, but function more like a liaison between Make-a-Wish and the children and their families.

Although adults are welcome to apply, Alcott said that many wish granters are retired from education, front desk administration or the medical field.

“You have to be willing to work with children and interacting with people,” Alcott said.

Volunteers can engage in the organization as if it were a full-time job or participate for just an hour a month. Make-a-Wish requires volunteer wish granters to take on one wish minimum annually.

“We are thrilled to have as many volunteers as possible who have excitement in being able to bring these wishes to live and give joy and hope to kids facing critical illnesses,” Alcott said. “We have opportunities that are flexible and allow kids to interact with us.”