Talk to teens?

Best Buy stores have created an initiative to empower young adults called BestBuyat15. I follow them on Twitter and while I haven't spent a lot of time yet to figure out how to connect them to my Optimist Club, I know there is a connection that needs to be made.  Please take a look at this video and think about what your Optimist Club might do to harness the power of Best Buy, social media and optimism with teens in your community.  Please comment and share your ideas with us!

Should your club focus on the young adult market?

Service organizations are looking to younger generations to help them grow. The attempt to corner the volunteer service market by starting youth clubs that loosely resemble their adult counterparts is not exclusive to Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions or Optimist Clubs. That is why all can be found in our schools mentoring students for leadership skills and providing a community service ethic.

We sometimes marvel at the generosity, ingenuity and servant leadership that our youth provide. I wonder why because most students, especially in the US and Canada, live sheltered lives. They are provided for and the desire to provide for others is a natural extension borne of their safety and security.

However, when our students graduate from high school and embark on their college education or chosen vocation, their goals begin to change. I think this is because they have their first taste of freedom away from their parents. It's not that their desire to serve has changed, it has been interrupted by so many other pursuits from schoolwork and finances to fraternities, sororities and dating. And these are pursuits that are happening in the real world.

Did you realize that the students who will enter college in 2011 have always had a virtual world to retreat to when the real world was too harsh or uninteresting? For them, music has always been unplugged, MTV has never featured music videos, Jerry Springer has always been known for lowering the level of discourse on public TV and Rush Limbaugh has always been criticizing liberals along with his Dittohead followers.

One might speculate that the networked world leaves today's young adults overstimulated. In order to speak on their students' level, Beloit College produces a college mindset list for their faculty each year. This Mindset List might be a good tool for you if your club or organization is targeting a youthful market under 25-years of age.

See the Beloit College Mindset List here.

From foster care to adult in one day

Have you ever thought about what happens to young adults when they age out of foster care?  Did you realize that happens at the adult, but not yet quite mature age of 18?

After hearing a presentation from a foster children advocacy group, the Optimist Club of Meridian, Idaho is helping a teenager leave foster care and establish his own apartment.  What they require is so little: toaster, can opener, kitchen supplies and pantry staples, towels and bathroom goods, and cleaning supplies.  I'm sure that the Optimist Club will do more.

It has to be both an exciting and scary time for such young people.  Many have bounced from one foster home to another, changing schools and friends along the way.  Many look forward to the day they are emancipated; others wonder what is the next step.

I'm very touched by this act of kindness and feel there is so much more that an Optimist Club might do such as establish a weekly or monthly meal where the young people can meet with each other and share their experiences.  At the same time these young adults  might develop friendships with older adults and possibly choose mentors to help them transition into the next phase of their life.

We never know when the act of reaching out is most needed. Let's be prepared to give our hands freely.  Always.