The Giving Tree STUDENT MENTORS COMBINE VOLUNTEERING AND FRIENDSHIP by Amanda Douberley photo courtesy of Teens G.I.V.E. In a van filled with three average-looking high school students, what would you imagine the conversation is about? A party last weekend? Something funny from class that day? Maybe about their dates for an upcoming school dance? These kids have other concerns, namely the date they get off house arrest and the time of their next meeting with a parole officer. They aren't on a class field trip or on their way to a school football game. They're going to Cedars Nursing Home here in Charlottesville. They aren't accompanied by teacher chaperones, but volunteers from the community and U.Va. The group is participating in Teens G.I.V.E. (Getting Involved in Volunteer Experience), one of the programs within Community Attention, a division of the Charlottesville Department of Social Services and the Juvenile Justice System. U.Va. students volunteer with Teens G.I.V.E. through the Service Alternatives program at Madison House. Teens G.I.V.E. offers teens on parole a chance to fulfill their court-ordered service requirements, as well as a chance for kids without an after-school activity to volunteer their time. In their role as mentors, U.Va. students provide an important aspect of the program, building a relationship with "at-risk youth" while doing volunteer service in the Charlottesville area. Most Teens G.I.V.E. kids volunteer five days a week at a carefully chosen site, including horse farms, day care facilities, soup kitchens, and elderly communities. Madison House volunteers work with a specific teen or group of teens one day a week for three hours. Beyond volunteer work in the community, mentors and kids write service journals once a week, and reflect on how they made a positive difference in Charlottesville at the end of each day. Just as it is tempting to stereotype different factions within the U.Va. student body, it is all too easy to lump "at-risk youth" into one vague category. It is true that most participants live in the projects or in a rural setting, where some still have out-houses. It is true that only three of the 40 kids on the current case-load have fathers who live at home. It is true that most of these kids have been involved with the court system. But these are not bad kids. Lindsay Peed, a fourth year in the College and the Program Director at Madison House for Teens G.I.V.E., said, "I was extremely impressed by how well behaved they were. I had expected less of them than I should have." While many of the volunteers expressed a feeling of intimidation before their first day volunteering on site, all of them said that they were surprised by how receptive the kids were to their presence as mentors. Kisa Pendergass, a second year in the College, saw how much of an impact she had made on the girl she volunteers with upon her return after the summer. "I was so happy to get back. I didn't think that I'd made much of a difference when I was there, but when I got back Heather [Kellums, the director of Teens G.I.V.E.] told me, 'She asked about you all summer.' She was so excited to see me when I first came in, and that made me feel so good." Kellums sees this interaction between U.Va. students and Teens G.I.V.E. participants as a way to "break down tension between two groups. No matter what our backgrounds are, no matter who we are, we have one thing [in common] -- we're providing service together." Jackie Cisneros, a second year in the College, feels that she can easily relate to the kids at Teens G.I.V.E.: "We're all peers; the majority are teenagers. It's easier to talk and relate to them because it's more like you're doing it with a friend than an authority figure there." Still, volunteers at Teens G.I.V.E. have many difficult issues to help the kids work out. "They're all angry because they haven't been able to receive what you need to be content," said Kellums. "You would die if you read their backgrounds ... rapes, malicious woundings, suicide attempts, drug overdoses, no parents, parent suicide, sexual abuse." With a kid who has this kind of history, the question of how these experiences can be surmounted and a positive change in attitude made is often hard to answer. Though it would be easy to dismiss many of these kids as hopeless cases -- the victims of poor parenting and an unsatisfactory environment -- Teens G.I.V.E. has a more optimistic outlook. As their handbook states, "Volunteer Because Change is Possible." Pendergrass laments that she can't spend more time with the girl she mentors: "She needs a big sister or brother, she just needs somebody who can direct her focus elsewhere and show her that there are better ways to go about life. She wants to become a nurse, and I tell her, 'You can do it, but look at where you are now. You have to stop having a bad attitude ... There's nothing stopping you but yourself.' That's the kind of encouragement that they need. At home, I doubt there's anyone who asks about her day and encourages her, and she's a smart kid. You try to fill in the gaps wherever you can." Teens G.I.V.E. tries to change this attitude through service. "The way you're viewed shapes how you act in a certain way," said Cisneros. "It makes them feel good that they can help out -- it makes them feel really important. They're not looked at as these bad people who can't do anything but get into trouble. A lot of times we label them just because they're 'at-risk.'" Not even the most optimistic volunteer expects to see any of the factors that contribute to this "at-risk" label to change overnight, or even in the course of a semester-long commitment to the Teens G.I.V.E. program. Even if these kids have a great volunteer experience every day, they still have to go back to the same family, the same peer pressure, and their own past at the end of the day. Teens G.I.V.E. serves as a place where they can try to figure out for themselves how to make a gradual change in the way they view their own behavior, as well as a source of positive reinforcement for every small step they make toward their goals. Peed believes "patience" is the number one requirement for a volunteer at Teens G.I.V.E. Volunteers may be frustrated because results often take time, but sees the rewards as a cycle of learning: "You're developing a relationship from scratch and watching it grow, and you're watching the process of someone making changes and regressing sometimes, but then pulling themselves back up." For more information, call Lindsay Peed at Madison House at 977-7051 or Heather Kellums at Teens G.I.V.E. at 970-3334.

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