By: Paige Randall, American Red Cross Volunteer

From the way that the group of teenagers were enjoying themselves, you could never guess that six weeks ago they were all strangers. As they gathered with family members on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma WA, they prepared to wrap up their participation in this year’s Summer Youth Program sponsored by the Red Cross Northwest Region Services to the Armed Forces (SAF).

The Summer Youth Program was created for youth 14-17 from active duty or veteran military families. It gave them the chance to volunteer at Madigan Army Medical Center as well as participate in various workshops from July 8 to August 22, overseen by Kris Mather, the SAF/IS Regional Program Manager.

This is the second summer the Red Cross has done this program with Madigan, and the amount of participation more than tripled to 28 from last year’s seven participants, for which Mather was grateful. “Madigan really bought in and helped it grow tremendously from last year,” she said.

Each youth was assigned an area at Madigan where they could volunteer, and there was quite a variety — they were everywhere, from the pharmacy to the HR offices. For example, one of the participants, Teagan Croppi, had the chance to volunteer with nutrition care, where he helped serve food to patients in their rooms. Like many of the other participants this summer, he’s interested in medicine and wanted to volunteer to learn more.

That’s one of the great things about this program, Kris explained. “It gives the kids a chance to have hands-on experience with a hospital. They might check it out and think, ‘Wow, this is something I can actually do.’”

Teagan learned that his interests probably don’t lie in nutrition, but he was inspired by the people he worked with and in the future wants to do something with chiropractic medicine. Between Teagan and the other 27 youth who participated, the volunteers logged over 1500 hours at Madigan this summer. Although only eight hours a week was required, most of the youth went above and beyond that in helping out.

While half of the program was spent volunteering, the other half took place on Thursdays when the youth were able to participate in a series of workshops. Many of these activities were centered on building real-life skills and were led by local organizations and Red Cross volunteers.

One Thursday, the group learned about buying, selling and maintaining cars from the Junior Achievement of Washington. Another week could have had them painting canvases of local adoptable animals for Paws with A Cause, or participating in a workshop about disaster preparedness. And each youth became CPR-certified by the Red Cross.

Isabella Smith, a rising ninth grader, said that her favorite part of the program was meeting the other participants. “The other kids are really cool and funny,” she said. “You can make a lot of good connections with good people.”

Red Cross programs like these can be a valuable opportunity for youth, especially youth who come from military families. Between moving around a lot and always trying to find a place to belong, summer programs allow youth to connect with others who have similar experiences while having the opportunity to expand their skills.

“They all have shared experiences of what it’s like to move around and be lonely,” said Kris. “This gives them an opportunity to make friends with other youth.”

Next summer, Kris and the SAF Team at JBLM hope to continue the program, and they welcome both new participants and any who already completed the course this summer. Both Teagan and Isabelle gave glowing recommendations for any youth interested in medicine or just looking for a great way to fill their summer.

“I would definitely encourage kids to do it, especially if you live on base,” said Teagan. “It’s very convenient to do and you can add things to your resume.”          

At the Youth Volunteer Recognition Ceremony on the last Thursday of the program, SAF/IS Director Will Willis gave the opening remarks. “Attitude plus aptitude equals altitude,” he told the graduates. “How you treat people and what you learn will determine how far you’ll go in life.”

For a group who spent their summer forming friends, volunteering and learning, one can only assume that this group of JBLM youth will go far in their next endeavors, whatever those may include. And of course, they can always come back next summer.