Hands4Hope’s Service Learning Club Program Looks for Help to Meet Growing Demand - Financial support and adult involvement key to success

Hands4Hope, a youth-driven non-profit organization creating outreach opportunities for youth throughout Northern California, is looking for external sources to help them keep up with the demand for expansion resulting from their continued success and increasing awareness in the region. The school-based Service Learning Club program within Hands4Hope currently exists in 14 schools from Sacramento to Placerville, with clubs growing in membership on average 135% from last year to this year, with high school clubs showing a 160% increase. As more youth choose to participate in outreach activities and share their Hands4Hope experiences in the community, demands for expansion into additional schools continues to grow. Hands4Hope has fielded requests from youth, parents, and administrators for the Service Learning Club program to be brought to their schools, including Pleasant Grove Middle School, Folsom Middle School, Sutter Middle School, Vista Del Lago High School, and St. Francis High School.

“We are thrilled that Hands4Hope can provide our youth with valuable community outreach and leadership opportunities, because our ultimate goal is to empower these kids to become the socially responsible citizens of tomorrow,” explained Jennifer Bassett, Founder and Executive Director of Hands4Hope. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources at the moment to be able to expand our program as we’d like to. Adult leads are a passive but important component of our program and they are at a premium, and each club also necessitates funding to keep the program alive.”

This past school year, the Club program had more than 420 student participants.  These students developed and implemented 55 projects that served over 4000 people in need and 42 local agencies. These projects focused on causes including domestic violence awareness, foster children, homelessness, senior citizens, anti-bullying, and many more. The youth collected needed items, created awareness, and raised over $28,000 for their chosen causes. To enable the clubs to expand both within each school and to new schools, adult volunteers are needed to help with meeting and outreach oversight, and funds are needed for liability insurance for participants, a secure information and volunteer management database, and program training and oversight.

If you are interested in learning more about the Hands4Hope Service Learning Club Program or interested in leading and/or financially supporting one, please contact Hands4Hope at 916.294.7426 or info@hands4hopeyouth.org. Your support may be targeted to a specific school, town, or county. Donations may also be made to the Hands4Hope Agency Fund at the El Dorado Community Foundation.

Hands4Hope‘s primary objective is to show and teach youth how they can make a positive difference in their communities.  Hands4Hope uses community outreach as a platform for their service-learning program. While learning about social issues and struggles within their own communities, the youth choose a cause/need they are passionate about and are empowered to take action in their own way. The youth in this program make a meaningful impact on those they serve while  learning skills that will benefit them for a life-time.

“I joined Hands4Hope because I like that all the members have all the say in what drives we do.  We always come together and come up with ideas and plans of actions while grown-ups sit back and supervise,” explains Jack Thompson, eighth grade student and H4H Club Vice President at Marina Village Middle School.

The level of responsibility and opportunity for empowerment the youth are given is what makes Hands4Hope different from other clubs and organizations.  Each club explores and researches needs in their communities by inviting representatives of organizations/agencies that serve those needs to speak to club participants. After clubs have explored the needs in their communities they discuss the options and vote on their chosen cause/causes. For each of these service-learning projects, the students develop a plan of action, create and manage a budget, and implement projects that support their chosen causes.  

Hands4Hope is a non-profit, youth driven outreach and service learning organization based in El Dorado County.  The organization’s mission is to empower youth to make a positive difference in the world around them through Exploration, Action, and Leadership.  Hands4Hope is comprised of youth participants ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade and their efforts are focused in El Dorado and Sacramento Counties.  For more information, please visit www.hands4hopeyouth.org or call the Hands4Hope Youth Center at 916-294-7426.

Mercy Senior Housing Dinner Outreach

Over the past four years, Hands4Hope has been hosting a Mercy Senior Housing Dinner outreach once a month.  At this outreach, youth participants spend time with senior residents at Creekview Manor playing games, helping with craft activities, and serving dinner.  It's a fun evening for all involved.  Each month, our youth participants will donate food and an adult lead will cook alongside youth participants while other youth participants serve the residents.  

Did you know a youth participant started the Mercy Senior Housing Dinner?  Kirsti Buckendorf, a Hands4Hope alumni and graduate of Oak Ridge High School, began the Creekview Mercy Senior Housing Outreach event during her junior year, while president of the H4H Club at Oak Ridge.  After participating with Hands4Hope for a number of years, she recognized that seniors are an underserved population.  She learned that “1.15 million people 50-plus in California (9.5%) did not have balanced meals or enough to eat at some point in 2014 because they could not afford it” (aarp.org/foodsecurity).

At the time, neither the Hands4Hope organization nor the school clubs within the organization had any outreaches to serve seniors.  Kirsti sought out a population that could be better served and benefit youth at the same time. She met with the resident coordinator at Creekview to determine the needs of the residents there and the outreach evolved from that point.  

The first event included: the distribution of goods collected through a neighborhood food bag "blitz", fleece blankets, and a meal. The Mercy Senior Dinner outreach continues to provide a balanced meal (food mostly donated from H4H participants) and a craft activity to the residents at Creekview Mercy Senior Housing the 3rd Wednesday of every month. Kirsti will still particiapte at this dinner when she is home from college, and her mom continues to be the adult lead for this outreach, carrying on the tradition.

Hands4Hope’s mission is to empower youth to make a positive difference in the world around them through Exploration, Action and Leadership.  Kirsti is a great example of this mission, she Explored the needs of the community and was able to Act, Lead and implement an on-going and beloved outreach to serve an underserved population.