Building the next generation of volunteers

What is your impression of local teenagers? If you don’t have one yourself it might be easy to pass random judgment since so many of them look alike in their jeans and hoodies, crossing Broadway to get to the high school or hanging out around town. Regardless of what your first thoughts might be, I’m here to tell you that, by and large, Sonoma’s teens are a motivated and dedicated group, working hard to better not just themselves but their community as well.

Sonoma Valley High School senior Danny Maggioncalda is one such teen. Working through an organization called the First Saturday Project, Maggioncalda marshals other teen volunteers for some of our local nonprofit’s biggest events. He is currently corralling teens to help the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance put on their New Year’s Eve bash at The Lodge at Sonoma.

While Maggioncalda is the current steward of the First Saturday Project, he is not the organization’s creator. That distinction belongs to two SVHS alumni, Jack Wallace and Kevin Page, who conceived of the idea for a community service-based organization for their senior project in 2006. The concept was simple – bring together a group of friends the first Saturday of each month to do volunteer work for a local nonprofit that could use teen power. They set to work, sending letters out to area nonprofits and First Saturdays was born.

Maggioncalda has been at the helm for two years and in that time he has seen an increase in volunteers and a change in gender. He admits that certain projects require actual “man power” but he isn’t afraid to enlist the services of his female friends for other tasks. “I think one of my most significant contributions to the First Saturdays project has been expanding it in terms of gender. We have a much broader base now and for some jobs, the girls are just better.”

For instance, recent events for Pets Lifeline and La Luz were perfect for places for the girls to shine. But a recent clean-up effort at Rancho Sonoma that included weeding and power washing six houses was better suited to the boys, accompanied by Maggioncalda’s dad, Mike.

To keep the flow going, the person in charge of First Saturdays – in this case Maggioncalda – sends out about 30 letters to area nonprofits in the fall reintroducing the group and establishing their mission for the uninitiated. From there he usually gets several actionable calls with projects that require immediate attention. He says he can pull together a team of volunteers in a couple of hours using a group text message. For bigger projects, he likes more time but can still work well under pressure typically enlisting upwards of 30 to 40 teens willing to step in and help.

And First Saturdays is not limited to just SVHS students. Teens from other area high schools also pitch in. In truth Maggioncalda has probably known these teens since kindergarten and they’ve matriculated to other schools. Nonetheless, they are eager to put in their time – whether for needed school credit or not – to help out their friend and their community. It should also be noted that these aren’t a bunch of lightweight boys. Many are athletes, playing on teams at SVHS and involved in other extra-curricular activities. Time for these teens isn’t a commodity to be taken lightly but, step up to the plate they do, regardless of other school pressures.

In addition to feeling good about they job they’ve done, the teen volunteers do have other incentives. A sponsorship from Subway guarantees them a free meal after each event and getting a t-shirt and their name on the web site doesn’t hurt either.
“It’s true that some teens need official community service hours for their college transcripts but most of us are here because we have a natural inclination to be involved,” said Maggioncalda. “It just feels good to be a part of the community in this way.”

For more information on the First Saturdays Project visit www.firstsaturdays.org.

A year of First Saturday projects:

October 2010: Children’s Cancer Community Halloween movie night
September 2010: Pets Lifeline’s black Cat Cabaret
September 2010: Sonoma/Springs Bike Festival
August 2010: Relay for Life
May 2010: Cinco de Mayo Festival on the Plaza
April 2010: Rancho de Sonoma beautification
February 2010: SVHS Boosters Crab Feed
December 2009: Mentoring Alliance New Year’s Eve bash

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