by Tony Glavinic

Listen to the story!

 

Do you find yourself with nothing to do during the summer?   Do you want to meet teens from all around Anchorage?   Do you enjoy helping the community?   If you answered yes to any of these questions, volunteering may be the answer for you!   Today we're going to look at opportunities at four nonprofit volunteer organizations - the Imaginarium, Alpine Alternatives, the Alaskan Aids Assistance Association and Anchorage Youth Court.

If you've never been to the Imaginarium, it's a hands-on science education center where kids, teens & adults can play with all sorts of science experiments & aquatic animals.  

“ We give science demonstrations, like we have a marine life tank, we'll take out the creatures and let kids touch them, and also we have demonstrations on like outer space, and electricity, and even on bubbles - the physics of bubbles!” volunteer Chelsea Dennis said.

Volunteers also get to help out with birthday parties and other events at the Imaginarium.    For more information, visit www.imaginarium.org or call 343-0621   (That number is 343-0621.)

The nonprofit Alpine Alternatives is an organization dedicated to making outdoor recreational opportunities available to Alaskans who experience disabilities.   But Katie Sawyer, a Steller senior, volunteered with them for 4 years and can describe it much better than I can.

“ They are a nonprofit organization designed to set up recreational activities for special needs children.   You're working one-on-one with an athlete, either coaching them to ski, or taking them out on a lake in a boat, taking them on day outings in a group with other people, or coaching them for the sports camp.”

People interested in working with Alpine Alternatives should visit their website, www.alpinealternatives.org, or give them a call at 561-6655   That's 561-6655.

The Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association is a not-for-profit AIDS service organization which provides case management, housing assistance and support services for people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as working on community outreach and AIDS prevention.  

I recently spoke with Kris Katkus, a teen who volunteers for 4A's, and learned about the many opportunities for youth to volunteer. For teens who drive, 4A's organizes a 'meals on wheels' program for its clients, where volunteers pick up food and deliver it one day per week.  

Teens can also work with the 4As Speakers Bureau, where you will receive HIV 101 and Presentation Skills Training and have the opportunity to speak to various organizations about HIV problems & prevention.   You can even help the 4As by surfing the web or watching movies!   For more information or to volunteer, you can visit www.alaskanaids.org or call Christian Heppenstall at 263-2047.   263-2047.

Last but not least is Anchorage Youth Court.   Brittany Kunz is a student at Dimond High School and president of the Anchorage Youth Court Bar Association.

“Anchorage Youth Court is a juvenile diversionary program - our tagline is "Juvenile Justice for Youth by Youth."   We take juveniles that have committed misdemeanor crimes including shoplifting, minor assaults, minor drug possession, and we give them sentences through their peers.   We get to be judges, we get to be attorneys, clerks and bailiffs, where we can help our peers through our own influence,” Kunz said.

Even if you're not interested in the judicial system, there are other opportunities ranging from fundraising to serving on their Board of Directors. Anchorage Youth Court also issues a number of scholarships for high school seniors and students who contribute a lot of time to the organization.   If you're interested, here's Brittany with information about joining:

“We're having summer classes- you can call us to sign up for them.   It's an intensive over three days where you'll come in and a sworn member of the bar association, a lawyer from anchorage, will teach the classes, get you trained on what youth court is, how to do it; if you're interested in that, call the office at 274-5986 and tell them that you wanted to sign up to be a member.   It's alot of fun; it's not as difficult as it may sound, we have a really good time and it's definitely worth doing it,” she said.

And doesn't that describe all volunteering?   It might seem difficult, but everyone who participates always has fun, gets to meet new people and help the community at the same time.   So if you find yourself bored this summer, why not go volunteer?