Summer Volunteer and Employment Opportunities for Teens

Teens between the ages of 16 and 19 have been hardest hit by the Great Recession and weak economy, which has made finding a summer job difficult over the past five years.

Just because you can’t find a summer job doesn’t mean teens can’t acquire valuable work skills and maybe even find something they enjoy doing.

Whether you’re looking to earn community service hours for school, build up your college application resume or simply get out of the house this summer – there are plenty of local volunteer opportunities for teens.

Patch put the call out to our Facebook fans asking for suggestions of places where teens ages 14-19 can volunteer. We listed a few of them here:

• Trinity Lutheran Church in Oak Lawn can use some help doing odd jobs. Call the church at 708-422-0193.
• Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge always needs help walking dogs, cleaning cages and keeping shelter animals company (just don’t bring home 20 cats this summer).
• Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce
• St. Linus Catholic Church in Oak Lawn takes volunteer groups to the city to help out at other churches. In June, St. Linus has some work days planned at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Call the rectory for more info.
• The Evergreen Park Library and Oak Lawn Library both operate volunteer programs.
• American Cancer Society in Tinley Park is looking for local Relay for Life volunteers. Call the office, 708-633-7770.
• Nathan Hale Primary School in Crestwood is looking for volunteers to help kids who are behind in reading.
• The Greater Chicago Ferret Association needs volunteers for its ferret shelter. Call 708-442-8650.
• Park Lawn Association has volunteer opportunities working with intellectually challenged adults. Call 708-425-3344.
• The Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn
• Queen of Martyrs Garden Club, 708 423-8110. Ask for Irene Smith.
• Operation Blessing in Crestwood, Monday through Friday, 4-to 6-hour volunteers shifts in the food pantry. Ask for Frank. Tell him Mary sent you, 708-597-6326.
• The Garden Center Services (Burbank) has volunteer opportunities supporting persons with developmental disabilities. Garden Center is hosting an open house at its Beverly facility from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (May 22) at 10444 S. Kedzie. (We hear they’re offering quality snacks.)
• The Children’s Farm at the Center in the Palos Park.
• Your local Patch welcomes high school students to blog and get some journalism experience writing stories and taking photographs. We can't pay you but we'll give you all the Patch schwag you want. Contact Lorraine Swanson and Dan Lambert for more information.

Summer Employment

• Patch’s LOCAL JOBS offers job leads for all ages and skill levels. Check out our most recent column and click on past weekly columns for summer employment opportunities for teens.
• Jobs2Careers has job listings for teens from food service to baby sitting.

Does your church, school or non-profit organization offer volunteer and/or summer employment opportunities for teens ages 14-19? Let us know in the comments and include your contact information.