Quest encourages all participants to help better their community and the lives of the people around them. Kids who participate in community service, either with their club or on their own, may be eligible to earn the Servant‘s Heart Award. To earn this award, each child must perform a set number of community service hours. See the Awards section for more details.
There is a difference between community service and simply doing good deeds. Community service is any activity that a child volunteers to do for the betterment of their community. Most people think of things like picking up trash, participating in a canned food drive, or singing Christmas Carols to the elderly. While these are worthwhile projects, don’t forget to count things like helping to coach a soccer team, or volunteering to help at VBS, or Sunday School. These types of events could not happen without enough volunteers.
Certain volunteer activity should not count toward community service hours, as it is more of a favor to family or friends. Examples may include your neighbor asking you to watch their puppy, helping someone pack for a move, watching someone’s children. Kids should help out when needed simply because it is the right thing to do, not because they are being rewarded for it.
The test to identify which activities should count for service hours is simple; if something in your community would not be able to get done without volunteers (streets staying clean, rescue missions stayed stocked, Sunday School classes or sports teams being taught, etc.) then it counts as community service. We believe in rewarding the kids for these efforts with service hours to encourage them to be active in their communities. If however the activity is simply a good deed for an individual (babysitting for your neighbor, mowing someone’s lawn for free, helping to load groceries into a car, etc.) it should be done simply because it is the right thing to do. We want to teach the kids that when they see someone in need, they help them out without expecting anything in return.