Simone Bernstein

Since she was 12, Simone Bernstein has volunteered at various agencies to broaden her life experiences while helping others. Now, she's started a website to aid other young kids find their own helping niche.

Simone will be a senior this fall at Clayton High School. She's had five different volunteer positions to help at agencies as varied as the Magic House and a VA hospital.

She said every time she wanted to get a new volunteering experience, it took a lot of personal searching to find agencies that would give her a chance. Most wanted their volunteers to be 18 or older.

This summer, she decided to do something about that.

Late in June, she put on-line the St. Louis Volunteen website (www.stlouisvolunteen.com). The site lists businesses, organizations and charities that want younger kids to become volunteers.

"Most volunteer positions were limited to those 18 and older. I want to promote volunteerism for those who are even younger," she said.

With her website up and running, she's been using the last days of her summer vacation to contact other agencies that might consider giving young kids a chance.

Her first volunteer position was with the Magic House when she was 12. There, she interacted with kids and families to help them get familiar with the facilities.

Next up, was volunteering with the Richmond Heights Public Library. She worked with kids who had come in to get Internet access on the library's computers.

By the time she was 14, she was ready to move up to more difficult volunteering assignments.

She worked with kids at a local crisis nursery and at the Veteran's Administration hospital in the City of St. Louis.

"At the crisis nursery, I worked with kids of homeless families who were staying there," she said.

While looking for volunteering opportunities, Simone said she was having a "great learning experience." She said, "I wasn't looking to earn money. I wanted to get out of my 'comfort zone' to see how other people lived."

She said the current slow-down in the economy actually may help young kids find additional volunteering opportunities. With fewer paid jobs available, businesses and agencies may be looking for more volunteers, Simone said.

She said her website will provide kids with places to apply to work, "giving back to the community and gaining valuable job skills."

She said she hopes her prospecting for new volunteer opportunities will prompt more organizations to consider younger kids for positions.

On the website, Simone doesn't just give information about possible volunteer opportunities. She also explains how the experiences can help the kids plan their future.

She notes that some schools give academic credit for volunteer work that provides "service-learning" experience. She said such credits are available even in elementary and middle schools.

But, one of the bigger benefits for kids is the chance to enhance your college resume. "Colleges pay attention to your life inside and outside the classroom," she said.

Colleges are interested in your outside interests, how you manage your priorities and maintain long-term commitments, she added.

But, Simone said, "Keep in mind colleges aren't interested in seeing you do it all. It's more meaningful to colleges to see your dedication to one or two causes or activities than to see that you've spread yourself thin."

She urges young kids to think out what they want to accomplish with their volunteering.

"It's important that you enjoy the type of service you choose and that you have the time to stick with it," she said. Figure out what you want to get out of the service, how much time you can commit and what talents and skills you can bring to the job.

She said it's also important to decide "what I don't want to do." After all, you don't have unlimited time so you should try to focus on things that you want to do and what experience you want to gain.

Simone noted that the types of volunteering she wanted to do changed as she got older. Also, she knew she could handle more responsibility as her volunteering experiences got more involved.

Her experiences at the St. Louis Crisis Nursery and the John Cochran Veterans' Administration Hospital indicate how the range of volunteering can grow.

At the Crisis Nursery, she started interacting primarily with kids. But, she also moved into marketing the nursery at health fairs and assisting with fund-raising.

At the VA hospital, she started with organizing medical and office supplies. But, she has moved into helping patients with personal tasks and running errands for the medical staff.

With the start of school this month, Simone will be active in both academic and extra-curricular activities. She'll be a senior managing editor of the school newspaper and captain of the cross-country team.

(If you have questions about the volunteer website, you can e-mail Simone at simone@stlouisvolunteen.com.)

Crimson Callahan of Chesterfield this summer won the overall regional PGA Junior 9-hole championship against kids who ranged in age up to 17. He shot a 4-over-par 76 for 18 holes at the Ballwin city golf course in the two-day meet.

Also, this summer he shot his 5th hole-in-one while doing volunteer work at a charity golf tournament at the Tapawingo National Golf Club.

At the charity event, he was stationed at a par-3 hole. If the golfer bought a charity ticket, Crimson would hit a shot and the player could take either his own or Crimson's shot, whichever was closest to the hole.

After the hole-in-one shot, Crimson said, "He made a very good donation."

For the charity event, the 5th grader earned a total of $1,000 which was donated to the St. Louis Crisis Center. The hole-in-one was his second this year. He's also scored aces at age 4, 6 and 7.

He is 4-foot, 5-inches tall and weighs in at 70 pounds.

The 17-year-old from Cape Girardeau, MO, who finished 2nd in the PGA tournament in late July was well over six feet tall and weighed about 250 pounds.

Crimson Callahan

Crimson admits that he's often out-driven by many of his golfing opponents. But, he said his "short-game" often carries him to victory.

He has had so much success in golf that PGA officials entered him into 18-hole tournaments this summer. He played in the 12-13 age bracket.

Crimson started swinging a miniature golf club in his basement when he was two. He started swinging outside for real when he was four.

He said his first teacher was his dad, Todd Callahan. Asked about his dad's golf game, Crimson said, "He's a great teacher but he can't swing a lot."

For the last several years, the family has belonged to the Missouri Bluffs golf club in nearby Weldon Springs, in St. Charles County.

He said Missouri Bluffs is a "great course." Among the membership there are St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols and Ozzie Smith.

Crimson also takes lessons from the club's golf pro, Ed Schwent. His lessons are twice a week but he admitted he might get an extra lesson "if something goes really, really bad with my game."

He said, if something is "really, really bad," it's usually with his putting.

During the summer, he's at the course pretty much every day, where he plays and practices from five to six hours each day.

Crimson said his current golf clubs are standard size recommended by the U.S. Kids organization for young people from 39" to 57" inches in height. However, he said he does have a new larger-headed driver.

He said he uses the larger-sized driver most often when he plays with older kids. That's so he can get some extra distance on his drives because the older kids play from tees that are further back.

He said his putter is blade-style that formerly belonged to his grandfather.

During the PGA Junior tournament in July, Crimson shot a 38-38 for a final score of 76. He was trailing by three strokes after the first day's play. But, while he matched his score the second day, the others who were leading had worse rounds.

Crimson said, "Overall, that has been my most exciting win."

But, he said his best golfing experience was when he got to play TPC Sawgrass course, which is a regular stop on the pro golfing circuit. The course's showcase hole is No. 17, which features a man-made green that is surrounded by water.

Asked how he did on that hole, Crimson said he didn't hit any ball in the water and ended with a par.

Crimson said he played in 30 golf tournaments this summer. Some were 9-hole tournaments with kids his own age. But, many were two-day tournaments against older kids.

But, he said his golfing season is pretty much over now, with the start of school and his interest in other sports. He'll be a 5th grader at Kehr's Mill Elementary School.

He said he's been a quarterback for four years on a team that plays for the Chesterfield Football Assn.

After that, he'll turn to basketball, where he plays both point and shooting guard.

Crimson plays golf left-handed although he throws a ball and writes right-handed.

Although his current golf season is pretty much finished, Crimson already has some goals set for next year. He said he wants to win the Pepsi Little People golf tournament, which is one of the largest meets for young golfers.

He said he wants to go to college, hopefully one where he can get a golf scholarship. He has his eye on the University of Alabama. "The school has a good golf program," he said.

And his interest in that school is more than its golf team.

Crimson's dad is from Alabama and the family has been to the university's campus and seen some football games there. The school is noted not only for the quality of the football team but also for the festive "tailgate" atmosphere both before and after the games.

The family's mailbox in Chesterfield has a sign that says, "Bama Road."

And, the team's nickname is the Crimson Tide. As in Crimson Callahan.

Thirteen-year-old Abby Ross of Valley Park wants her school's "stream team" group to do more this year than just clean up along the banks of Fish Pot Creek that runs through Valley Park.

Abby joined Stream Team 3271 last year. That's when she was in 6th grade at the Valley Park Middle school. With the new school year starting, Abby said she'll sign up for the after-school "stream team" again.

Abby Ross

This year, she'd like her group to do more. "I'd like also to clean up the forest along the creek," she said.

Last year, a lot of the kids on the "stream team" also were involved in expanding the school's recycling program. Before then, the school's recycling efforts were pretty much limited to recycling waste paper.

But now, the school recycles cans and bottles. Also, the kids worked with the school's cafeteria staff to eliminate the throwaway plates in favor of reusable one that can be washed and reused.

The "stream team" and recycling efforts are part of a wide-range of "service learning projects" available to Valley Park kids. The kids are given their choices of projects during the homeroom periods at the start of the school day.

The school's stream team project has special appeal to the Valley Park kids because Fish Pot Creek runs near a large number of the kids' homes. And, it is a tributary of the Meramec River, which also runs through Valley Park.

Andrew Elkins

Twelve-year-old Andrew Elkins said the service projects are chances for "us to feel good about ourselves because we know we're doing good things."

But, 12-year-old Jacob James had a more personal reason. He said the projects "are a good time to see my friends and have fun."

Jacob said he wants to work harder this school year on recruiting more kids for the "stream team." He said there is plenty more work for any additional kids that might join this year. Last year's stream team had 17 members.

Jacob James

The kids' last stream team cleanup project was just before the 2008-09 school year ended last spring. They teamed with adults from the Valley Park area for a Meramec River cleanup effort.

They said they found a wide variety of trash during the cleanup. Among the items picked up were tractor tires and "half of a boat."

Twelve-year-old Meaghan Fowler said she looks at the steam cleanup efforts as helping the survival of wildlife that live near the river survive. She said she noticed some of the frogs she saw "had a brown slime on their skin."

Meaghan Fowler

She said her particular species of interest are toads, frogs and honey bees. Meaghan said her interest in cleaning up the environment has extended to her regular habit of taking walks with friends in a park near her home. "I always take along a plastic bag so I can pick up trash during those walks," she said.

The kids all mentioned the availability of parkland near where they live. And they said he often make use of those outdoor facilities as play areas.

Ms. Leslie Venn is the adult advisor for the Valley Park stream team. She also helped the kids with their efforts to expand recycling efforts at the school last year.

"The kids did virtually all of the work on the new recycling program. They decided what other things could be readily recycled and then contacted companies that could help," Ms. Venn said.

Among the efforts was the creation of a "power point" presentation to help sell faculty and kids on expansion of the recycling efforts.

She also credited Ms. Julie Ressler, the cafeteria supervisor, with helping the kids plan the changes to facilitate the "greening" of the lunch process.

Ms. Venn said the changes have resulted in a tremendous increase in the volume of things that are recycled in the school. "The kids even ordered the new recycling bins that we needed," she said.

The Valley Park schools and the city of Valley Park make an interesting scene for this increased interest in the quality of the local environment.

The Meramec River is oftentimes in the news because of periodic flooding, especially in Valley Park. Also, the area residents helped defeat the U.S. Corps of Engineers' effort to dam the river upstream and create what the Corps said would be a "flood control" reservoir.

But, after vocal public opposition against damming of the scenic river, the Corps dropped the plan. It is one of the few times in U.S. history when the Corps dropped a flood control plan that had been authorized.

Residents in the Meramec watershed decided years ago they wanted to preserve the natural beauty of the flowing Meramec River. They made that decision even though it might result in inconvenience during times of flooding.

The Missouri Department of Conservation's "stream team" program opened in 1988 with three goals: education, stewardship and advocacy. The education dealt with learning about the state's 56,000 miles of flowing water.

The stewardship was in organizing stream teams to work on litter control, bank stabilization and water quality monitoring. The advocacy involved citizens speaking out against harmful practices and developments along the streams.

(If you'd like to know more about the Missouri Department of Conservation's Stream Team program, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/programs/strteam. Or, for St. Louis area information, you can call Darlene Haun at (636) 225-3946.)

Buxton is a town founded by runaway slaves from the southern part of the U.S. It was founded in 1849 just across the Canadian border from Michigan. Elijah was the first child to be freeborn in the settlement. At the time of the story, he is about twelve-years-old. His mother called him a "fra-gile" child because he cried easily and was deathly afraid of snakes. Elijah attended school in Buxton with about a dozen other kids. His schoolmates accused him of talking a lot.

One thing Elijah really liked to do was go fishing in the river. He had a highly unusual skill. He could throw rocks so accurately and so hard that he could stun or kill fish in the water. That's how he came to learn about the man in the town who called himself "Preacher". Elijah began to suspect Preacher was a con man when Preacher convinced him to give up some of the fish he caught by calling it "tithing." Tithing is when someone gives ten percent of their earnings to the church. The grown-ups had already figured Preacher was somewhat crooked and had no real connection to any church.

Most of the people in Buxton were hard workers. One of the men Elijah called Mr. Leroy worked especially hard at cutting wood for everybody. Mr. Leroy, Elijah found out, was saving money to buy his family members out of slavery back in the South. When Mr. Leroy was loaned a large amount of money from another person there in Buxton, he determined to send all the money to some white abolitionists across the border in Detroit to arrange the purchase of his family. Who should volunteer to take the money across the border but the Preacher? By that time, we as readers know that Preacher is a crook and the money will be stolen. However, Mr. Leroy is impatient and allows Preacher to take off with the money. Another trusted man, Theodore Highgate, is sent to keep an eye on the Preacher. Unfortunately, he is returned to Buxton in a wagon after being shot by the Preacher. Now what? Who is going to try to regain Mr. Leroy's lost money?

Mr. Leroy decides to take a pistol and go after his money, but he wants to kidnap Elijah and take him across the border with him. Elijah can read addresses and Mr. Leroy needs his help to track down the thief. Although he is frightened, Elijah wants to do what he can to help Mr. Leroy and his family. But Elijah knows he risks being shot himself or, even worse, caught and sold into slavery while he is south of the Canadian border. You need to read "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis to find out how it all turns out.

A girl is embarrassed that she hides her uncle
who has Down's syndrome

Actually, the main character in "The Man Who Loved Clowns" by June Rae Wood is Delrita Jensen, a junior high school girl who is the narrator of the story. Delrita has grown up with her mother's brother as part of her family and her beloved playmate throughout her earlier childhood. He is her Uncle Punky, now thirty-five- years old, a grown man with a young child's mind. He's the one who loves clowns, especially Ronald McDonald. Delrita throughout her life had tried to protect Punky from being made fun of by others because of his Down's syndrome. She had learned to be a loner at school so that others would not find out about Punky. Now, as she is in her early teens, she is ashamed of herself for being embarrassed when seen with Punky.

Delrita likes to work on woodcarvings and is becoming quite an artist. She is almost content to stay at home with Punky and not take part in after-school activities. Her mother keeps pushing her to get more involved in school-related sports, dances, etc. but Delrita resists. Delrita's Aunt Queenie and her husband, Uncle Burt, visit the family fairly frequently. Aunt Queenie is overly-organized and criticizes Delrita's mom for not placing Punky in a workshop for handicapped individuals. Delrita is not fond of Aunt Queenie and thinks she should mind her own business.

Just before school starts the family takes a car trip to Branson, Missouri. They are going to enjoy Silver Dollar City. Delrita's parents drop her and Punky off to spend some time together while her mom and dad attend an antique auction. It is when the family is separated that the unthinkable happens. Delrita is informed while she and Punky are visiting a woodcarving shop that both parents have been killed in an automobile accident. To Delrita's shock she finds that Aunt Queenie and Uncle Burt are now legal guardians for her and Punky. Their lives are going to be totally changed.

Some interesting things happen as both Delrita and her Aunt develop new attitudes. Punky, to Delrita's surprise, happily adjusts to new responsibilities. At the book's ending, Delrita finds that Punky had innumerable friends who loved and respected him for just being himself.

The first story in a series about a cowdog
living on a ranch in the West

Sometimes it's fun to read books that really don't have a message but are just meant to be humorous entertainment. "The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog" by John R. Erickson certainly is that kind of book. Hank is a fairly large dog that lives on a ranch and feels that he is the "head of ranch security". It becomes clear from the first page that Hank is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is, and, besides that, that he has an inflated sense of his own importance around the ranch.

Hank begins this episode by talking about "murders" on the ranch that it is his responsibility to solve. Actually, the murders are chickens that are found dead in or around the chicken coop. Hank in his investigation is stymied by the large number of possible suspects. His first guess is a raccoon, but it could possibly be a local skunk. While "investigating," he tangles with not only the skunk, but a porcupine. He finds out only by accident later that all along it was coyotes that were committing the "murders."

Hank is so upset by his being suspected of being the "murderer," that he decides to run away. He is confronted by the coyotes and is pretty much forced to join up with them. Besides, he likes the looks of one of the pretty female coyotes. It's when the coyotes try to get him to join them in a raid on the chicken house at the ranch that he realizes that they are the guilty parties. Finally, Hank ends up back at the ranch and is recognized for having solved the crime. The groundwork is laid for more novels in the series - would you believe fifty more of these stories!