Service Initiative: Turn off TV, Turn on Life

The Challenge:

Today's youth have a great deal of discretionary time on their hands, much of it unstructured, unsupervised, and unproductive. While 60 percent of a young person's waking hours are committed to such essentials as school, homework, eating, chores, or paid employment, the other 40 percent of their time is left to their own devices, according to the Children's Defense Fund. Youth have expressed the desire for more contact with adults who care about and respect them; more opportunities to contribute to their communities; protection from the hazards of drugs, violence, and gangs; and greater access to constructive and attractive activities as alternatives to the loneliness so many now experience. Not only are the hazards of drugs, violence, and gangs enough evidence for the need to keep a child busy after-school, more than three hours in most children's lives are devoted each day to watching television.

The Solution:

Your Circle K club can respond to children's calls for attention during non-school hours by establishing after-school activities for elementary and middle schools. Consider your own extracurricular activities: Circle K, intramural sports, the marketing club, a fraternity or sorority, or student government. Through these activities you have been exposed to new perspectives and new opportunities to build friendships and develop skills. By providing such opportunities to children ages six to 13, you will equip youth in your community to learn to socialize with their peers and adults. They will learn to set and achieve goals. They will learn to compete fairly and win gracefully. They will learn to recover from defeat. And they will learn to resolve conflicts peaceably; and they will learn to turn off the TV and turn on to life.

Project Ideas:

• Get out and PLAY day!
  Your club can host an afternoon of field games at a local elementary school (duck, duck, goose, tug of war, etc..)
• Host a Hop-Skip-Jump-A-Thon
  This is a great way to get kids active and also raise money for a worthy cause such as the Six Cents Initiative.
• Frisbee Workshop
  Host a Frisbee Workshop to teach younger children how to throw a frisbee farther then they ever imagined! This is a great interclub to do with your on-campus frisbee club as well!
• Read and Lead
  Work with your local Key Club on establishing a weekly Read and Lead Program at your elementary school library!
• Serve Today!
  Have your CKI Club host/sponsor an after school program to teach kids how to be volunteers. This is a great stepping stone to help chartering a K-Kids/Builders Club but most importantly its a safe and meaningful way to keep kids active after school.

For more information on the CKI Service Initiative and sample projects your club can try out click here.

Source: Reed, Kristin. CKI Business Reflector. August 14, 2008.