Ep. 4 - Full Circle Service: Helping Teens Find Their Voice

A lot of people still treat teen community service like a chore or a consequence. We see something different: volunteering is one of the fastest ways for teenagers to build purpose, empathy, and real-life skills that stick. Dawn Spragg sits down with Brady Herbert, Manager of Youth Empowerment Programs at the Teen Action and Support Center (TASC), to talk about what “service learning” looks like on the ground in Northwest Arkansas and why the way we frame it matters.

We unpack how TASC started supporting teens with mandated community service hours and why we refuse to call service a punishment. Brady shares what happens when teens move from “I have to do hours” to “I can actually contribute” through projects like visiting senior homes, supporting the Diaper Collective, and volunteering at food pantries. Along the way, we talk resiliency builders such as contribution, connection, competence, confidence, and caring and how trusted adults and teen-to-teen leadership can change a young person’s trajectory.

You will also hear the barriers that keep teens from volunteering more often, especially transportation, time, and stigma, plus practical ways schools, nonprofits, and families can lower those hurdles. We end with ideas for National Volunteer Week, family volunteer nights, and a simple way to get started if a teen is bored and looking for something meaningful to do.

If you care about youth empowerment, service learning, and volunteer opportunities for teens, this conversation will give you stories, research, and practical next steps. Subscribe for more, share this with a parent or community partner, and leave a review to help more people find Loud Enough.

Transcript

Why Service Is Learning

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi friends. I'm Dawn Sprague, the host of Loud Enough, a podcast from the Teen Action and Support Center. And we're going to talk a little bit about service, like community service, service learning, whatever language you want to use, but to talk about how, especially for teenagers, service is learning. And we're getting ready to come up on National Volunteerism Week. And I think that's coming up pretty quickly. And we do a lot of different things at the Teen Action and Support Center to support that week and teenagers as volunteers. And so we're going to talk about that a little bit. Today I have a colleague with me. This is Brady Herbert. And I'm going to let her introduce herself and then Brady share a little bit about why you think volunteering is so incredibly important.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Hi, thank you so much for that, Dawn. My name is Brady Herbert, and I'm the manager of youth empowerment programs here at Task. And volunteering is something that has always been extremely important to me growing up in the Northwest Arkansas community. I see how volunteering impacts our community. And now as a worker at Task, I see how it impacts our teens and improves the lives of not only the people that we're serving, but also those teens that we see on a daily basis. I love it.

How TAS Built Service Programs

Mandated Hours And Restorative Service

SPEAKER_01 1:23

It's such great work. So I just want to share a little bit about how we started in service, a community service learning program when we were doing research to decide what programs should we, could we offer at the Teen Action and Support Center for teens in our community. We we worked with a lot of different places, the schools, the juvenile justice system in both Benton County, Washington County. And what we learned is that sometimes students are asked to do community service. They are what we call mandated by the court to do service hours. And to get those completed sometimes is very difficult for teenagers. At least 20 years ago when we started, it was real difficult. Our teenagers were not thought of well. And people thought if a if a teenager's in the court system, they must be a quote, troubled, unquote teen. And so it was really hard for them to be able to serve and to learn in the ways that we hoped that they would. And the interesting thing about that is that community service is not a punishment. Right. I know that you have kids that come in, they don't, oh, I don't really want to volunteer, I don't want to do this, but we never want people to think volunteering is a punishment. It's really a restorative option, that's what we call it. Um, and so I think that students who have, you know, had infractions or, you know, missteps or whatever, and they are asked to do community service. It's really meant to do it reparatively. And then we know that a lot of great things come come from that. So we started the program doing that, but not limiting it to students who, you know, were mandated by the court to do community service, but also kids that are in National Honor Society needed to do that, to have that as part of their credits for National Honor Society. And now we've gotten to a place where every high school senior, right, has to have a certain number of community service hours. So so that's kind of why we started it and we began to really see the benefits, like you said, for community and um and for the students themselves. And so I think that it's it's really important for people to understand that there's really good research on what are some of the benefits. So, what do you see? You work with lots of kids on service projects. What just off the top of your head, what do you see as some of the benefits?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

I feel like one of the main benefits that we see in our teens is just them being able to gain that sense of purpose and empathy for the people around them. Um, they come to us thinking, having these images of what volunteering might look like. It's a lot of thinking, oh, I'm gonna be picking up trash on the side of the room, right? Things like that. Um, but then they come to us and we give them a snack, we give them a drink, and then we'll take them to a nursing home to play games with seniors or take them to the diaper collective to wrap up diapers and write notes for um parents who need those resources. And through that, the teens not only gain that sense of community with the other teens and the staff members here at TAS that they are working with, um, but they also build that sense of purpose within themselves. They realize that they can give back to their communities in ways that they never thought was possible before. Um, they get to see the real impact that the work that they are doing is having on the community and the people around them. Um, and it's a really powerful thing, even as an adult. That's something that's really powerful. And so for a teen to take control of that and take um take control of their own life, it's a really important and impactful thing that our teens get to do and gain through volunteerism. I love that.

The Benefits Teens Feel Fast

SPEAKER_01 5:29

I I think it's really uh we know that there are benefits. Research really shows that there's a lot of benefits, but I I was when I was doing some just some research around this idea of what is the impact on a teenager. One of them is uh these developmental pieces that you just described, like empathy. Teenagers don't naturally have it, they they grow into it, and they they do that by having experiences where they can take on the perspective of someone else. And so when when they see, you know, they hear things, but when they see it, that that there are people who are struggling in these areas and they can make a difference. It's a really impactful thing. I love that. That that's a really cool thing. The other thing I found out was I think it was um drugfree.org has some research around how it not only gives all these positive things, it also reduces the negative behaviors, the risky behaviors for substance use and substance abuse by like 50%. I read that, that students who volunteer regularly um are 50% less likely to um to engage in some of those risky things.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

So it's it's got a lot of impact. Yeah, that is just such a giant statistic. And if we can do that for all of our teens, we definitely should. We should.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

We really should. So you mentioned um a little bit about like um connection, and one of the things we do at task is really stay focused on um some of the resiliency builders. And so I I wanted to talk a little bit about um some of those. One of Dr. Ginsberg's uh ideas around resiliency building is contribution, this idea that um that teens specifically for us that teenagers who make a contribution build up their resiliency. So I just wondered if you like if you see students who are like, I'm actually making a contribution, not just like their personal purpose, but I'm making a difference. Do you see that? And what happens then?

Resiliency Through Contribution

SPEAKER_00 7:42

I think it's the same with how teens um have to build that skill of empathy. They have to build that skill um where they see that they are making that contribution to their community. They don't realize that they can. Um, so there's several teens that come to mind. There's one that came to us um and he truly was just bored. He didn't know what to do after school. Um, he had some free time. So he came to us and really got involved in the after-school volunteering portion of what we do here at Task. Um, and through that, he came to realize that he can make such a huge contribution to his community. Um, and through that, he's seen how important Task is and the work that he can do. Um, he's gotten his little sister involved. He's gotten his friends involved. And now he is just spreading the word of what volunteering can do, not only for your community, but for your leadership skills, for your competency, um, for that connection building. Um, it's really impactful. And we see it all the time with our teens where they build that sense of self-worth and that connection.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

And that's that's another one of the C's we'll talk about in just a second. But I think is it's this the same student you were telling me about that he now when he's on projects, when he comes to service projects, you kind of feel like you have an extra hand. Like he's a contributor to the team as well as to the community.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Our teens come to us um all of the same as task teens, and they all come to us with bright eyes, and we get to involve them in task, and then some of them uh get so excited about it that they stay with us all throughout high school and become our teen leaders and guide some of our younger students, um, especially at some of those service projects like the diaper collective or the senior homes, where we might be working with a portion of the community that the teens don't get exposed to that often. Um, that can be kind of nerve-wracking to work with people who you might not have met before or who are going through some type of struggle that you might not have experienced yourself or that you might be extremely close to. Both of those situations can be um uncomfortable and challenging for teens. So to have some of those older teens um being there and saying, hey, I've done this. This is what works, this is what doesn't, and coming from that teen perspective, the teen-to-teen peer relationship is truly beautiful. And it builds um leadership on one side, um, and it builds that empathy and connection and community and trust on the other side.

When Serving Reveals Hidden Needs

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I love, yeah, I love that. I remember uh you you mentioned that sometimes teens don't understand like why do we need to be doing this for someone? And some of them are like, oh, I wish this could be for me. I remember having a group at uh the Samaritan Community Center packing snack packs for students. And I love also that uh our community partners explain the difference you're making by doing this volunteering. I think that's very important. And they explain that students don't have their kids who are at risk to not have food over the weekend. And they get these snack packs in their backpacks on Friday, and then they have food over the weekend. And a teenager came up and said, So, so you mean they we put these in kids' backpacks and uh on the weekends so that they have food? And I said, Yeah, I was just thinking he was so shocked by that. And he said, Wow, now wish I wish I got these because he was in that same situation, nobody would have known that, but he was in a situation where he didn't have food over the weekend, but teenagers were kind of you gotta fend for yourself kind of thing. But so he was grateful to be doing it for younger kids, but also thinking, wow, I, you know, I really could use this myself. So sometimes we find out things about our teens when we're serving about how they need to be served too.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Yes. We had a team um a while back when we were at um Bread of Life, which is a food pantry that we volunteer at every other week, which our teens love. Um, and we had someone from our board come and share how um she had gone through food insecurity growing up, and she shared that story with the teens. And at the end of the night, one of our teens came up to me and and her and expressed that not only was she serving that food bank, but she was going to this food bank that we were serving. Um so it was a completely full circle moment for her because as a teen, taking or just accepting things sometimes is hard. Um, having to accept things from a food bank or um getting menstrual health supplies from your school, sometimes that can feel embarrassing for a teen. So for them to be able to not only come and serve the place that is serving them, but also to hear from important people that are doing great work, that are serving on our board and are super successful, come and say, hey, this was something that I was going through too. You are not alone. Um, is a really amazing experience. Um, even as someone standing on the outside of that experience.

Building Connection With People And Places

SPEAKER_01 13:30

That's so great. And it really does talk about um or emphasize another C, which is that one, um, confidence, but really that connection. Um, connection is so critical and really critical for our teenagers. So, so share a little bit about how you see those connections being made. Like the teens that when they serve together or when they uh get to meet people that they're serving, that kind of thing. Like, share a little bit about what you see in terms of connection.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Of course. Our teens have a plethora of different ways to get connected and different groups to get connected to. Um, one of my favorite things that I get to do here at Task and that our teens get to experience is all the community partners that we can get them connected to. So it ranges from people like Bread of Life in the Diaper Collective to For the Love, um, Crystal Bridges. We volunteer within the schools. We get to volunteer in all of these amazing places that traditionally you would need a parent or guardian to come with you. So they're getting connected to those places and spaces, um, which helps them not only right now building that sense of community and connection, um, but also to um it helps with their futures. It helps with them building connections for the workforce in the future. Like if they want to be a veterinarian, they can come volunteer with us at the animal shelter. Or if they want to work with young people, they can come help out with the first steps meeting. Um, there's all sorts of fun stuff that they can get connected to. So that's one way. Another thing that is really important to us at task and the programming team is that we believe the more trustworthy and awesome adults that they can be exposed to, the better off they are. Um, all teens have different personalities and who they connect with. Um, it's just gonna depend upon them. So we've got all of our amazing mentors here at task, and then we're constantly bringing in guest speakers, community partners, um, and just people from the community to come share their life experiences, share their life's work, and teach the teens a skill. Um, so those people can be used as references later on. They can be used as a mentor. A lot of these connections are not just connections that they're building right now, but it's going to be connections that they have lifelong. Um, and then they also build connections between themselves and the other teens that we have there. So going back to the leadership aspect that we were talking about, um, having that range of ages, the seventh to 12th grade, truly allows for teens to come in when they're in seventh or eighth grade and to learn from those juniors and seniors and see what types of uh behaviors are expect to expected, um, what type of people they want to grow into being. They get to see these seniors that are extremely passionate about service, extremely excited for the next steps in life, whether that be college or technical school or the workforce. Um, they get to see all of these older teens go through this. And um, on the other hand, those older teens get to use those skills that they have got gained through task to um help those younger students. So they get to practice leadership, they get to practice having empathy and patience for our younger students, they get to practice teaching, um, which is kind of a role model.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I mean, they become role models for sure, which I think most teenagers don't believe that they can be role models. And then all of a sudden they find themselves in situations where they are. Yeah. It's a little bit different than being a role model in your own home when you can do it in the community. And that's that's kind of a sense of connection to like maybe even I could be a mentor someday. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

And we love to uplift our teens who do choose to make those um impactful decisions. We make them little buttons and pins that say teen leaders, and we do um celebrations for all of our top teen volunteers. We had one student have over 80 hours in one singular year that he had gotten just with us. Um, and we got to celebrate him and all the work that he had done that year and all the leadership skills that he had gained and the connections made.

Competence That Turns Into Confidence

SPEAKER_01 18:10

And so good. That's so good. I love that connection to community partners, connection to tasks, to each other and to adults. That's it's such an important thing. We talk about it all the time when we talk about teenagers. It just takes one committed adult, one adult person making a difference in the life of a teenager to change their trajectory or to help them get some clarity on what they want to be, what exactly, what is the best version of themselves, so to speak. Um, the other thing you kind of mentioned in that process of um of volunteering on a regular basis, and it's another one of the C's that we know um promote resiliency, and that is competence, like actually learning skills. And I I remember when we first started task, we we only ever had one complaint from a parent about community service, and we had gone somewhere to paint. We were gonna, we were gonna do um an activity where students were gonna help paint a portion of a building and we brought students out, and uh, we had this this one teen, and his dad was a painter. So he had had an opportunity to kind of know how to do certain things, like how to tape off and how to use a roller. And some of our other teams had no idea how to do that. So he felt very confident, which is also one of the C's, um, because of his competency, like I know how to paint. Well, he came, we got all finished, the project was amazing, and we got done, and his mom called later, and she was really upset because he had had such a great time at community service. And her thought was that it was going to feel terrible for him to do community service back to that kind of punishment mentality. And uh, and he felt so good about it and said, anytime you have a painting project, like I want to be part of that because he had this competency. So I wonder in in the volunteering that you've seen students do, like what new skills, what kinds of things are they learning that are helping build some competency?

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Yeah, um we do a huge range of different end service projects. So there's really something for everyone. Right. Right. Um, one that comes to mind is we worked with um some teens from uh the Rogers School District through the Daylight project. Um, and they or we worked together with them um and we collected over 40,000 menstrual health products. So these teens were truly the ones in charge of the org uh in charge of the organization of it, in charge of the distribution, in charge of um everything. And we were just their partner. So we helped them be able to facilitate learning distribution methods, leadership skills, um, organizations, um, because 40,000 menstrual health products is a lot. And they had to get volunteers to help. Yes, I remember that. Yes, they recruited volunteers. Um, they worked with the principals of all of these different schools across Northwest Arkansas, not only in the Rogers district. Um, they distributed it all around Northwest Arkansas. Um so that built a lot of competency, as well as some of the projects that we do going to think going to things like nursing. Our teams build competency through projects like going to some of the senior homes that we go to and Working with some of those older citizens, they bring with them games and energy. And they learn that their work matters. And they build some of those skills of empathy and those soft skills like introducing yourself, things that you'll need later in life that just don't come naturally. They come from those situations where you are uncomfortable and putting yourself in the shoes of someone else. So they come to us. They get to learn, they get to learn through organizations like the Diaper Collective, who talk about some of the insecurities that people may face that some of our teens have never thought about. What does it mean to be a young parent? What does it mean to not know where your next meal is coming from? What do those struggles look like and who is there to help? So they learn um, they truly learn how to interact with every single type of person and how to um remain empathetic and understanding. Um and it truly builds confidence within them. Having that competency allows them to show up confidently in any situation.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Those are so great the way they begin to do things. And you can literally see they have a new confidence in themselves. I know that some of the planning processes, um, like the the Daylight Project, the that particular group of girls, they also wanted to have like a community health fair, and they actually recruited the people who would come and be a part of that. And I think I remember one time I may have mentioned this on another podcast actually, but we had students planning a um dance topalooza at one of our senior facilities, and they weren't sure what music to pick. And, you know, what what would the seniors that were there, what would they enjoy for snacks? One of them asked me if old people ate Doritos. I'm not really sure why he asked me that. But but anyway, they they did a lot of the planning. Yeah. They had this, you know, they were developing new skill, but you could just see how proud they were. One of the students I I remember had like one desire to be a uh DJ. And so had the all this whole music library. He was the one that was trying to figure out what kind of music could they did they want to listen to. So so those competencies are they're really, they're really important too. Yeah. And those are things that they don't, you know, they're not as academic as what they learn in school. To your point, the social pieces and elements are when you're in those sort of uncomfortable spaces. And so that that I think that that becomes um hard. And and then there's this caring, this this other see, right? Um, caring, and you mentioned empathy so many times because we want to build a community of caring and belonging. And I think our our teenagers are the ones who desire it and have the desire to do it for others to show that they care. And it's just not words and language we use for our teenagers as much.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

So teens are truly just waiting for the opportunity to go out and serve. Um, teens are some of the most open-minded and like ready-to-go groups of people that I've ever worked with. So once you find something that piques their interests, they're ready to go. They're ready to rock and roll, and they will be some of the most um into it volunteers that you will ever get for sure.

Why Teens Volunteer Less Than They Want

SPEAKER_01 25:44

So I I wonder, why do you think there aren't more teenagers involved in volunteering? And I know that, you know, there are some that are gun-ho, like you said, but I wonder why why is it that more aren't involved?

SPEAKER_00 26:03

I think that we are getting better as a community and a society and the way that we view volunteering, but there is that stigma still attached to volunteering and the stereotype of what type of teen does volunteering. Um, I think that it has gotten a lot better with the Learns Act and places like Task, where we have teens that are coming to us through mandated hours, through um their schools needing those 75 hours of community service, and through just wanting something to do after school, and they're all coming together and learning together that community service doesn't have to look one way, that it can look any type of way. Um, and you just have to find what you are passionate about, and there is someone or something that you can do to serve that community and expand and grow.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

I do think that all of the different things we do gives kids, some of them, gives some of our teens an opportunity to figure out what they are passionate about. Are they passionate about feeding the hungry or, you know, some other aspect in our community that needs care? They that'll sometimes they literally find it when they are like, wow, this really means something to me and and has an opportunity for that. I also think that um transportation tends to be an issue, right? If students don't drive themselves, they have to rely on families who are really busy or parents who are working. So the opportunities that are available after school and in the evenings and and that kind of thing are, I think, a little bit harder. And families are really busy on the weekends. So if there's a weekend opportunity, it's hard. So what do you what do you think about how we can encourage that more?

SPEAKER_00 27:59

Yes, transportation is one of the biggest issues or obstacles that we have to overcome in um the after-school programming that we do. Um, we work really hard to try to offer a variety of different times. So if a teen can't get to us, say at 4:35, we'll start at 5, 536 for another project or something like that. Um but we've worked with a couple different schools. We've had one school who actually busted their after school program to us. So that knocked out the transportation aspect. And um, I hope we get to continue doing things like that. Um, but as we grow, I think we'll just keep expanding those options. Um, but transportation will maintain and will continue being one of the biggest hurdles for teens volunteering. That in time, yeah. Time. Our teens are so busy. Um, this season of life that they're going through is one of the busiest um and one of the most challenging. You're going through not only school, extracurriculars, finding your first job, but also all of the teenage hormones and angst that you feel. Um, so it's just a lot. It's a lot to go through. And finding time to volunteer may be the first thing on the on the chopping block if we're going through whether I need to maintain having these grades or should I go volunteer? Typically, volunteering is what gets knocked off first.

How Communities And Families Can Help

SPEAKER_01 29:41

That gets on the on the bottom of the list. Yeah. I do like that our community specifically has opportunities available and we have some community partners, not just places where we can volunteer, but also places that have kids and teens that want to volunteer. And so we can partner with them. That ends up, that kind of collaboration ends up being, I think, really helpful. So I want to just kind of finish up with some takeaways for people who are listening. We have a very unique community. I think you mentioned that to me before. We have a unique community here in Northwest Arkansas. We have a lot of nonprofits and a lot of people who are open to having teens come and know us as the Teen Action and Support Center know that we'll bring adults with us so that teens can be encouraged while they're on projects. So, what do you think other communities could do to make sure that there are plenty of opportunities for teenagers to volunteer?

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Yeah. Um, in today's day and age, you can put yourself out there on the internet. We get at least one application a week from a team that just says that they found us through Google, found us through a Google search. They are bored and wanted to find something to do. So if you have volunteering opportunities, put it out there. Post it on Give Pulse, post it on Facebook. The teens will come and the community will come. Um, reach out to your schools, reach out to different nonprofits. Um, there are so many people who are out there looking for opportunities to volunteer and get involved in their communities. It's just about knowing what's out there.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Absolutely. So, yeah, getting the information that, hey, we could use volunteers here in our in our business or our nonprofit or whatever it is. So just making sure that you you get it out there. That's a that's a great thing. What about parents and families? Like, how can they encourage that, do you think? Um more of a volunteering kind of uh space for their teenagers?

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Yeah. Um, I think something really cool that we've been implementing at task is uh family volunteer nights. Yeah. Get out there and volunteer with your kids. Find something that they're passionate, if they're passionate about animals, if they're passionate about food, if they're passionate about people in general, find something that aligns with those passions and encourage it. Go out there and volunteer with them or praise them for their for their work. Um, we try really hard to um show our teens that we appreciate all of their work and everything that they do through celebrations and candy bars to a perfect attendance and things like that. Um, but we are on a team with the with those parents. So we need to all be on the same page and encouraging that work and making sure that we're providing that good example for them to follow.

National Volunteer Week Plans And Celebration

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Yeah, I think doing it together is a great, that's a great thing. Again, families are so busy. We we know that that that makes it hard. So National Volunteer Week coming up very quickly. I remember last year we had an event in the afternoon and evening where students could bring their families and their and their parents and siblings and all of that. It was such a great night. So much fun. It was a lot of fun, and it was all around art, producing art for our free art gallery. Yes. And that was just a great evening. So, do what what kinds of things do we have planned here? And then how can we encourage people to plan some stuff for national volunteerism?

SPEAKER_00 33:22

This year we are going to a couple of our um recurring partnerships. We're gonna go to For the Love, which is a great organization if you ever want to volunteer with your teens. They meet several times a week, and it's a perfect one to head to right after school. Um, we're also partnering with Jacob's Well this year to roll out cookies. But yeah, we are we're going to Jacob's Well. Um, and then on Friday, we are doing our top teen celebration party. So we will celebrate our top 10 teen volunteers, and them and their families are welcome to join us at Arcadia where we will play games, eat food, and just celebrate all the work that has been done by our teens in this past school year.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Such a great way to end National Volunteer Week. That's a great thing. I I love how we do that in our community. So as we finish up, just want to invite people, if they have an interest in a teen volunteering with us, what's our process? What would they need to do if all of a sudden they hear from us and decide this is something we want to do?

How To Join And Final Message

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Okay, so if you see us anywhere out in the community, we will always have um information and um things for you to take home with you and get involved. If you are here at home listening today, uh you can go to tasktascnwa.org and send in your application. Um, it just takes a few minutes and it's really not a yes or a no. It's what we use to make your account. Um, and we would love to see you.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

That would be so great. And if you um have other questions, if you're a parent and have some questions, or if another if you're another organization, a parent, um, uh, a partner organization, anything like that, and you would like to know a little bit more about task and our in-service program, we'd love for you to reach out. You can reach out to Brady or myself. Uh, we'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Any final things you want to share before we finish up today about volunteering? I know it's been an important part of your life, very beneficial to you as you're as you went through college and all of that. So anything you just want to share to close up?

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Yeah, um, volunteering has been something that's been a huge part of my life for years now. I went to college on the Bonner Scholarship, which is for students who um might not be able to financially afford college, but have shown a um true passion for community service. So um it's really been a huge part of my life, and it feels like a true full circle moment to get to bring that to the teens today. So something that I was so passionate about as a teen and something that helped me not only find myself and find what I wanted to do, but literally helped me afford college and my uh career and my future and getting to bring that to teens today. So it's it's a really um full circle moment.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

It is. And we're glad. We're we're glad you circled back to the Teen Accident Support Center and that you're part of our team. We're really grateful. So thank you for being here. We want to encourage people to encourage volunteering, uh, especially for our young people. It has so many amazing benefits. And um, just remember also, as you go and work with teens or have them in your home, that when teens speak, listen well. And when their voices are not being heard, we encourage you to speak loud enough that their needs are heard and understood by others. Thanks so much for listening today. We hope you will join us again on our next podcast. And we look forward to hearing from you if you have questions. Take care. Bye.