Last year RCS established a partnership with the TeensGIVE organization. As a part of this program, RCS facilitates chemical and biological monitoring in area streams. By getting the young people into the water to monitor for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and clarity, they learn about nature and their important role in preserving watershed habitats. The field trips (scheduled in the spring and fall of the year) also give the students the opportunity to contribute to the community by monitoring and by cleaning up the locations we visit.
Teens GIVE is a service-learning program that places children, ages 9–18, in supervised relationship-based volunteer activities. Volunteering is supplemented with tutoring, mentoring, life skills training, case management, reflection activities, counseling, and other support services.
Teens GIVE provides opportunities to engage in positive volunteer activities. Participants learn pre-vocational and employment skills while serving others and getting actively involved in their neighborhood and community. They choose from a wide variety service sites or projects in the Charlottesville/Albemarle community.
Service sites or projects are selected based on the ability to meet community needs, solve community problems, and provide structure and relational tasks. Sites are organized into categories offering service to children, the elderly, animals, and the environment.
