Red Hearts' News

By Meike Schleiff, 22, reporting from Renick, West Virginia, on the kind of place every teen girl should have.

There are so many things a girl has to find in the world these days—friends, love, peace with parents, a bearable job, her keys, her cellphone, her happiness, her look, her way. So finding a mentor might not be on the top of your list for 2010. But did you know that having a mentor or mentoring program can help you reach dreams like these: saving babies in a NICU ward, tracking wolves, farming organically, starting a local restaurant, studying in China, being a great mom someday?

These incredible feats are all being done by alumni of High Rocks for Girls, the leadership program in West Virginia where I found my mentors—and my way. I always thought of myself as pretty "normal" as a teenager, whatever that means. No hot pink hair with black accents, no tattoos, no Goth attire. Nothing extreme. I never even painted my fingernails until my first High Rocks camp.

The amazing thing about places like High Rocks is that you'll find girls from every table in the school cafeteria there. And, when we got together to do wild things, like hiking out into the woods with outdoor survival kits for an overnight adventure or organizing a Halloween party for needy children in our area, we found out that we were more alike than we believed possible. We're all just trying to figure out what it means to be ourselves.

High Rocks has been helping teenage girls do this for 14 years. Check out how you can be involved there, or in a similar nationwide programs in your area, such as Best Friends, Girl Scouts of America, or Girls Inc. Or discover a smaller girls' club near you. What you'll find, most of all, is that growing up is a little easier when you don't have to do it alone.

By Amy Hunt, 19, reporting from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on an awesome site that will take you outside this summer

I know what I did last summer: pretty much nothing. I couldn't get a job and didn't even have my driver's license until August, a nice three-plus years after turning sixteen (don't laugh at me). I ended up volunteering a little at a local museum and even got to DJ on the radio. But overall my summer was full of boredom and lacking in green—of both the money and the nature varieties.

Which is why I'm so determined to start now in finding myself an internship for next summer—and was so pumped when a professor pointed out to me the Student Conservation Association. It's a great tool that lists internships at numerous national parks, wilderness areas, and other sites looking for hands-on help with jobs dealing in conservation. Listings range from places as popular and familiar as Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park to intriguing-sounding others largely unknown (at least to me!), like the Salmon-Challis National Forest of Idaho and New York's Clay Pit Ponds State Park. The jobs deal with all aspects of conservation: field work, education, research, preservation, and management.

What's even better about the SCA is that since many students don't live anywhere near the parks that they may be interested in interning at, the organization provides intern housing at pretty much any of the locations, as well as paying for travel to and from the site. The SCA wants students to get involved in conservation, meaning they want to help us out in any way they can.

So if you're like me and are dying to get away, gain some experience, save the planet—save yourself from summer boredom—and maybe even learn some life lessons, try checking out the SCA. It's a great place to start, and a happy reminder that internships don't have to be in musty old museums or law offices but can take you to the forests and mountains and along the coasts, and really can be found anywhere.

By Cindy Morand, 20, reporting from New York, NY on a cool way to get back-to-school cash

* RED Hearts note: Remember, for safety, that if you sign on for an odd job, you should tell a friend exactly where you are, and tell the hirer that you've done so.

This recession is drastically affecting all of us—especially us students. A lot of us couldn't find summer jobs, and now we need back-to-school money. Being able to afford things is a great feeling. Trust me, I know.

Some of my friends are still seeking employment and no luck. They've been told they're "unskilled" or don't have enough experience. And we are left to wonder, are there any jobs out there for teenagers who are eager to work for those very same skills and experience?

Then I found this website, Odd Job Nation, a collection of quick, fun ways to earn extra money. The jobs are eccentric and usually one-offs, like singing a tune for $50 or playing against "the foosball master" at someone's office, or helping cut a tree. But having someone to pay you to do these things for an hour or two is not a bad job at all, right?

And who knows: You just might stumble on some of this coveted experience or even a future career. One of the ads is for a psychic assistant. The description says that one should be a "kooky, psychic, over-the-top, Janice Dickinson type." I am not saying that is your dream job—or that you are anything like Janice Dickinson—but hey, if it's a way to buy your books?

You can also sell raffle tickets, a job that's "great for college & high school students and people who know a lot of people." So if you're popular, this might not necessarily be your dream job—but it just might be your, um, ticket.

By Jordyn Turney, 19, reporting from Alpine, California, on a charity that helped her when she seriously needed it

My first memory of the Ronald McDonald House Charities:

I'm young. Let's say four or five. Sitting in the car (our old Toyota Festiva) next to my mom as we pull through the McDonald's drive-thru. When the cashier hands her change back, my mom drops it into a coin bucket outside the window.

"What's that for?" I ask her, as I am apparently a very shrewd and observant child.

And that's when I learned what this wonderful charity does. Quite simply, the Houses, located right next to children’s hospitals, keep families close by when their kids are seriously ill. And, trust me, that's huge. It means that families already paying for hospital stays and treatment have a place to stay for little to no cost. If the family can’t pay the $5 to $25 a night, the fee is waived so no one is ever turned away. It means one less thing for the already stressed parents to worry about.

To me personally it meant that when I was in the hospital for weeks having serious surgeries (that nobody ever wants to go through), I always knew my parents and grandparents were right there. It meant that one of my parents could sleep in an actual bed—instead of, you know, a waiting room chair or something—while the other one took a shift staying with me.

So next time you go to McDonald's, give your change (and more!?) to the Ronald McDonald House. And if you’re looking for a cool place to do community service or just want to help people who need (and seriously appreciate) it, you can find out about volunteer opportunities here. —Jordyn Turney

By Zulay Reglado, 20, reporting from Miami on a site that makes a little wisdom work to fight world hunger

I am a lover of learning. I am also a proud lover of rice. Though technically opposites on the nourishment spectrum, together they can reach out to millions suffering from starvation across the world. All it takes for you to help is the click of a mouse and the will to pick up some knowledge in the process—and yes, for free.

FreeRice.com is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program and dedicated to stopping world hunger. The clever site runs like a game: It donates 10 grains of rice for every question a user—you—answers correctly. The questions range in difficulty, and subjects can be anything from grammar to science, math (a personal stay-away subject for me, but useful nevertheless), and random worldly trivia. Since its launch in 2007, Free Rice has donated more than 60 billion grains of rice to starving nations—that’s enough to feed several communities at a time. Anyone from a young child to a student avoiding homework to a grandparent can contribute to this cause, which makes the mission to stop world hunger more attainable than ever, thanks to the power of our knowledge. This is free education at its finest.

As of yesterday, I have donated 1,900 grains of rice, helped my niece master the proper uses of “among” and “between,” and learned that la pomme de terre is French for potato. Now, onto Chemistry.

By Cindy Morand, 19, reporting from Buffalo, NY, on the global effect of your local YMCA

You can ignore the “Men's” and the “Christian”—the YMCA is for everyone, and even they seem to have phased out their original name. But the Youth part is worth keeping in mind. The YMCA is a great organization that many know as a sports club. Now, I'm not knkocking any place with a pool—most Ys have them—but there's a lot more to be found here. Their mission is to help people, often young people, have a healthy spirit, body, and mind. There's a Y near you and Ys all over the world, in countries from Gambia to South Korea. Their services change people's lives.

Two years ago, I did community service Thailand, in the Chiang Mai branch of the Y. I taught Thai youth how to speak English and helped to renovate a school in a small village. I strongly recommend for all you guys to check out the youth programs at your local YMCA. There's leaders club, youth and government, entrepreneurship, volunteer abroad opportunities, and more. Plus, you can go for a swim while you're there. —Cindy Morand

By Jocelyn Pearce, 17, reporting from Asheville, North Carolina, on a living, world-changing gift for your Valentine

Happy Valentine’s Day! Some of us are still agonizing about what to get our significant others, and we all want to find cute gifts for our friends. We're also passionate about changing the world. But what, you ask, does that have to do with this upcoming holiday? Not much, unless you're shopping at Heifer International!

You can get a much more meaningful gift than a scarf or something here—and today—especially appropriate if your friend/boyfriend/girlfriend is the anti-consumerist, anti-Hallmark holiday type but you still want to celebrate. Or if you both just want to change the world.

Instead of a romantic dinner that lasts one night, you can choose from a range of livestock that keeps on giving, to people in need all over the world. For $20, as much as it'd cost you to go to the movies (complete with popcorn and a Coke), you can provide a family, from Cameroon to the Caribbean, with a flock of geese or chickens or ducks—the awkward birds—from your lovably geeky boyfriend. A good hen can lay up to 200 eggs a year, plenty for a hungry family to eat, share, or sell.

If you've got a little more cash to spare, say, $60, you get a trio of rabbits. You know how quickly those multiply, and they also happen to be a great gift to give in honor of your best friend if she's a little down about not having a guy on Valentine's Day. Really, who isn't cheered up by rabbits? And for just $10, you can purchase a share of a larger animal, like a llama or a goat.

You also get a cool card (or e-card if you prefer—save the trees, too!) and those long-lasting warm fuzzy feelings that come with doing something good for the world, rather the short sensation of being uncomfortably full from your fancy meal.