Teens, Tell Us How You Volunteer!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is also known as the National Day of Action, a day to reflect on how we serve our communities.

So WNYC spoke to teenagers about their experiences with volunteering.

"To me, community service is just being able to give back without any hesitation whatsoever," said Tiffany Challenger. She's a junior at Democracy Prep Endurance High School in Harlem, and she volunteers with Citymeals on Wheels, delivering prepped food to seniors' homes.

She added: "I enjoy seeing the seniors be excited about getting to see someone every Saturday and knowing that that person’s going to be committed to serving them."

Micheal Elcock, a senior at Transit Tech in Brooklyn, volunteers independently at his local library and with Global Kids, doing things like community gardening.

"It teaches you good interpersonal skills," said Elcock. His advice to incoming high schoolers on how to think about school and volunteer work: "It may sound like it’s a far-fetched, like, on-the-moon thing, but if you go and make friends and have experiences, I feel like you’ll come out a completely different person."

Teenagers, we want to hear from you: Tell us about your experiences with volunteering and what you enjoyed most about it. Leave a voicemail at 855-869-9692. Or tweet @WNYC.

Shumita Basu spoke to WNYC's Richard Hake, with additional reporting by Gwynne Hogan.