With National Volunteer Week beginning on April 19, youth working with Project FLOW-Future Leaders of Watersheds- will be celebrating their watershed during a FLOW Day of Service. 17 organizations will be sponsoring youth planned events in West Virginia. This is an opportunity for citizens to join with youth, appreciate where they live, and make a difference. Many of the youth will be monitoring streams, promoting recycling, educating the public, planting trees, picking up trash, or having a skate jam. As Earth Day is Wednesday April 22, many groups are celebrating watershed service on that day.
If you attend one of these events, you will notice a FLOW Day of Service T-Shirt on the backs of many youth and adults. Most of these folks are in the FLOW service-learning program funded through a Learn and Serve America grant. But back to the t-shirt story. The t-shirt was produced through a collaborative and democratic process. T-shirt designs were sought from youth by the Volunteer WV. Youth designed and submitted their designs. From these sketches, a graphic designer made electronic copies. The electronic copies were placed on this blog for the youth to vote on their favorite design. The winning design “Save the Earth” was submitted by a Big Laurel Learning Center youth and it won by a substantial margin. The design was printed on the shirts and sent to all FLOW sites.
Throughout National Volunteer Week, I will be able to participate in several of these events and plan to blog about each adventure. And if I am in luck, I will submit pictures as well as a story. So stay tune as I am on the road again! First stop, Big Ugly Community Center.