Volunteers give back at the local level

The way down Allendale Avenue may seem familiar to Redwood Middle School alumni, but for juniors Darisha Jhutty and Sachi Dholakia and sophomore Katherine Chang, the road stands out as a memory of summers of volunteer work.

Volunteering locally is an option that many Saratoga students choose to take, as doing so allows one to give back to the community. The College and Career Center and the guidance department provide plentiful resources and information available for students interested in volunteering, as well as assistance with finding volunteering venues.

Kids helping kids

Located on Allendale Avenue across from the post office, Saratoga Community Preschool, also known as Miss Marianne’s Preschool, serves as an educational preschool for children 3 to 5 years old.

Jhutty has volunteered at this preschool for two summers now. She first started volunteering with a friend from another school. “I decided to start volunteering [at Miss Marianne’s] because I love working with children,” Jhutty said. “I thought it was a good opportunity that not many people had.”

The daily schedule at the preschool has remained relatively constant over Jhutty’s past three years of volunteering. In the morning, the preschoolers arrive and play icebreaker games outdoors. The afternoon consists of arts and crafts and outdoor games, in which preschoolers are able to play with plastic child-size cars and water toys.

Jhutty fondly remembers her birthday celebration put on by the students during the summer program.

“During one of the programs, it was my birthday, so Miss Marianne had the preschoolers help her bake a cake that was made using solar energy,” Jhutty recalls. “It was so good.”

Chang, who began volunteering at the preschool last summer, found her experience memorable as well.

She began volunteering because a family friend had previously volunteered at the preschool and recommended that Chang should do so as well.

Chang enjoyed spendProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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g her summer with the adorable preschoolers.

“Every single day we would take out cars for them to play with. Once, instead of driving them like all the others, one of the kids said, ‘I want to wash the cars, not play with them! They’re dirty,’” Chang said. “After he washed them he still wouldn’t want to play because he’d say they were wet.”

Besides being an easy, fun and relaxing way to earn volunteer hours, the summer preschool also allowed Chang to learn a few things about taking care of children.

“I learned that it’s actually really hard to take care of kids, and there’s a lot more planning that goes into everyday activities,” Chang said. “You learn about how all the preschoolers act around each other and how innocent they are.”

The volunteers have both seen friendships grow and blossom between the preschoolers, and indeed most of the children return to the preschool the next summer.

According to Marianne Swan, the owner of the preschool, approximately 90 percent of volunteers are current or former students at Saratoga High School.

“We love our SHS Volunteers,” Swan said. “Not only are they hard working and reliable, but they refer their friends for many years to come. We have always had a positive experience with SHS Volunteers.”

For Jhutty and Chang, volunteering at Miss Marianne’s summer preschool soon became much more than a simple way to earn hours, and instead became an escape into the carefree past of childhood.

Helping the elderly

Also located on Allendale Avenue, the Saratoga Adult Care Center provides help during the day for senior citizens who are unable to live by themselves. Junior Sachi Dholakia volunteered at the center during the summer after her freshman year and recalls the experience as memorable and rewarding.

Dholakia recalls helping the senior citizens with art projects by cutting out pictures from newspapers and personally assisting them in making art. Dholakia also helped set up the materials necessary for games of bingo and prepared food and served it.

“I wanted a more hands-on experience, but it was still an interesting time,” Dholakia said. “It was good because I’ve never volunteered in a senior center before.”

However, while Dholakia views the experience as invaluable and certainly memorable, she would probably not return as a volunteer.

“It was cool, but I’d rather volunteer somewhere else,” Dholakia said. “I don’t think working with the elderly is my thing; I would rather work with little kids or people my age.”