Many people choose to volunteer. Yet, for teens, it can be challenging to find an organization that will let them help. Most organizations require the volunteer to be at least 18 years of age, but for those in high school, teens neither have the flexible hours nor the skills or transportation options available to most adults. Despite these obstacles, some organizations (though few and far between) accept teenage volunteers. 

Parker Partners works together with many of the organizations that allow youth volunteers. It has been around for at least 30 years and is a long-standing tradition in Parker middle school. Parker Partners is a middle school program where middle schoolers go to different nonprofit organizations once a month and spend half a day volunteering and learning about what the organization does. The groups are composed of students and teachers from three middle school grades. The groups then head out on a bus and go to their organizations. While there, they will do anything from packaging food to playing with dogs to building “Little Free Libraries.” 

Among the many obstacles for teen volunteers is perhaps the one they have the least amount of control over – age. Seventh Grade English Teacher Kate Tabor is the coordinator for Parker Partners. Tabor has experienced difficulty regarding age restrictions. “I find it frustrating, especially when we have had partnerships with some of these organizations for decades, and the rules get changed on you because of a new policy,” Tabor said. This is the narrative of many teen volunteer stories. In most situations, teens are met with one of two responses, either “maybe… but probably not” or “sorry… you must be 18 or older.” 

 One organization that does allow individuals under 18 to do service work is Humble Design. Humble Design is a non-for-profit organization that furnishes homeless families’ houses after they secure their new homes or apartments. Humble Design accepts gently used furniture and household goods, which are delivered directly to the family’s new residence. Humble Design was founded in 2009, and since then, it has furnished and designed 2,412+ homes, helped  4,583+ children no longer sleep on the floor, and reused 7,959,600 pounds of donated furniture. In addition, volunteers have put in more than 21,250 hours of work to end homelessness.

 Humble Design has seven core employees in Chicago. Liz Dunneback, the operations manager in Chicago, started to volunteer for Humble Design in July 2020. “I had worked with some other companies before, but I chose to start volunteering for Humble Design because it was the first summer of COVID, and there were really not a lot of other organizations accepting volunteers.” Dunneback then started to work for Humble Design in March of 2022. “There are not a lot of people who actually work at Humble Design, so volunteers are really at the core of the organization,” Dunneback said. 

 “I go about two or three times a week, but others go about four or five times,” Mary Varga, a frequent volunteer, said. Varga started volunteering for Humble Design in March of 2022 and has been going there ever since. “A big thing that drew me to the organization is upcycling, designing, and of course the philanthropic part,” Varga stated. She works various jobs, from finding furniture to designing living spaces. “One of the things I love about volunteering at Humble is the feeling you get when the person comes into their house and realizes that they won’t be sleeping on the floor anymore and that it is specifically catered to them,” Varga said. 

 Designers at Humble Design talk to each client about their space and style of living and design, such as having family photos or having the child’s name over their bed so it feels like their “home.”

 “When they secure a loan and get into the house, most families have no money left over to furnish it, which is the reason why Humble was created. An interesting statistic is that it would take all of the families we help on average about 19 years to furnish it the way we do in four days,” Varga said. However, servicing these families does present multiple challenges. “We do about three installments a week, which means at least three couches, beds, tables, etc.” Varga said. “This means that if we don’t have enough couches or a couch that will fit, it is a big issue.” 

Humble Design continues to keep designing homes even if they run low on materials. “That is one of the reasons materials are found all over, whether in alleys or just from people downsizing or redoing rooms. They can be found anywhere, and when we get them, we need all hands on deck.” Varga has been known to canvas her neighborhood alleyways, snag usable discarded items, and repaint and repurpose them for Humble Designs. 

Senior Rania Jones has been working with Humble Design since the beginning of this summer. “I was asked to design a little girl’s bedroom,” Jones said, “It was incredibly gratifying, not only because you get to see the look on their faces when they see their new room but also because you get to see the impact you are having on someone else’s life.”

 Jones believes the Parker community can be of assistance to Humble Design.  “I think Parker students should get involved with Humble Design just because it is such a great organization. You can get involved in many different ways. For instance, Scout threw a bathroom drive for Humble Design,” Jones said. “A way to start getting involved in Humble Design or any organization that you believe in is to put on a drive or a fundraiser at your school. It doesn’t have to be big but just a little something to show that you are interested in volunteering,”

Volunteering is, by most people’s accounts, extremely gratifying because when you volunteer, you get more than you ever gave, and that feeds right back into the community. Other nonprofit organizations can learn an important lesson from those like Humble Design. Teens have a lot more to give if given the opportunity. “There is an opportunity for any age to have an impact and volunteer,” Varga said.  “And what teens are doing is not different from adults.”