The value of performing community service

Dear Editor: I am writing to you today, in part, to fulfill a requirement for my Communications Merit Badge. As a member of Scouts BSA Troop 20, I’d like to write about something I feel is very important: community service.

There are many benefits to performing community service. It can develop an increased sense of social responsibility, provide a chance to use classroom learning in real-life situations, and build relationships between peers and adults while exposing students to diversity and multiculturalism.

According to statistics provided by BSA, scouts perform an average of 14 million hours of community service annually. In Troop 20, some highlights of our service are placing flags at the graves of veterans every Memorial Day, and collecting more than 5,500+ food items during our annual food drive.

Not only Boy Scouts perform community service; opportunities for students can be found everywhere. You could volunteer to help coach a team, participate in a coat drive or watch younger children during a PTA meeting. I also am a member of the National Junior Honor Society, and we run a snack cart at school, with all of the proceeds donated to The People’s Place, and we went to Mountain View Manor to visit the residents near the holidays.

While doing community service, you are donating a valuable resource: your time. Spend some time doing for others, and you will improve yourself. Thomas Lasecki

Kingston