Tracy Hale is the chief executive officer of Youth Volunteer Corps, a Kansas City-based organization that supports nearly 40 affiliates to provide service learning opportunities for youth. (摄影:Brad Austin)

COVID-19大流行影响了所有企业, 学校及机构, 就像生活的方方面面一样, Youth Volunteer Corps – the organization Tracy Thomson Hale ’92 oversees as chief executive officer – had to adjust, 太.

“全国网赌正规平台意识到，全国网赌正规平台不能停止服务,黑尔说, “because not only do the people that we’re serving still need to be served, 但是全国网赌正规平台的年轻人，全国网赌正规平台正在剥夺他们的某些东西. They need that sense of belonging and purpose and that emotional lift they get from volunteering more than anything.”

Founded in 1987 in Kansas City, Missouri, Youth Volunteer Corps has a network of nearly 40 affiliates throughout the United States and Canada that are dedicated to creating meaningful service learning opportunities for youth. 黑尔于2011年加入该组织，负责监督其运营, 包括增长策略, 培训, 会员支持和筹款.

It brings together youth of all ages and from all backgrounds – from youth who are ordered by courts to participate in service projects to teens who are fulfilling service requirements for college admission. 在另一个例子中, Hale described a boy who volunteers at a food bank while his single mother visits the location to pick up food for their family.

“这真的有助于全国网赌正规平台的年轻人了解他们在为谁服务, what kinds of challenges those people that they’re serving are facing, 以及如何解决社区存在的问题,黑尔说.

They participate in an assortment of service projects and activities that emanate from the youth themselves – such as painting murals with local artists to cover graffiti, 给孩子读书, helping older adults learn how to use technology and removing invasive species from parks. Trash Olympics incentivize trash pickup projects with contests to find the grossest, 最大的或最不寻常的物品.

黑尔最喜欢的一个词是“建筑”,” an activity that involves the collection of canned and boxed goods. Participants work with an engineer and develop STEM skills to build elaborate sculptures with the items they collect. The creations are displayed in malls and other public spaces as their collection continues, 项目结束时捐赠物品.

大流行期间, groups met by Zoom to share ideas for creating homemade items such as dog treats or dog toys with old T-shirts, 或者建造鸟窝. Then, program directors picked up the items at participants’ front doors and delivered them.

“前途无量，”黑尔说. “他们想做什么就做什么. 即使在COVID期间，他们也没有让这阻止他们.”

Hale’s work with Youth Volunteer Corps fulfills an appetite for leadership and service she developed since earning her bachelor’s degree in international business.

她在玛丽维尔长大, the daughter of former Missouri state representative Mike Thomson ’68 ’71, 博士和. 南希·汤姆森71年, ’80, a Northwest faculty member who taught management information systems from 1981 to 2001. She also met her husband at Northwest; Kendell Hale ’90, recently completed his 13th season as head coach of the University of Missouri-Kansas City men’s and women’s tennis programs.

Hale says she initially was hesitant to choose Northwest for her college education but decided its business program provided her the best opportunity for her career interests.

“I attended almost as many Northwest things before I was a student,” she said. “我只是在校园里长大的.”

She launched her career with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City but, 在那里呆了11年, 想要更有内在价值的东西. 接下来，她去了米勒管理公司工作, a public accounting firm dedicated to assisting churches and non-profit organizations, 在加入青年志愿者之前.

“这是在向他们传授领导实践, 这是我在美联储学到的吗,黑尔谈到她在米勒管理公司的时光时说. “我这样做了七年，然后觉得, “你知道, 我喜欢我正在做的事情, 但我想做更大的事.’”

She says her Northwest education was impactful because it pushed her to find solutions to problems on her own – and she learned there’s not always one answer to every issue. She also developed an appreciation for diversity and learning from others who came from varied backgrounds. Those lessons, she says, helped her become a better person and a stronger leader.

“全国网赌正规平台对我来说不仅仅是一所大学，”黑尔说. “It was a pathway to discover how I could contribute to the world. I feel like the professors at Northwest didn’t teach me what to think, 但他们教会了我如何思考, which has been really critical in what I have done in all three of my career choices.”

这些天, Hale is passionate about the mission of Youth Volunteer Corps and driven to ensure its affiliates maintain impactful programs and sustained growth. 今年早些时候，它获得了来自15国和伊斯兰教的资助, the foundation established by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. 诸如此类的重大奖助金是值得庆祝的, but Hale says her proudest moments happen when she witnesses the perspectives of its youth participants evolve from a state of self-involvement to giving of themselves and showing empathy.

“当我看到灯泡的时候, 视角改变, 对其他学生和其他人的评价,黑尔说. “当我看到, 例如, a wealthy youth go to a homeless shelter and judge when they walk in the door and then turn it into empathy by the end.”

不管他们的故事如何, 黑尔希望和她一起工作的年轻人受到鼓舞, empowered and developing a lifetime commitment to service while learning to value other people.

“So often when you’re being served, you feel hopeless,黑尔说. “你不明白你有自己的价值, and when you can serve others – because you don’t have to have anything to serve – you just have to show up.”

有关青年志愿者团的更多信息，请访问 www.yvc.org.