It is the halfway point for the SCA NH Corps as they finish up the fifth week of their education season in schools around the Manchester area. Apart from teaching fourth and fifth graders about the environment and earth stewardship, corps members also find themselves placed in a myriad of volunteer positions around Manchester ranging from 4H after school activities to a variety of programs supplied by Manchester’s Salvation Army. Each week hundreds of children and teens, ranging in ages from five to eighteen, are affected by the services the SCA NH Corps provides to their schools and their extracurricular activities.
Corps members create and implement curriculum for two separate 4H programs, 4H Gone Wild and 4H In the Garden that is partnered with Girls Inc, and introduces students to different environmental topics through fun and engaging learning activities and games. An additional after school program served by the SCA NH Corps is FIT Kids, short for “Family in Transitions,” which works with kids who are currently dealing with homelessness.
The Salvation Army is an additional site where the impact of the SCA NH Corps is felt. Apart from tutoring, members also engage in two nightly programs run by the Salvation Army, Kids Café and Teen Night. Every Tuesday through Thursday a number of SCA members interact with kids ages seven through twelve at Kids Café. After dinner is served and the tables are cleared, kids are allowed to use an assortment of resources. Popular activities include videogames and beading in the crafts room, but the main event is almost always dodge ball, where kid and volunteer are pitted against one another in a high-energy winner take all romp of playground enjoyment. Teen Night, which takes place every Friday and Saturday night, is similar to Kids Café, apart from the gym, which is almost always occupied by boisterous basketball players for the first half of the night, who are latter replaced by an enthusiastic group of soccer players for the last part of the time. .
The SCA NH Corps volunteer efforts to provide an array of programs, serve to both educate and orient the student community of Manchester in a multitude of topics and issues. It is through these efforts the SCA NH Corps is working to make a tangible difference in their community by serving as both instructors and mentors to a future generation of potential leaders in their area.
