The Good Nature of Todays Youth

[scotty-2-forty]

We talk about cars and modifying them and spending boo-coo bucks to do so for mainly our own selfish desire. Nothing wrong with that. But every now and then somebody brings you back down to Earth and reminds you that there are others not so quite as well-off as you.

My 15 year old son has been involved with a local surf shop (Island Water Sports) and their community and charitable events for years. He regularly assists with their free surf lessons every Saturday morning and lately stand-up paddle too. He is an amateur photographer and they look to him during their street/sale events as well. He has also recently been mentoring under a close friend of the IWS family who is a freelance photographer, but mainly works for Hurley.

I should mention that my son attends a specialized high-school (known as a "choice" school here) studying marine biology which is also the first public school in Florida to seek out and have approved a four day school week. That being said, he's off on Fridays which affords him time to either work or be involved with charity events.

This past Friday, IWS in sponsorship with H2FLO held an event to give out over 100 used skateboards to children of low-income families. IWS takes in these boards as trades for new, or just as donations. H2FLO is an organization dedicated to assisting physically or financially hard-shipped youths from ages 5 to 18 by giving them the option to participate in several sports such as surfing, stand-up paddle, skateboarding, fishing, and golf. The goal is to give the child an opportunity otherwise not available to him/her.

My son was brought in to assist mainly with the event photography, however got very much involved with the actual charity of the event too. He was giving out t-shirts donated by H2FLO and teaching kids to skateboard (just the basics).

At one point, he overheard a young boy (about 8 years old, the youngest of five) talking with the event coordinator about how his mother could not afford decent clothes. This boy was literally crying, not to mention reaching out for help in the spirit of the moment. His father had died a couple years ago and his mom recently lost her job. They were already almost poverty stricken as it was, so you can imagine. Mind you, these are not people that sit back and let Welfare take over ... this is real-life hardship; the kind that could strike anyone living paycheck to paycheck.

My son was so touched by this (his first real involvement with charity) he has offered his full-time volunteering outside of school on the weekends. This kind of caring and giving back to the community definitely does not go unnoticed, especially by me. I am very proud of him and wish that more kids this age would select a path of good-natured humanitarian deeds.

Anyone else here have children under 18 that are involved in charitable organizations? If no children, how about yourself?

http://www.islandwatersports.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/H2flo/112264082164491

[DamonDread]

Thats awesome Scotty! Reflects alot on the parenting! Kudos to your son and you!

[scotty-2-forty]

Thats awesome Scotty! Reflects alot on the parenting! Kudos to your son and you!

Thanks man, that was really nice to say. No one else here involved in charity work???

[ProudNissanFreak]

Since I moved down from Canadia to the states, I've done ~700 hours of recorded community service from 8th - 12th grade and plenty that I didn't record as well. I volunteer my time a lot, though I can't say my hectic schedules lets me do the same this semester.

Last spring and fall semesters I volunteered my time at Roskamp, which is a research facility that studies diseases of the brain and works to find a cure. I volunteered as a programmer there and did some work, which was really cool.

I'm an advocate for human rights as well, and I try to be as involved as much as I can. 5 years down the road, I have plans to found an international aid organization. My International Rights professor last semester (founder of The Center for Prevention of Genocide) told me about everything I'd need to do and supported it wholeheartedly. I'll be working with him later this semester in helping some 50 homeless kids at a certain school. Looking forward to it.

[scotty-2-forty]

@ProudNissanFreak - That is awesome! More power to you and your future doings!

[zacmil]

That's just awesome, you really should be proud of him! The world needs more people like this.

[DamonDread]

I must have missed where you asked if we do charity work. I volunteer at the Humane Society. I enjoy the company of animals a lot more that ppl. LMAO. I usually nurse greyhounds, cuz we have a couple tracks in the area, when they retire they go to sanford to live out the rest of thier lives.

[downedzephyr]

Thanks man, that was really nice to say. No one else here involved in charity work???

some of my college classmates and i actually started a non-profit organization that takes bicycles and sells them to the community at a fraction of what a new bike would cost. any money we make actually goes back into fixing the bikes we collect via donation, since some of them are in pretty bad shape. and yes, we have 501(c)3 status.

and btw, you should be extremely proud of your son, what he is doing is awesome!